When it comes to outdoors travel, flying has its limits

Kudos to author and outdoors writer John Gierach for producing an enlightening book, "Fool's Paradise".

This work by this noted traveler and fly fisherman echoes my sentiments about getting around this country in recent times. I wholeheartedly recommend the book.

I have racked up a lot of air miles, only because I had been foolish enough to think that getting someplace quickly was more important than getting there without heartburn.

The late Mike Seeling and I traveled many places, including the far northern reaches of Canada, schlepping extreme weather gear, tackle and his camera equipment in order to make a trip come alive in this column and other outdoor publications.

Getting on an airplane at most major airports has become more of a major burden than a pleasure. Of course that may be a different story for some of you, but at the end of many of our trips, Seeling and I would look at each other while measuring our displeasure and declaring that we should drive the next time.

Out of all the airlines I've used, Air Canada, with an occasional glitch, seems to come through for us quite a bit better than some of the other big carriers.

On one adventure to an outpost camp on Manitoba's North Seal River, Air Canada lost our duffel bags somewhere in the labyrinth of Winnipeg's luggage handling operation. We begged the charter flight captain taking us northward to make a stop for us in Thompson, Manitoba so Seeling and I could buy some underwear and shirts along with other necessary items.

Three days, later a bush plane glided up to our shoreline cabin and deposited our gear on the dock. I know that bush plane haul from Winnipeg cost Air Canada quite a bit, but they came through for us.

As John Gierach mentioned in his book, getting to a destination by driving one's vehicle has its advantages. In a car, I am not limited to 50 pounds in my suitcase. If I'm over their limit, I often feel as if I need to take out a second mortgage.

But if we travel over-the-road I can take everything I need and more, simply because I believe in gear redundancy. I've lost track as to the number of times I've lost items I needed for a particular trip. I can't remember how many times I've damaged gear while going through a portage from one lake to another.

Traveling by vehicle may be tedious for some, but for me the only negative part of a trip traveled that way is the ride home, in which that typical "down feeling" magnifies itself because of the many hours behind the wheel to think about the great territory I just left behind.

My personal vehicle is a 4-wheel drive SUV, which gets decent gas mileage. This rugged mini-pickup allows me to haul a lot of gear I could never take on an airplane. It also gives me the freedom to carry or pack the knives and tools I need to augment my outing.

Seeling, in turn, didn't have to stand on a cold floor in his stocking feet, emptying his massive camera case while trying to explain to a Transportation Safety Agent what a two-foot long, coiled cord is used for.

Many of my angling and hunting friends, the ones with pickup trucks, will not get on an airplane to get to an outdoors destination because they have had too many bad experiences with various carriers. On one trip in to the sub-Arctic, United Express destroyed a heavy duty rod case with over $800 in fly, casting and spinning rods. It was six months before the airline paid for the damaged goods.

Jerry Klein and I drove my vehicle into the Ontario bush for one trip years ago. We had to get off a side road and subsequently four-wheel it through swamps and shallow sand traps. I navigated through these obstacles and ultimately set up our tent camp on a lake where no one else would dare travel. We felt like we were on a Lewis and Clark expedition. The smallmouth fishing was spectacular.

I will fly this year to go fishing in Costa Rica, but at this stage of life the heartburn factor is making me think about some day driving down there to see the world as it passes by my windshield.

• Contact Mike Jackson at angler88@comcast.net, catch his radio show 7-9 a.m. Sundays on WGCO 1590-AM (live-streamed at 1590WCGO.com).