Distant Dreamer - Paperback

by Barry J. Dalberto (Author)

From winning a survival camping test to spending the summer working in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area of northern Minn. as assistant guides, our 2 teen boys in this book face rough portages, learning to be camp cooks and fishing guides. Mark and Bob work for a wilderness outfitter who has set up a back country experience for a group of clients with disabilities. Set in the early 1970s, we travel with the pair from Iron Mountain MI all the way to Ely MN and home again. This story is a fictionalized account of an adventuresome summer spent learning about the challenges of nature, it's beauty and how being tested can bond friendships. The author brings his own teen years and the influence of an incredible teacher into play as he weaves interactions with family and friends into the story. Plus Mark, the main character, also experiences "dream" sequences back to the early 1800s and the voyageurs during the fur trade era. Truly a book for all ages who love the outdoors and history.

Author Biography

Barry Dalberto was born and grew up in Iron Mountain in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. He has a lifetime love and craving for the natural beauty of God's green creation. Growing up, he canoed, camped, fished and breathed the clean, wild air at the many lakes and streams in the area. As an adult further adventures took him into the Boundary Waters Canoe Wilderness, the Sylvania Wilderness Area and to the grandeur of Canada and Alaska. The author completed college with a degree in biology and a teaching license but expanded his horizons to include surveying for the BLM, substitute teaching and finally becoming an artist creating baskets of wild grapevine and birch bark. After 20 years of crafting at his studio in Northern Wisconsin, he has relocated with his wife to a small town outside of Eau Claire WI where the wild grapevines grow for his craft but the fishing is not so wonderful!