Mile Post 104 and Beyond

In this heartwarming memoir, Bob Wells recreates his youth during a bygone era in a remote area of Northwestern Ontario. It’s a youth without electricity or central heating; with water carried up from the lake; with outhouses and chamber pots; with storks delivering babies and hard‑working immigrants in a new land. It’s about a family of four rambunctious boys who tease each other and exasperate their parents. It’s about their loving but potty-mouthed father and the mother who is the moral compass for them all. It’s also about learning from his Indigenous neighbours about living with nature, hunting, trapping and fishing. Bob becomes fascinated with the mysteries of nature and Indigenous spirituality. As he grows up, he realizes that his Aboriginal friends are treated differently by the government, church and law enforcement. He makes a promise to his Moochum (Grandfather) Joe to someday ‘draw words’ to tell ‘his kind’ stories about the way Indigenous peoples were mistreated. Mile Post 104 and Beyond explores what it’s like to live off the land enriched by Indigenous culture and stories of ancestors and the Creator by his beloved Moochum Joe. Bob lovingly shares his life in the bush as a boy and successful hunter from the age of eleven. He then shares stories about being a husband, father, hunter and fishing guide, and conservation officer with his wife Inge, Ontario’s first female fire observation ‘Tower Man’, and their son Perry.