a train and shipped us out.” After reaching Minneapolis, the family boarded another train headed east into Wisconsin. Val remembers that on the snowy ride through the bleak pine barrens of northern Wiscon- sin, Anastasia exclaimed, “Oh Mein Gott, Mein Gott, we are back in Siberia!” The family had been sponsored by the
Goodman Lumber Company, and though the Immel family faced prejudice for being the community’s only “DP’s” (Displaced Persons), Val and his siblings thrived and have all been amazingly successful. Val himself went to college, got a teaching degree and taught German for many years. Always a restless spirit, upon retirement he took over a bait shop called The Minnow Bucket near Phelps, Wisconsin, which, largely due to Val’s colorful personality, has since become a local gathering spot. Rest assured, once the recorder was
turned off, the martinis were poured, and Val set about bustling around his kitchen, preparing dinner. Over lobster tail, steak and home-grown vegetables we talked poli- tics, philosophy, and motorcycles, and the memory of my day’s struggles on the road faded. Later that night, I crawled out of the sack
about 3 a.m. for my usual bout with insom- nia and walked outside onto Val’s deck overlooking the lake. Already worrying about my ride home, I wanted to see if the weather was improving. The wind was still howling, and in the moonlight I could make out luminous skeins of wind-blown whitecaps surfing across the lake. The sky, though, was brilliantly blanketed in stars with ragged, dark ghosts of clouds stealthily racing across to the east. I resolved to not worry about what
the next day and my
journey back home would bring. To borrow a phrase from The Grateful Dead, life is a “long, strange trip” for all of us, and after hearing Val’s stories of struggle, hope, ambi- tion and perseverance, I was left more determined than ever to enjoy the ride.
February 2016 BMW OWNERS NEWS 13
www.bmwmcsem.com www.beemershop.com www.gs911usa.com
www.imtbike.com
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