Driving down 202 on Sunday, I spotted a man perched on his deck wearing a blaze orange hat and smoking a pipe. I pulled a U-Turn, turned on the hazard lights, grabbed my camera, and introduced myself as college student taking photos of central Maine. The old, weathered man was standoffish at first, but we eventually struck up a conversation about his 33 year career as a boiler operator at paper mill, his four years in the Marines during Vietnam, guns, his love for American made goods, and the state of Maine economy.
Butch and his Remington 16 gauge shotgun. He let me shoot it.
Butch goes through one pipe per year and smokes about a bag of tobacco per week.
He proudly showed off this one, commenting that it had, "recently been broken in."
Butch owns American made Toyota cars. When asked why he owned Toyotas, he responded, "Do you know where GM cars are made? Mexico. Do you know where Fords are made? Canada. My Toyotas are made in Texas and Tennessee, no wonder they (American Automakers) are going belly up."
I asked Butch if he was born and raised in Maine, he responded, "No I was born in Connecticut and moved to Maine when I was 4 weeks old." Butch swears by LL Bean.
After talking with him for half an hour, I finally asked him his name. "Around these parts they call me Butch." I left it at that.
