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John Russell

John Russell's sports column appears Sundays in Steamboat Today. Contact him at 871-4209 or e-mail jrussell@SteamboatToday.com.

No television, no electricity, no problem.

Normally, I'm one of the first people to pick up the phone and inform the Yampa Valley Electric Association when the power goes off in my Steamboat II subdivision, and I never hesitate to complain when I can't get cable TV.

But last weekend, I spent three days fishing in the backcountry near Grandby Reservoir, my nights spent in a 50-year-old cabin far from things such as electricity. OK, I admit there was a generator a few feet outside the cabin, but it was used sparingly to provide a little light for cooking and cleaning up as the sun faded behind the peaks. I discovered that, without TV, there really wasn't much reason to keep it running past 8 p.m.

Instead, I chose to spend time talking and laughing with the members of my family and roasting marshmallows in front of a roaring fire with my children. The light from the flames and a few handheld flashlights was plenty to keep things bright.

Someday, I might regret missing the Rocky Mountain Showdown, the last weekend of pre-season football and all those Sunday morning cartoons on cable television, but I doubt it. Like most Americans, I already know who I'm going to vote for this November, so I didn't need to tune into MSNBC, but I kind of missed FOX News - or as we refer to it in my household, the comedy network.

Judging from the crowds at the nearby lake, I was not alone in my plans to escape. I learned that people head to the backcountry to hike, to camp or because they like to fish. In the next few weeks, thousands of blaze-orange clad hunters will flee the confines of the modern world for the wilds of Colorado in search of elk and deer.

Truth is that I'm not a true outdoorsman. I'm lucky if I get away one weekend each summer. My family would have feasted on three "small" fish last weekend if they counted on me to provide the food on the table. One fish was so small that my father-in-law wanted to know where I got the live bait, and I had to think about it.

We may not have had TV, but we did have a few modern items including some frozen hamburgers in the cooler and a bag of potato chips. In other words, nobody starved in this outdoor adventure.

But for me, getting away isn't about catching fish, although that would have been nice. It was a chance to replace that Gameboy in my son's hand with a fishing pole, a chance to draw my daughter's eyes away from the television with the glow of a roaring fire and a chance to get closer to the ones I love. We may not have caught a lot of fish, but it was a successful weekend.

Sure, I love the fun stuff that comes along with the wonderful world of electricity, and this Monday night I will be watching, along with the entire Broncos Nation, as Denver takes it to Oakland. But when I'm old and look back, what I will remember will have nothing to do with the things I watched. It will be about the things I did.