I love walking in the woods! I was excited at the thought of cruising properties, especially in the fall months, meandering down crisp, Autumn trails, leaves crunching underfoot and fluttering down through shafts of golden light. HELLO Wendy! No, we don't get to walk on whatever trail we want, and more times than not we are slurping through mud, sliding on rocks and walking through briars, we have to follow the boundaries, and the boundaries don't always lead you through the most beautiful parts of the property.

One particular day, probably the second job that I worked on, my boss was shouting "keep up" as I walked behind him choosing my steps with care, slipping and falling. I ended up on my backside on more than one occasion. "You need to go see Louie" Tom said…..so I did.

Since I started my job, I've been wearing my work boots, or at least that is what I thought they were. Little did I know, that what I think work boots are, and what the logging world considers work boots are two different things. Louie was about to educate me.

I guess anyone who is anyone gets their boots at Louie's. His shop is located in Auburn, so as soon as I could, I stopped by. I found a big handwritten sign on the door that said sorry, closed, open tomorrow. So I came back the next day.

I was greeted by Louie, a very sharp looking gentleman in his eighties who's been running his shop for a million years. I told him I came by the day before and he told me that he and his wife drove to New York City for the shoe show. Wow, in his eighties and driving around New York City! As they drove, his wife asked him why people kept beeping at them. He told her everyone knows Louie from Maine.

Louie's shop is neatly packed with items for the outdoorsman, whether for work or pleasure. He brought me directly to the bench in the shoe section and set to work fitting me for my boots. Of course my mind was thinking color and style, and his was thinking traction, dryness and warmth. I kept asking him if I could try these two tone black and brown boots. He refused, based on the fact that they were sized too generously for my feet, leading to lack of support while hiking.

After a few more stories, my inserts, and my bear oil he sent me on my way. High stepping it across the parking lot each boot felt to weigh about 20 pounds. They made my former work boots feel like bedroom slippers.

Back on the job site I found that I no longer slipped, the traction was great and my feet stayed warm and dry. I did however, have a couple of spills from lack of judgment when lifting my feet in the air. One time I splashed right down in the road and our excavator operator said "getting use to your new boots are ya"……funny, I didn't think it showed.

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