These sticks were made for walking and Detroit Lakes man picked them up all over the country

DETROIT LAKES — When Bob Kotaska travels to other states, he often finds a piece of wood suitable for a walking stick. The Detroit Lakes man, a longtime member of the Lake Country Woodcarvers, carved a walking stick from a piece of gum tree from Georgia, for example. “Gum trees,” Kotaska said with a shake of the head. “They drop hard, spiky ‘gumballs’ — you don’t want to step on them barefoot.” This particular gum tree was squeezed by a vine as it was growing, and the results show up in his Georgia walking stick — there’s a bulging “handle”…