Wednesday, July 06, 2011. I woke up early and very thirsty, go figure. There were a couple of things I had to do before we left, and with out cell phone service I had to head back to town. I had to call the transmission place and make sure they were going to have the truck ready when we got back. Well none of the pay phones in Ely work either. If we can’t have a cell phone tower somebody has to fix the pay phones. Not all is bad that seems to be bad. I stuck two quarters in a cell phone at a convenience store and got nothing, so I clicked the coin return and got $5.50 back. Red Letter Day right? Still no phone service, so I go to the grocery store and stick two more quarters in and I get nothing, so I click the coin return and I get $12.75 back. This is like a slot machine! Still, no phone service. I asked the manager if I can make a long distance call and she is very considerate and helpful. Come to find out my wife has all ready taken care of getting the transmission place all the paper work they needed to fix the truck. It is good to know my lovely wife still has my back. I grab a box of donuts for the starving stupidoes and head back to wake them up, so much for the early start. We pack the truck and trailer, recycle the large pyramid, put some great tunes in the machine and head to Mudro. The first portage was a breeze. All the planning was worth it. I had made everyone a personal under the canoe seat bag out of duck cloth and decorated them with patches. One guy had a heavy bag and the other guy had the small canoe seat bags and the canoe, it worked out perfect except on the long portage from Mudro to Fourtown, we double portaged that one. Getting on the lakes was like magic. The water lilies were in full bloom and the weather was great. The sky was neon blue with white fluffy clouds and around eighty degrees. The second portage was a little rocky and showed the Boys what they were up against. The third portage was a killer, 125 rods of up and down. The scenery was great, a couple of high drop offs with a flowing stream underneath you. The last portage before Fourtown was the shortest but still tough. Fourtown is a beautiful Lake, just what I had expected. We headed for the portage into Boot. The Boys have found their rhythm by now and are starving as usual. We grab some deer bologna and some cheese and head across Boot Lake. Big Al spots the cliffs on the Northwest side of Boot and wants to check them out. We stop and check the depth under the cliff and see that it is deep enough to jump. Now I don’t want to be a stick in the mud, and I know there is very little help for those who get hurt in the wilderness, but these boys are jumping. They climb the side of the rock and found the right ledge. They looked smaller then I had figured. I guess your perspective changes when a human is involved. After some inflammatory remarks to the ones that were taking too long there was a splash. Then another splash, all seamed to have experienced an adrenaline rush beyond belief. I can't be left behind right? I climbed the rock and inched my way down to the ledge, I didn't want to look over the edge, let alone jump. It was high, and the crowd below was use to making inflammatory remarks to those of us who took too long. I couldn't see myself spending another week and a half listening to the Boys telling me that they could see up my skirt. I hit the water after what seemed like a very long time. One last portage into Fairy Lake and we are home for the next couple of days. We grabbed the camp site on the east side of Fairy and are pleased with the setup. There is plenty of room for our three tents and the canoe landing is perfect. We set up camp and settle down for our first meal. I was concerned about feeding five young men and keeping them full. I didn't think a diet of dried food alone would do it so we devised a plan to use real food. We have a U.S.Army bag that is used to keep medicine cold in the desert. The inside dimensions are about 18” high x 18” long x 10” wide. It is made of canvas and is heavy duty. We bought a backpack that can adapt to carry irregular shapes like barrels or other things. My friend Kirk runs a lab at Ft. Detrick and has access to freezers that can go to 80 degrees below zero. We purchased some steaks, chicken legs and thigh combos, boneless chicken fillets and two big pork loins and froze them for two weeks at 80 degrees below zero. The day before we left Maryland, I packed the meat in a large Coleman cooler with dry ice and strapped the cooler closed. When we got to Ely there was still some dry ice left in the cooler, the thermometer was buried and the meat was rock hard. I filled an asbestos like bag with ten more pounds of dry ice from the bait shop and filled the medical cooler with the meat in the order we were going to use it, last on bottom. I figured the pork loins to be the densest and left them until last thinking they would stay the coldest. I would only open the bag once a day and take out the next day’s food. It worked perfect, after six days the food was still frozen, after seven days the last of the pork loin was thawed but the bag registered 47 degrees, just about a refrigerator’s temperature. The meat was in vacuum sealed bags and was fine. The medicine bag weighed about 65 pounds at the beginning which isn't too bad. We enjoyed steak and mashed potatoes with gravy and a fresh salad for our first night out. We sipped bourbon or mixed a flavor pack with vodka and stayed up and watched the stars. Everything was coming together, I think I saw wonder in everyone's eyes!