A Much Needed Trip
by Arkansas Man
I drive for about seven hours, or until we reach Iowa, 500 miles total. Then Heath takes over for a hundred miles and then Charlie finishes the trip to Owatonna and Cabelas we get there an hour early so we have to wait for it to open. An hour in Cableas and we leave not too much money out of pocket. Charlie continues to drive through St. Paul where we stopped and met Adam, the main man for www.bwca.com, and his son Ben… Fantastic man and boy! He gives the guys shirts and me a hat, (which I needed badly) and gives us directions to get through the detour across the Mississippi River. We get past St Paul and stop to quickly grab a bite to eat and I try to sleep as Charlie continues to drive North to Ely. Once we reach Cloquet I see that diesel fuel at Wal-Mart is $4.39 a gallon so we stop to top off the tanks, and then I take over and finish the drive to Ely. Passing through Cloquet I am called by my friend Satchmoa who was wishing he was with us! I had already been called earlier in the day by Yellowbird who was entering at #14 that day! So I had already spoken to two good friends and met another in one day, yet more was to come, as I was supposed to meet the Spartans 1 & 2 at the Chocolate Moose at 4:30.
We reach Ely at 3:00pm and run out to Red Rock where I purchase a portable depth finder from Joe and talk to him a minute about trading in my Sr Quetico 18.5 in duralite for a used Kevlar SR Q 17. He tells me to email him and we will talk about it later as we are in a hurry to get out to Jeanette Lake, where the two doctors are supposed to cook us a special dinner that night! When we get back to town it is 4:15 so we go ahead and go to the Chocolate Moose where I visit with Lynda and Neil for a few minutes while the guys shop in Piragis. After we visit for a few minutes I leave Neil and Lynda to their pie and coffee and we head to Voyager North to pick up a canoe, get license and bait. We then begin the long drive out the Echo Trail to Jeanette Lake State Park to set up camp for the night while the doctors prepare a spicy pork dish for dinner. Then it is early to bed for an early start the next morning. Everyone was full of anticipation as well as a great dinner.