The Crew:

GeoFisher, Dave_B, SmallieSaver, Chms, GadgetMan, Kristen_E (AKA the Queen) and Cooper the dog. Collectively, this group has been on over 75 trips, with Dave_B having the most, followed by me, and then GadgetMan, Chms, SmallieSaver, and finally Kristen_E.

As with all my trips, this one would turn out to be one of the neatest I’ve ever done. This trip had some ups, had some downs, and had some definite milestones. I will get to those later in the report.

The trip started with me playing a joke on SmallieSaver. He’s already wound up a little and with the hurricane that was pummeling the east coast, I decided it would be nice to play a joke on him and tell him that Dave_B’s flight from Connecticut had been delayed, and rerouted, and that he’d be late.

So I called SmallySaver and told him Dave_B was being rerouted. At first I told him that he was being rerouted due to the hurricane…..then we talked some more, at which point I told him that the only reroute that was going to work for him was a reroute through Los Angeles. When he didn’t realize that I was pulling his leg, I really poured it on……I told him that I had just heard his flight went through a flock of Canadian geese, both engines were out, and they were landing in the Hudson. A few minutes later, he finally figured out that I was pulling his leg….Maybe it was the fact that Dave_B was sitting next to me and laughing his butt off the whole time. At any rate, it was funny, and a great way to start off the trip.

The drive up was pretty uneventful. Everyone arrived at my house by 7:30pm, and after some quick thinking and adjustments to the bracing for the 3rd canoe on the trailer, we were off. We left my house by 8:15pm which was almost a world record.

Twelve hours later, we stopped at Perkins in Superior, and Marine General for some last minute tackle.