I had to work this day, but only living 4 hours from Ely has its advantages. Our plan was to get up at 2:00 am & drive up. We would then pick up our permit & hopefully be on the water by 8:00 am. These plans changed, we decided that since my work day ends at 2:00 pm, we would have plenty of time to drive up & find a place to stay. We were getting our permit from Voyagers North Outfitters & I have stayed in their apartment rooms many of times, so was hopping that Lynn & John would have a room open when we got there.

Earlier this summer I bought a commuter car for work, driving the full size Dodge truck was costing me a car payment, so I bought a Chevy Cruze which I average 32.5 mpg with. Wanting to save money on this & future BWCA trips, I decided to build a canoe trailer. I had just finished it 2 days prior to this trip. This would be the maiden voyage for the trailer & car.

We arrived in Ely & the trailer worked AWESOME !!! I got 32.4 mpg pulling the trailer !!! We got to at VNO at 7:00 pm, Lynn was surprised to see us. We got our permit & were lucky to get Lynn's last room for the night. It is always nice to visit with Lynn or John before our trips out of Ely. We walked down to Shopko for some tooth paste & then the DQ for a treat. We were in bed by 9:00 pm.