Up at 9am and back on the road. For lunch we decide on stopping at a local establishment called the “Covered Wagon” right off of 53, about 15 miles south of Duluth. It might as well have been called the “Covered Deep Fryer”. Why I chose to order the beef enchilada in addition to the deep fried pizza balls is something that I still can’t quite explain today……spontaneous craving I guess. All I know is that three quarters of us rolled out of that Covered Wagon that day feeling as though we had just taken 5 years off our lives. I think next time we’ll wait until we reach the north shore to eat. By 3:00pm we had made it to Grand Marais where we picked up 4 boxes of shore lunch (something elusive to east coasteners) at the IGA before heading up the Gunflint Trail. By 4:30pm we had made it to our destination, Gunflint Northwoods Outfitters. We promptly checked into our canoer cabin, made dinner reservations, and headed down to the bar for a drink. It felt great to sit on the dock by the lake and imagine that in less than 36 hours we would be in our canoes headed out for an exciting trip into the Quetico. At the bar we were informed that there would be live entertainment that night; two guitarists and a keyboardist from the Grand Marais area. It turned out to be the best live show that I have ever seen. The lead guitarist had previously toured with the Grateful Dead and the keyboardist had spent years residing in New Orleans. Truly Amazing guitar and keyboard solos. We stayed up late that night until closing thinking how lucky we were to have stumbled upon such great entertainment in such a remote location.