Part 1: We woke early the next morning to find that the wind had not let up. We spent time trading our extra breakfasts and packing up camp one last time. I was sad to be exiting a day early but my throbbing ankle was a constant reminder as to why. I was finally able to put minimal weight on it, but I knew getting it properly wrapped and iced was important.   We waited out the wind as long as we dared and waited for a little break in the gusts. We found that break at 10 and quickly made our way to the portage into Upper Pauness Lake. The boys were still refusing to let me carry anything but my fishing bag, even though I was limping along quite well on those crutches. Still, we made great time down to the last despite having to double portage. The wind was finally cooperating for the first time in days and was at our backs.   At the last 65r portage is where we encountered the most comical sight. A group of young men in their late teens/ early 20s were portaging tote after tote, black trash bag after black trash bag. We patiently waited almost an hour while we watched them clown car their gear back into their canoes in amusement. I mentioned to the boys a few times that maybe we should say something so we can just get back, but we opted to just be patient and enjoy our last hours in the boundary waters. We finally made it across the last portage into the river, chanting "cheese-burg-ers" to maintain the perfect cadence. At the car, we found a lone red bull left from our 20 hour trip to reach this magical place and shared swigs while we loaded up the gear.   The boys shared some mixies while I blared some Boston and drove us the hour back to civilization.

Day 7 Part 2: We finally reached Piragis around noon, returned the canoes and made our way up the road to Canoe On Inn. We rented a room for the night with the intentions of grabbing a shower, some good sleep, and finding a doctor or hospital close by. I instead opted to walk to the Dollar General and just got an ace bandage and some sports wrap. I would visit the doctor when I returned to PA and knew I had insurance. We went to the boat house for an excellent lunch and had a few beers. We walked to Dee's Bar and had a lemon drop and another beer. The feel there was very much a "locals only" kind of vibe and we decided to go to the Cwazy Wabbit. I tried an Indeed Pistachio Ale that was to die for. I've been looking for it locally since we returned to PA. I loved the Cwazy Wabbit. It reminded me so much of a local bar at home. Classic rock on the juke box, shower curtain door stall, and more than a few rough and rugged characters. The barkeep didn’t seem to care for me so I had Drew and Donnie going for most of the beers, but I enjoyed listening to the music and shooting some pool.    That night was quite eventful with too many drinks and too much drama. In hindsight we shouldn't have had those "pizza toppings" once we got back to the hotel. My trip quickly went south and we ended up fighting all night. The next morning we woke up, said our apologies, and spent the next 22 hours in the car laughing about our stupidity. We certainly aren't in our 20s anymore and this trip was a wake-up call for all of us on letting go of childish things. Next trip we will be in our mid-30s and will definitely slow down, but we are all so happy to have had this experience while our bodies were (mostly) still able.