After months of planning and anticipation it was finally "GO" time!

We all met at my house in the morning to organize our gear and get loaded up for the trip north to the Gunflint Trail. From all of the excited chatter that broke out as soon as we were gathered, I could tell this was going to be a great group. We would be taking two vehicles on this trip: Wanda, Kari and I in one and Jeff, Rochelle, Travis and Jenna in the other with a canoe on top of each vehicle. With the last-minute change in our group size, we had decided to additionally have a three-seat canoe waiting for us when we arrived at our outfitter. Jeff would also be pulling a trailer with most of our gear in it behind his Jeep.

The trip up went smoothly and included a lunch stop in Barnum, MN before we arrived late afternoon/early evening at Seagull Outfitters and Cabins near the very end of the Gunflint Trail. Here is where we ran into the first of a couple "glitches" for the day. The cyber breakdown that had caused such havoc in the travel industry earlier in the week had also made a mess of things with Seagull Outfitters' reservation system and the two bunkrooms I'd reserved somehow had now turned into one. While the one room still did have enough beds for all of us, I'd hoped to give the group at least a bit of privacy with one space for the guys and one for the gals but with Seagull Outfitters' entire bunkhouse now completely booked with other parties, this was no longer an option. Since we were all getting along so well and having a lot of fun with each other we decided that with everyone being adults, we'd make it work for one night and then all got settled in to that one room. We laughed (we laughed a lot on this trip!) that if a movie was made of our adventure, the title could be, "Co-ed Bunkhouse" but then thought that such a title might not earn a rating worthy of much distribution!

After getting situated in our (now one) bunkroom, the plan was to head back down the trail to the snack bar at Gunflint Pines Resort and Campground for some pizza and cold beer. That's when glitch number two popped up: a bump in the road on the Gunflint Trail initiated a concerning vibration and noise from the underside of Jeff's Jeep. A roadside assessment indicated there could be an issue with the drive train that was suddenly making itself known. We decided to go back to the outfitter but once we turned around the vibration and noise completely disappeared! Another U-turn put us back in the direction of pizza and we arrived at the snack bar with no further indication of vehicle issues.

When supper was finished we headed back to our bunkroom and hitting another bump in the road once again caused the same noisy vibration! After coaxing the Jeep back to Seagull Outfitters, Travis used what phone signal he could get to reach some mechanic contacts he had in Grand Marais and Two Harbors to see if they could diagnose the problem. They indicated that it might be just a "Jeep thing" and as long as we drove gently we could probably make it back to Grand Marais for further inspection of the vehicle. With few other choices and with this plan in place, it was time to retreat to our cozy confines for a little socializing before everyone tried catching some shut eye, anxious for some time on the water starting the next day.