Saturday, June 30, 2018

Alan’s birthday is today. We took a truckload of garbage and had a taco bar for dinner with everyone at the lodge.

Friday, June 29, 2018

It stormed all morning. Lots of thunder, wind, and rain. Mom and Dad headed to Dryden. For lunch, we ate leftover ribs and pork from Busters and Jason, Julie, Scott and I started to play Shanghai Rummy. The rain quit by about 3pm and it was Brent’s last day. He really wanted to do the Boat Island Hike so we all headed out. We took three boats. In the end, it was just Julie, Brent, Elliott and Jamison. Julie was a little hesitant so I stupidly decided to go. The first hundred yards in there was a hug tree downed in the path that we had to break of small branches and climb over. Then we ran into another obstacle that Julie and I decided we couldn’t get under so we blazed our own trail around it. The ground was still wet and very slippery. I’m sure I slowed the group down. They were really nice though and waited and in a couple places Julie and I helped each other up. When we made it to the lake they all swam and I just enjoyed the break and the cool breeze. When it was time to head back we found two of the trail ribbons but then lost them. We quickly realized we were off the trail. We circled back twice and couldn’t pick the trail back up. Brent then went all the way back to the lake and was yelling that we were not anywhere near the spot we were because he couldn’t find the beaver dam. I had my phone which actually had a signal so I pulled out Google maps and gave the phone to Julie and told her just to head east and we would make it out. Once we got to the other end of the island I would be able to figure out how to get to the boat. So she did, she forged ahead and led us through lots of brush. We never did pick up the trail again. About a fourth of the way in I went to sit down on a boulder to slide down it but the moss was wet and I slid wrong landing on my left leg thus throwing out my knee. Most of the rest of the way Brent had to help me down from many obstacles. He was gallant and so kind about it. We came out about 500-1000 feet from the corner where everyone was waiting. Brent and I hit the water it was a nice beach that was only about a foot deep. We looked up and Dad, Scott, and Lennox were on the other side of the bay heading somewhere. I began to yell and whistle and everyone was waving at them. They were too far away and didn’t know to look for us. At the last minute before they disappeared behind a small island Lennox turned and saw us. They came over to save us and we all piled into the one boat - way over the limit. Dad slowly took us back to the other two boats where we all scrambled to our boats so we could go home.
        

Thursday, June 28, 2018

Kayaked around Sunset with Mom. She only wanted to do some of Paradise Island but I convinced her that I could tow her. Little did I know that it was really rough past Paradise. It was a rough paddle. Mom said she was helping every 15 strokes. Once we got around the calm side of Sunset we stopped for a break. I ate a nectarine and we enjoyed the beauty around us. The sky was an incredible blue. When we got back Dad and Scott had started cleaning the beach so we worked on that for a couple hours and took our baths. Then we were back to the Lodge for Busters leftovers. The meat was even better the second time around. After a couple hours we headed down for the beach were Dad had started a campfire. Most of the kids didn’t show up but most everyone enjoyed smores. We saw a beaver, a turtle, and some ducks with babies. Brent was trying to get a leech and caught a bluish colored crawdad. Been praying for Hannah and the people affected by the fire in Spring Creek, Colorado.

Wednesday, June 27, 2018

Bob’s big party was today. Fun was had by all. Busters BBQ was the menu and it was DELICIOUS. Bob gave a great memory speech and we all visited. We had DQ cakes for dessert.

Tuesday, June 26, 2018

Today is our 25th Wedding Anniversary. Scott took the canoe out to fish by the island and I “picked” up Olivia and Jerry at Deer Trail Lodge. They paddled in Grove’s new double kayak. It was their first time kayaking (actually Olivia did it once last year, too). They made it all the way to the beach on Paradise. We “swam” and floated there for at least a half hour. Olivia used the GoPro to take our picture and then we headed back for Deer Trail. Mom was in out talking to Scott in the canoe and headed our direction. Dad then showed up in the float boat. Once I dropped them off. I headed back and paddled with Mom a little ways but then headed back toward the island to find Scott. I waited for him for a little bit and then we paddled back. Soooo I forgot to put on sunscreen before I left and was starting to feel the burn. 

We had hamburgers and hotdogs at the lodge with everyone. Olivia, Jerry, and I all compared our burns. They were getting bad. My shins and top of my head were the worst. I should have worn my Tilley instead of a visor. :)

After dinner a bunch of us walked out to check out the new septic field. It was massive.

Monday, June 25, 2018

Scott paddled out to kayak fish, I met him out at the island and then convinced him that I should tow him so he could troll. I pulled him to the end of the island and then dropped him up wave from the walleye hole and paddled the rest of the way around the island. When I got back around I couldn’t see Scott. I paddled a little back up the island and finally spotted him almost completely on the other side. I laid there and waited for him. He finally got back and we paddled in and took our baths. My arms were feeling it. :)

Sunday, June 24, 2018

After Martensen’s started stirring, we put in the pontoon boat. It went in pretty easy. Dad drove it over to the Deer Trail dock and went and hooked up Bob’s boat to the trailer. While Scott and I waited at the bottom of the hill. Brent (Kathy’s Martensen’s husband) came down and introduced himself. He was the designated boat driver. We convinced him that Dad would help him. Dad backed in part of the way and Mom took over but it seemed like it kept hitting like a wall. Mom was backing and Scott took over but he couldn’t get it over the “hump” either. I waded out there (picked up a couple more leeches) and tried to see what they were stuck on but the ground was just mushy everywhere. I couldn’t find a rock or anything. Finally, we figured out it was the trailer hitting. His boat must have had a deeper hull because the bars on the bottom arch down and the Deer Trail launch was too shallow. Dad, Bob, Brent, Scott, and I jumped in the truck (I road in back because I was wet.) We went to the public launch. It was much better. In one step, it was above my ankles. The second step was up to my knees and about the fourth step it was over my waist. Brent got in the boat but wasn’t sure about driving the boat so after we got it in I pulled it back up so Dad could get in without getting the boat dirty and wet. Brent and Dad took off and Scott drove Bob and I back in the truck. I had a couple leech friends I had to pull out. One of them I couldn’t get because my hands were all wet so mom yanked it for me.

I met Dad at the dock and drove the pontoon boat back to our dock. Everything seemed to be running smoothly.

Saturday, June 23, 2018

We were up about 4:30am so we packed up and hit the road. Dad found a breakfast dive that seemed to also be a liquor store. The breakfast was decent though. We stopped at a store to get some fruit and veggies and also bought a couple new pillows for the camper. On the road we saw a deer, some donkeys, a bear, and the coolest thing was that there was a dead, bloated deer on the side of the road with a HUGE bald eagle sitting on top of it. At International Falls we stopped and got gas and I took over driving. There was a really long line. We had to actually turn the wrong way to get into line for the border. It only took us about a half hour and there were just as many people coming back over the border too. That was my first time being the driver going across the border. It went pretty smoothly. The guy was telling us about a solar farm in Saudi Arabia was bigger than the city of Chicago. Toward the end he asked me if we were leaving anything up there. I answered, “We aren’t planning on it but I am the one driving.” He laughed and let us go. We arrived in the afternoon. There was a crazy accident on 502. There was a car and trailer on top of a “cliff” with four teenagers sitting on the edge of the cliff. The vehicle was smashed up and the axel was broken. Amazingly enough the trailer was still hooked up. (The above picture was taken by Kim and Olivia a little later in the day when the car had been taken down already.) A little further down the road we saw a dead moose in the ditch. It was huge and part of its antler was on the road.

Once we got things unpacked and the trailer set up Scott and I put in kayaks and towed Scott’s around to the dock. Then we had to go up to put the big boat in. It went pretty smoothly. Dad was in the boat, Mom backed the truck and Scott and I pushed it in. I had a leech from the boat launch.

Friday, June 22, 2018

I got up and did my Bible study and then finished packing last minute items and a cooler for mom and dad to take. After cleaning the horse barn and picking some veggies for mom and dad, we got on the road around 10:30-11am. Trip wasn’t too bad but some weird things happened. When we hit 294 in Chicago there was a crazy hard rain in two different places. Visibility wasn’t too far and there was standing water. Shortly before the Wisconsin border a rock shot up and cracked our windshield. Then about Janesville we realized that our air conditioning wasn’t working in the truck. It was going to be a long trip. We had to drive most of the rest of the way with the windows down. We couldn’t listen to anything because it was too loud. We stopped in Rice Lake at Arby’s and met Mom and Dad. As we were leaving to go to Menards we ran into Bob and Sue going into the restaurant. We visited with them for awhile and then got some tools at Menards. Then we were back on the road.

Mom and Dad couldn’t find a hotel so the plan was to sleep at the Hermantown Walmart in the camper. When we got there, there were signs all around the parking lot that said no overnight parking. So I called the only other RV park I had found on the trip up. The guy answered and said they had an opening so we went up the road to this RV dive and couldn’t figure out where the office was so we stopped and asked some other campers sitting there. The lady? that came up to talk to us was either a transvestite or going through the actual change. She informed us that the office was at the liquor store by the highway. We went back to the liquor store and paid the guy and Scott and Dad got the camper backed into a spot. We plugged in but didn’t hook up any water. It was 10 pm and we were all exhausted and the mosquitoes were horrible. We couldn’t pull out the second bed because the camper was still hooked up to the truck and the bed hit the kayaks. Mom and Dad slept on the table/couch. Scott and I slept in the back bed.