Lake Nipigon 2023 - Day 22, Monday, July 18

0400-59F. Solar 88%. House battery finally died!

0610-Study complete. Verse of the day:  "The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it..." (Psalms 24:1)

Breakfast finished, need to clean up and prepare for the last leg of the drive home.

0700-Departed Grand Marais headed for White Bear Lake, MN with a stop for lunch in Cloquet.

1130-Arrived White Bear Lake. Unloaded the boat at my house then drove over to Houlton, WI to put the boat in the storage unit.  

Storage Units In Background

Normally I would charge everything up at my staging location, but since the batteries were dead and need replacement I went right to storage.  After returning to White Bear Lake, I put the kayak on my storage rack on White Bear Lake. Then went to gas up the truck for the next trip and stowed it in my neighbor's garage.

Another successful trip, with no serious incidents to report.  Thank you Lord! 

Lake Nipigon 2023 - Day 21, Monday, July 17

0520-57F

0705-Study time finished. Verse for the day: "Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will freely pardon. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the Lord. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." (Isaiah 55:6-9)

Will make breakfast. 

0725-Preparing to get on the road to Grand Marais, MN.

Heavy Rain & Construction Slowed Driving Progress

1130 CDT- Arrived Grand Marais. It took five hours to get here!  I'm surprised but there was a lot of delays due to construction.  No transmission problems, thankfully.  Had a quick boat lunch onboard the boat then walked to the Grand Marais Recreational Area for a shower.

Parked For The Overnight

1400-Met Art & Beth at the Java Moose for coffee.  Will meet at 5 pm for dinner at the Brewery.

Java Moose Sit At Bottom Of This Street To Left

Talked briefly to a couple from Thunder Bay who were walking by the boat.  We talked about Nipigon and fishing for brook trout.

North House Folk School-West Entrance From Recreation Area

School Map

School Work Shop

1700-Headed to the Brewery to treat Art and Beth to dinner.

1930-Returned the boat and noticed the forward solar panel was askew. Three bolts had come loose. I saved one but two were lost. A casualty to the rough roads, particularly the three miles of washboard gravel from the marina out to the highway.  That segment likely shook things loose and then a very rough bump of highway construction jarred the panel askew.  I could have lost the panel! I will have to order replacement hardware. In the meantime, I robbed hardware from the lift struts for tilting the panels. Will have to be more careful in the future.

Perhaps if I had washed the panels even once during the trip I may have noticed some loose bolts already from the drive into the marina. I never went up on the roof the whole trip since solar performance was so good.

Will have some Baileys, do some reading, and hit the sack for the last leg of the trip tomorrow.

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Lake Nipigon 2023 - Day 20, Sunday, July 16

0450-Up early! 64F/59F. Solar 86%.

0720-Bible study time is done. Verse of the day: "When I fed them, they were satisfied; when they were satisfied, they became proud; then they forgot me." (Hosea 13:6)

Breakfast followed. Now I will do the dishes before pulling the boat out.

0935-Boat pull out went smoothly. No big issues. Most of the work is done except putting away the Biminis.

On Approach

Loaded

1130-Ready for the road except the chimney. Will stay here for now.

Ready For The Road

1220-Had a snack of cheese, crackers, nuts and white wine.  That should hold me until dinner. The decision is final, I will stay here and get on the road tomorrow.

1450-Read a chapter out of Grey Owl's book and then took a nap. Will make dinner shortly.

Looking SW

1540-Finished dinner of chicken fajita soup, hot rolls, and a cold beer. Finished reading the 3rd of the collected works of Grey Owl "Sajo and the Beaver People".

Picnic Gazebo

1810-Reading "Storm Tide" by Wilbur Smith. Only hours away from expiration and I'm not half way through yet. Will have to check it out again.

A heavy T-storm moved through catching several boaters by surprise. One tried to tie up in the down pour and got soaked.  Not sure why he didn't just wait for the storm to pass?

T-Storm On The Way!

1920-Washed the dishes so I don't have to do that in the morning. Will hit the sack and ready my e-Book until I get sleepy.

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Lake Nipigon 2023 - Day 19, Saturday, July 15

0530-59F/56F. Solar 84%.

0725-Finished Bible study and prayer time. Verses for the day: 

"But you must return to your God; maintain love and justice, and wait for your God always." (Hosea 12:6)

"He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." (Micah 6:8)

Breakfast is done, time to prepare for departure on last leg of this trip.

0740-Departed anchorage. Cloudy, dreary, cool day. Ran out of fuel in Tank 5, switched to Tank 1.

Departing - Hat Mountain In Background

Hat Mountain Island

Some leftover swell from last night's SSW winds. Gave me some rolling for part of the leg.

Looking Back West To Hat Mountain And Island Group

0930-Arrived at High Hill Harbor. Leg 15 was 10.2 miles. Trip total is 135.8 miles over 19 days.  

After tie up I did the dishes, then started breaking things down for the road.

Tied Up For The Night - High Hill Harbor Docks

Stern Guys Coiled, Kayak Removed, Grill Covered

Last Leg Of Trip - Day 19, Leg 15, 10.2 Miles

Destination - High Hill Harbor

Trip Track - 135.8 Miles Total

1240-Got the kayak out of the water and drained it. I put on the yoke and carried it up to truck and loaded it. Hauled a couple of more loads of stuff up to the truck. Time for a cold beer!

Tied Up - Will Stay On Dock Overnight Before Pull Out

Next I put the shower heater away and stowed the 1# bottles of propane for the grill and hot water heater.

1340-Took recyclables up, along with one aux. fuel tank.  Then came back for two more aux tanks. Removed and stowed the auto pilot. Time for a break!

Channel Entrance To High Hill Harbor

1440-Had a glass of wine, walked the docks while I sipped. Took the camera pole to the truck. Retrieved both guys, coiled and hung them to dry. Will fly the drone later so I got the equipment ready. Will fly from the dock.

1620-Sat on the aft deck enjoying a glass of wine and ended up doing a show and tell for Wayne, another boat owner.  Will make dinner of chicken wild rice soup, rolls, and white wine.

1655-Dinner is finished, tasted great!  Some sunshine with light winds.  73F/69F. Solar 100%.

2030-Flew the drone for three flights, got lots of pics and video of the harbor.

Looking NNE - High Hill Harbor

Two Boat Comparison - Red One Built For Nipigon, Mine Is Not!

Close Up - Two Boat Comparison

Sunset - Nice End To The Day

Listened to music and then read a chapter of Grey Owl.

2110-Sat on the aft deck listening to more music but some folks came and fired up the big diesel next to me and the exhaust fumes drove me out of the cockpit! Had to walk on the dock until they either left or shut down the engine. Turned out they were just running the engine and 10 minutes later they left. Time to hit the sack.  Tomorrow is pull out day.

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Lake Nipigon 2023 - Day 18, Friday, July 14

0550-60F/57F.

0645-Finished my morning Bible study and prayer time. Verse for the day: "Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God." (Psalms 20:7)

Will get ready to move and eat breakfast later.

0705-Departed anchorage but ran into fog about halfway along the route.  I got down to 300-400 yards at times. Wind also increased and I took some spray over the bow. Fog lifted as I approached the destination.

Underway

Abeki Point - Fog Rolling In!

Sun Shinning On East Side Of Abeki Point

Ominous Black Clouds With Fog Bank

Leg 14, Day 18 - 8.1 Miles

0840-Arrived at destination anchoring in shallow water behind a spit of boulders that will provide some additional protection from the southeast.  Leg 14 was 8.1 miles.

Rocky Spit Helps Block Entrance

Final Anchorage Of The Trip - Hat Mountain Harbor

I have 20.5 miles on Tank#5 and expect to get another 9 miles, or so.

0930-Finished breakfast. Some cloud cover moved in. 70F/62F.

1015-Finished cleaning up the dishes.

NOTE: Fuel Usage

    Tank #2 - 9 gallons 43.3 miles = 4.8 mpg

    Tank #3 - 6 gallons 31.9 miles = 5.3 mpg

    Tank #4 - 6 gallons 29.5 miles = 4.9 mpg

    Tank #5 - 6 gallons 31.0 miles = 5.2 mpg

1240-Downloaded video and photos to the laptop external drive (5TB)

Will read "Fractured Faith".

Close Rocky Shore

1350-Read for a while then napped briefly. Mostly cloudy, light breeze. 72F/72F. Solar 99%.

1520-Fished for a while, no luck.  I started preparing dinner.  My salad was finally gone after 19 days on the road.  Pretty good. So tonight it will be pizza with an ice cold beer with ice cream for dessert.  I added extra pepperoni, mozzarella, and mixed cheddar and jack cheese.

1640-Pizza was great! Listened to music and took out the strawberries to thaw for my ice cream dessert.

Currently it is raining.  I think a cell is moving through. Weather looks great for tomorrow.

1720-Had my dessert, always good!  Sun is back out and it is calm in the anchorage. Will read some more.

1920-I finished "Fractured Faith" by Lina Abujamra. I will spend some time reading my e-Book "Storm Tide" by Wilbur Smith.  I only have two days before it expires so may not be able to finish it.

Thunder all around. Will close up ship and soon hit the sack.  72F/65F. Solar 96%.

Heavy rain in T-storm with lightening.

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Lake Nipigon 2023 - Day 17, Thursday, July 13 (Layover)

0600-59F/54F. Solar 80%. Made coffee and warmed up coffee cake.

0900-Study time finished.  Verse for the day: "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world..."  (Psalms 19:1-4a)

Time for breakfast.  This will be a layover day due to wind and rain. Winds to 26 mph this afternoon. I will make an omelet for breakfast sine I have more time.  69F/60F. Solar 75%.

The house battery appears to be failing. After running the engine for 2.5 hours yesterday it only reached 12.2 volts and with little use it is now down to 11.9 volts already!  It is not holding a charge.

1040-Finished breakfast: Cheese and veggie omelet with bacon, toast, and O.J.  Sunny, with some high clouds. 72F/67F. South breeze. Solar 84%.

Forecast shows a possible window between 12 pm and 6 pm tomorrow.

Next Leg, Weather Permitting - About 8 Miles

1145-Dishes and clean up is done.  69F/69F. Solar 93%. High clouds, with a  14 mph breeze, but anchorage is calm.

Pelicans Came In For A Landing

1730-Three white pelicans landed earlier. I took way too many photos and video as well.  Had trouble with focus for some reason?

NOTE: In Breeding Season Has Short Yellowish Crest On Back Of Head
And Triangular Horny Plate On Upper Mandible

Dinner was a grilled steak tenderloin, potatoes, salad, rolls, and red wine.  Dessert was Bailey's over ice cream.

Will read my e-Book this evening. Still looks like a wind window is possible late tomorrow.

2040-Started a new paperback "Fractured Faith" by Lina Abujamra. Will hit the sack and read until my eyes close of their own accord.

Wind forecast for today never appeared!  I could have moved!

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Lake Nipigon 2023 - Day 16, Wednesday, July 12

0400-56F/50F. Solar 90%.  Clear, calm, cold!

0530-Study routine rushed a little this morning with the goal of a 6 AM departure.

Verse for the day: "I love you, Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold."  (Psalms 18:1-2)

Made a quick breakfast and began departure prep.

0600-Departed the anchorage. Wind 7-9 mph.  More wind and waves than expected at sunrise but still okay.

Early Start

Kayak Still Following

NOTE: Went 4.1 miles on Tank 4 then switched to Tank 5.  Traveled a total of 29.5 miles on the six gallon Tank 4. (4.9 mpg).  Traveled 12.4 miles on Tank 5.

Ran into areas of calm and light wind enroute.

Bison Island Foreground - Harbor Island Background - Half Way Mark

Harbor Island Was A Potential Stop Point Passed By On This Leg

0850-Anchored at Shakespeare Island in the northern most anchorage SW of Abeki Point. Leg 13 was 16.5 miles.  Thank you Lord for a flat sea and light winds!

Day 12, Leg 13 - 16.5 Miles

Destination - Leg 13 (GE)

Destination Shakespeare Island - Good Protection From South

Sun is out temps 64F/64F.  Solar 82%.  Water temp 54F.

0930-Did the dishes. Anchorage is calm.

Anchorage Looking West

1000-Had the last half of a chicken salad sandwich with chips. I was hungry with the early start and cold air of the crossing.  I set up and took a shower.

1130-Listened to my audio book until I got tired then took a nap.

Nice Beach Area

1500-Got up from a considerable nap. Put away the remainder of the shower gear.  75F/78F. Solar 100%.

A nice beach here but I see no animal tracks.

1650-I finished dinner of pot roast with potatoes, salad, rolls, and red wine.  Finished my audio book " Heavens Gate" by William Kent Krueger.  I have one more e-Book "Storm Tide" by Wilbur Smith but only four days to finish it on this trip.

Thawing out strawberries for ice cream later.

2005-Dessert was great!  Read out of my e-Book. Tried sitting on the aft deck but the ankle biters (flies) would not give up!  I managed to get a few in the cabin.

Looking North In Anchorage

Sun will set soon. I will hit the sack early.  Nothing I can do since I can't sit outside and enjoy the evening with all the flies. So, I will read, then sleep.

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