It's Monday night -- the first day back in the office after getting home. Bruce and I got home at about midnight Saturday after the very long drive; somehow, driving home seemed twice as long as the drive up on Friday, June 9th. But back to the beginning....

Yes, the drive was long, but I was keyed up. The miles fell away as we listened to our favorite CDs and watched the rolling hills of Wisconsin and then Minnesota slip by. Soon we knew we were in "north" country as more and more birch trees appeared and the lupine grew in elegant spikes of purple and pink along the road; more and more "Holiday" gas stations appeared too.

Our destination that first night was the Best Western motel in Thunder Bay. Bruce and the other guys had learned first-hand the dangers of mixing dark roads with wandering moose and deer on that final leg from Thunder Bay to to the outfitter just this side of Atikokan. Several times in the past, they narrowly missed hitting some big ones.

We were glad to crash as soon as we arrived. I was a little concerned that the fishermen (or hunters, possibly) I had spotted in the two rooms adjacent to our would be noisy, so I put in my earplugs. But they must have been as tired as we were. Soon all was quiet, and the five am wake-up call Saturday morning was the next thing I knew....