My guide for Friday's trip down the Mighty Brule River
Yooper Brother Mark

July 18, 2015 - Saturday morning
61 degrees/cloudy/thunderstorm warning
Pentoga Road

It's eerily quiet out there and for the first time this summer, I had to turn a light on this morning. The days are getting shorter, but it's also heavily overcast. Radar is showing a heavy bank of storm clouds just to our west and it appears the rain we need will begin falling any time now.

Friday was a fun one. Yooper Brother Mark arrived around mid morning. We loaded the kayaks into his truck, took the Blazer to the Pentoga Bridge on this end and left it, then drove about fifteen miles to begin our kayak trip.

Launching upstream

The weather was almost perfect, sunny with a few clouds and a bit of a breeze.

I thought we might relive our last float trip. A tree lay completely across the river and Mark, in the lead, was hesitant to cross the trunk that lay partially out of the water. Last time, for the first time in my life, I flipped while trying to bump him off a log. Yesterday, I went on ahead and skidded across to the safety of open water.

Mark tried going across the log, but fighting the current, couldn't muster enough momentum.  He finally found a way through a maze of submerged tree limbs to one side. 

There was enough water for a good flow and we didn't have to work very hard.

The old silo at Scott Lake Farm, about halfway through our trip.

Mark took my camera to snap a picture. The only problem... he didn't realize it was backwards and began taking a series of selfies. I believe the boy has worse vision than I do!

As in the case of all good times, our float trip came to an end all too soon. It took about four hours to cover the sixteen miles.

Last night was a quiet one. Sargie had to close and didn't arrive home until 8 PM. After the trip, I wasn't rarin' to do much of anything other than take a shower and a short grandpa nap.

Sargie is back to work today. With rain forecast, I think I'll head to the shop. There's a piece I started carving three years ago that I recently rediscovered. It should be a good day to sit at my bench, listen to some music, and whittle away.

The Pentoga Road Bridge at journey's end

After all, a man's work is never done.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...