Five Men & An Elf Visit Shania

Thursday:

The festivities began Thursday night where Peter and Fred met up with Eric and Alan in Ajax. With the loss of the Ford Ranger, we had to rent a vehicle to take us into the deep woods. Eric had arranged that deal at Budget. Ron and Andrew were heading up with the same van as last year but, it now had a few signs of battle fatigue. Looks like some gremlins used it for some off-roading. The crew of four headed up to Gravenhurst with a stop at a roadside stand for a bag of corn and some tomatoes. We were planning on a BBQ up in Timmins. This year's trip included a one-day stop in Timmins to visit Shania and take a mine tour.

Arriving at Doe Lake, we found that Ron's van had a flat tire, and Ron was on his way up from the city with a replacement. Meanwhile dinner was had in town at Rambo's (or was that Rombo's?). No booze, and one server to take care of all the patrons. The place needed a restaurant makeover. At the cottage, we met up with Linda, Jeff, kids and cousins. Looked like a full house, but we still continued with the tradition of pouring ourselves a few Black & Tan's. Eric seems to have mastered the technique now, or else he is using better beer. Marc was also up at the cottage and as luck would have it, had some spare beds for some weary drunkards.
 

Friday: Up bright and early, we made our way North towards Sudbury. Heading up highway 69, we stopped in Gravenhurst for a few supplies and then off to Parry Sound for a coffee break and some oil. We were making good progress, and then we saw it --- a line of red tail lights on the highway. Everyone ahead of us was stopped dead, and the line continued forming behind us. Radio reports and what other bystanders were telling us let us know that there was a bad accident ahead. Three cars and a fatality were the initial reports. As a few cars were driving back in the other direction, we found out that the police had advised that it would take about three hours to clear things up. We decided to go south and head up on highway 11. We went east on highway 141 to get on to highway 11 and proceeded up to North Bay. With a few missed turns in North Bay, we eventually found highway 17 and headed west towards Sudbury. We had a short stop in Sturgeon Falls for some lunch. Finding highway 144 was no problem and it was a quick stop in Gogama to pick up some minnows next. We got off the highway onto the dirt road to Sashihaw. We ran across partridge, rabbits, a bear and a couple of cubs on our way in to the camp. What was originally a five hour trip, turned into a more than ten hour expedition. We met Ed and Richard at the camp and cracked open a cold one, which were waiting in a nice cold ice bath for our arrival. Andre showed up later while we had a chance to settle in.  We had a cowboy steak dinner which was a nice way to end the day. Saturday: Peter, Ron and Fred head out in one boat while Eric, Alan and Andrew were in another.  Not much action so Peter, Ron and Fred decide to explore the connecting lake.  Wow.  Weeds.  It took almost an hour to get in because of the amount of weeds and logs that were in the way.  Not even a bite in the other lake.  Coming out was much better, but it still took about 20 to 30 minutes to get past the weed gauntlet.  Butter Chicken by Ron and Alan was the dinner of the day.  There wasn't much difference between the regular and the hot, but both were good.  Horseshoes and euchre rounded out the night.  Andre, Ed and Richard head back to town.

Sunday: Our day trip to Kenogaming Lake meant that we had to pack a lunch and plan to be there most of the day.  Thanks to Alan's efforts, we were able to have some nice sandwiches at the other lake.  Only problem was those who didn't like mustard, might have to do a little hunting to find a suitable sandwich.  Kenogaming Lake turned out to be quite large with an outfitter's camp on it.  By hauling in canoes on the ATV, we were able to easily get in and look around.  Next time, we'll bring anchors, and a fiberglass repair kit.  Fred caught one walleye and Alan got the rest.  There was enough for dinner.  Tonite's menu was Hamburgers and Fish on a Bun.  It was a poor substitute for Ben's Steamed Fish meal, but it still tasted pretty good. Monday: The morning fish wasn't very productive, so after a few hours in the sun, everyone headed back to the camp and we had a pike lunch.  Some of the gang headed out to Elbow Lake in the afternoon to explore.  Not much happening there either.  Spaghetti dinner was the order of the day.  The battery in Ron's van was dead and needed a boost.  Thanks to Ben's old Motomaster Eliminator power inverter, we had something to boost the van.  Unfortunately, it was dead and needed to be charged.  We were able to charge it fully before bedtime. Tuesday: Teardown at the camp began first thing in the morning. We were packed and cleaned up before heading off to Timmins. The battery boost worked like a charm and Ron's vehicle was up and running again.  We had pretty good weather during the whole trip, but it had to be raining on our last day. Looks like 'fun in the sun' would have to wait for some other year. We locked up the camp and took off to Timmins in the rain. Our first stop was The Beer Store where we needed to get some Bohemians for the day. Since we were so close, we stopped in at the Shania Twain Centre to see Timmins' most famous celebrity. We didn't have much time so we had to skip the gold mine tour. We had lunch at Mike's (I think that's short for Michaelangelo's), and then stopped off at Food Basics to pick up a few groceries. Next we were off to Andre's for our BBQ bash. While the festivities began at Andre's, Eric's arm was beginning to look worse. A pronounced line was making its way from his wrist all the way to his armpit. Hmmmm, should we go to the hospital? Since the possibility of a Pike infection was real, we decided to take Eric to see a doctor. Fred and Andrew drop Eric off at the hospital with a cell phone and head back to the party. Fred's sisters and families joined the gang. We had a nice meal of caribou, sturgeon, shish-kebob, and hamburger. After dinner, we jumped on the house boat and took a ride down the Mattagami River. As we passed by Steve Sullivan's house, we were just beginning to get comfortable when we got the call from Eric. Since we were heading towards town, we instructed Eric to take a taxi to the Mattagami Bridge and we would pick him up there. We found him waiting for us in the dark, but he still had his arm, which was a good sign. The course of treatment was antibiotics but it was hard to tell if anyone knew what was going on. Eric was on an intravenous drip at the hospital which was the first of three he needed. The next was scheduled at 3 AM and then 11 AM. We headed back to the house in the dark, to give everyone an update and to reminisce about days gone by. Eric missed out on the BBQ, and the Bohemians! Did anyone hear Eric get up at 3 AM?

....

Wednesday:

Peter and Fred wait for Eric as he received his third installment of antibiotics. Meanwhile, Kim had met us at the hospital to return all of the things we forgot at the house. We headed out around 1 PM. The long drive back to the Big Smoke was fairly uneventful. We stopped at Englehart for a little lunch and then in North Bay for some gas. We managed to get behind a truck hauling lumber that proved to be pretty exciting. The truck must have hit the gravel a half dozen times while we were following him. We didn't know if the driver was sleeping or if he had some mechanical problems. However, if he would have over-corrected one of his mishaps, it might have been one messy highway. We didn't need to take a detour at this point in our trip so we passed him when we had a safe passing lane.

We had a nice pork roast dinner at Ron's cottage. Thanks Cathy! It hit the spot after the long trip. Eric dropped Fred and Peter off, and Alan stayed in Ajax overnight.

UPDATE: After seeing his doctor in Toronto, Eric got a call from the Timmins District Hospital and was informed that his wound had been infected with Strep Group A.  If left untreated, it could result in the flesh eating disease.  After seeing a plastics specialist, he was able to self-treat the infection with supplies that were given to him.  He was on two antibiotics taken intravenously, and had to wear a portable pump so that he could carry on with his life.  He still has all of his limbs today...

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