The Trip

The boys have the usual Thursday night rendezvous at Gravenhurst. Fred and Peter drive up to meet Eric and Ron at Ron's cottage. Andrew shows up around midnight after his afternoon shift. The mosquitoes are bad enough at the cottage, so we're expecting trouble up north. No problem --- some of us still have a supply of high concentrate Muskol. We had a few beers and discussed the merits of solar energy, retirement planning, and why it isn't a good idea to have bears roaming the streets of Newmarket.

We got off to an early start on Friday and made our usual stop in Sturgeon Falls (aka West Nipissing on modern maps). We made a quick stop for coffee and cheese curds at Tim Horton's and the Metro. In Chelmsford, we filled up our gas tanks at Canadian Tire and had lunch at KFC. On the way in, we spotted a moose standing in a swamp. It appeared to be in the same spot as another moose that we spotted in an earlier year. Eddy met us at the camp, and we noticed a few upgrades had been added. The roof was added to the new garage, a log sawing station was made, and an axe throwing station was installed. Two more solar panels were added, as well as more batteries, so the solar energy became a viable partner to the generator. The new widescreen tv will make watching the hockey games like being at home. We had burgers and sausages for dinner, and then went out on the lake for a little fun with some pike. We noticed that there were new motors on the boats.



Saturday turned out to be a hot, sunny day. We did a little fishing on Sashihaw and ended up with some pike and a few pickerel. It was Andrew's turn for dinner and he presented his Chicken Souvlaki with Quinoa, and potato salad. Not only is he a real estate magnate, he is well on his way to becoming a Michelin 3 star chef. Ok ladies, he is accepting applications... The satellite receiver was hooked up, and after dinner, it was game 5 between Chicago and Tampa Bay (series tied at 2). The Hawks win it 2-1, and everyone goes home satisfied --- except Peter.



Sunday started out ok, but the clouds were moving in. Andre showed up at the camp and delivered some building material. The morning fishing wasn't working, so we resorted to beer drinking and tall tales. A few pike were captured for our wonton soup, which we were planning for our afternoon lunch. Andre found the dead mouse in the sauna cabin. We began making our wontons for deep fry and our soup using a small wonton press. It works pretty good, and saves a lot of folding time. We'll have to pick up a few more for next year. Unfortunately, Andre had to go back to town and didn't stick around for our wonton soup. The rain started in the afternoon, and we noticed that the water pressure wasn't building up. Eddy and Ron found a hole in the water intake hose, and had to perform some quick repairs. We were able to continue with our steak and poutine dinner, and finished the night off with a little euchre.



We decided to take a short trip over to Kasasway and see if things looked ok for our planned day trip (on Tuesday). At the same time, we could see if the road to the CN derailment was open. The access to Kasasway looked ok, and we only saw a single four-wheeler with a trailer. There should be plenty of room for us to get our two vehicles in there. We tried to access the derailment site, but reached a point in the road that prohibited us from going further. Eddy knew of another road which might get us closer to the train tracks. We got on the track, but the actual derailment site was still too far for us to see any of the damage. We returned to Sashihaw and fished in the afternoon. We pre-loaded the canoes and our gear for tomorrow's journey. We had Walleye Wrappers for lunch, which turned out very tasty. Spaghetti and meatballs for dinner, and then we settled in for game 6 of the Stanley Cup finals. The Chicago Blackhawks demonstrated that although they didn't have a great regular season, they have the experienced personnel and management team that could overcome the high-powered offense of the Tampa squad. They were deserving champions.



Tuesday was our last chance to catch fish for dinner. The day started off looking a little overcast, and rain looked imminent. Bringing our raincoats would likely result in a sunny day. Ok, raincoats it is... The trip to Kasasway was pretty quick, and we were able to launch the canoes with no problem. Ron & Andrew, Eric & Peter, and Eddy & Fred made up the pairings. We put our raincoats on, and here comes the sun! As usual, Kasasway did not disappoint. That lake has fish! The day turned out fairly sunny, and the bass were hungry. After getting back to camp, we cleaned all the fish, and handed them over to Ron. Ron's Broiled Parmesan Lemon Bass dinner was a success. He was able to use Eddy's oven to broil the fish, and they came out very tasty. We headed out on the pontoon boat for our last boat ride. We finished the night by having tasty hot dogs by the camp fire.



The trip seemed to go by quickly this year. With a late start, we packed up and cleaned up our mess. We said our goodbyes with Eddy and Toby and headed back south. Ron got a flat tire on the way out, and had to change tires just before we reached the 144. It looks like the previous repair job on that tire failed. We made it back to Chelmsford on the spare, and Ron got the tire repaired at Canadian Tire. We had some pizza for lunch at the Stackhouse (thanks Pete). Eric and Fred head home, while Ron, Andrew and Peter head off to Gravenhurst.

Thanks to Eddy for all the help around the camp. Your company is always welcome. The FishingPals would also like to thank Andre for use of the camp. It seems to get better every year! Don't forget to order your very own copy of this year's blu-ray!