Heading back to the BWCA

Well the bus is getting ready to pull out for the "big" trip. We'll be leaving tomorrow at noon and driving to Ely. We'll visit the Wolf Center to get our permit and then maybe stop at Dorothy Molter's museum. This whole trip is to get to the place where Dorothy lived and died as the last resident of the BWCA.

Saturday morning we will paddle 4 miles across big Snowbank Lake to its northeast corner. Then there's two short portages, 30 and 50 rods, (a rod is approximently 17 feet, the average length of a canoe) and a small pond will lead us to Boot Lake and then a long portage to Ensign Lake (220 rods). We'll paddle up to the portage of 180 rods to Vera and a 280 into Knife Lake and Isle of the Pine, right on the Canadian Border, the home of Dorothy Molter. That will be our first two days. We are going in for nine. We'll be visiting other lakes, fishing, enjoying the wildlife and the full moon that will be big and bright on Thursday the 21st. We'll be coming out on Sunday July 31st.

I'm really looking forward to getting back in the great outdoors (just got home from Motortown). I'll fill you all in when we get home.

Sunset over Detroit on Tuesday

Sight Seeing Along Lake Huron

Today Debi and I drove over to look at the houses along Lake Huron. This is one of the run down homes. Most were mansions, as you can well imagine. This one caught my attention because it looks like something out of a Harry Potter movie. I believe it even winked at me as we drove by.

Tomorrow it's back to work for three days and then off to Minnesota to leave on a nine day adventure into the BWCA. I'm really looking forward to this trip. It will be our longest, hardest trip thus far.

Pride of Windsor Cruise

We, Debi and I, crossed over to Winsor Canada today and took the Pride of Windsor Cruise for a lunch trip. The cruise was on the International Water Way of the Detroit River. It was cloudy and rainy most of the trip but it did clear off towards the end. In the background you can see the Detriot skyline. We went an hour up the Canadian side of the river and then came back down the US side. The thing I noticed most was that the Canadian side was very nice and clean and the US side was dirty, run down and embarrassing.

Hard Rock Cafe Detroit

Stopped by the Hard Rock Cafe briefly today to get Bill Cynor another shot glass. This will make 18 Hard Rock Cafe's I've visited to contribute to his collection.

Comerica Park

Drove by Comerica Park today. The All Star Game was held here last week.

Bass Pro Shop in Detroit

Today I visited Bass Pro Shop in Detroit. I bought some "rubba worms" and some chocolate covered raisins that ended up melting in the car while we were locked out of it all afternoon.

Hey...is one of my pant legs longer than the other?

Debi Peterson waiting for a new key

Debi Peterson, my partner in crime this week and next, lost the car keys today. We waited three hours for Avis to bring us another key. Did I mention it was 90 degrees out?

Mike and Dan take 2nd place on Gull

My son Mike Dieter and his partner Dan Doughty gladly accept their 2nd place plaques from the Brainerd Lakes Bassmasters Tournament Director Arnie Farber this past Sunday July 10th.

















I also fished this tournament and finished dead last. Good grief. I can't even go into what a struggle it was. I fished with Troy Switajewski for eight hours both Saturday and Sunday in 90 plus degrees on Gull Lake. We did pretty darn good the first day and totally bombed the second. Keith Tuma and his partner Troy Bruns won with over 29 lbs for just 6 fish. That's huge. Dan and Mike took 2nd with 23 lbs for 6 fish.

The club will be fishing this Saturday on Rabbit lake but I won't be able to join them because I'm in Detroit working. Hopefully I will find something fun to do here. I'm here with another trainer, Debi, and we're talking about going on a river cruise over the weekend. We'll have to see. It's in the 90's here too.

Sunset behind thunder clouds at Perent Lake.

Group at Perent Lake

Dale and Robin Kaiser, Bunny Lazorik, Ellie and Dave Boeckermann and myself are seen here Friday night enjoying a nice refreshing drink of "Wang".

This was a very quick trip. It simply was a break away from all the hub bub of the 4th (tourists, commotion and noise). It was a first time trip in a canoe to the BWCA for Dale, Robin and Bunny. I hope they enjoyed themselves.

We paddled down Hog Creek for several winding miles and then across Perent Lake to find a campsite. The campsite we really wanted was already taken. So we paddled on. The campsite we ended up with turned out to be a very good one too. Plenty of room for the tents. Firewood was a little scarce but we always came up with enough to have a nice fire. Bunny was assigned the duty of "baker" and did a fine job baking. We even had lemon bars one night.

The wind was howling pretty much non-stop and limited the time we could spend out on the lake fishing but we still managed to russle up enough fish for a fish fry Sunday night.

We are now preparing for the "big trip" coming up in three weeks. The big one will be nine days in the BWCA. We will be very limited to what we can pack in. It will be the most challenging trip for us yet. We will be visiting Isle of the Pines, Dorothy Molters old residence. I am really looking forward to it.