July 22

I left Toronto at 9:00pm, the beginning of my long drive to Bissett, Manitoba. The theme of this trip is "slow down" to that end I have five days to cover the approximate 2200km drive. I drove straight through with one fuel stop until 6:00am when I pulled into a discreet location a bit west of Sault Ste. Marie.

July 23

Had a nice 6 hour sleep until noon before heading west. Shortly had my first view of Superior. Stopped in Wawa for lunch, fuel stop in Marathon and then on to Thunder Bay where I was staying with Steve with whom I had paddled the George River in 2008.

July 24

Following a nice evening chatting with Steve about possible future trips I continued driving west. Diverging from the Trans-Canada I took the alternate route on Hwy 11 via Atikokan and then north on Hwy 622 to rejoin the T-C east of Dryden. Once I hit the Manitoba border I had a decision to make, head north towards Bissett and spend a few days camping out or drive on to Winnipeg to visit an old friend and business associate. I had two days to kill so I decided to do the 'peg now so that I could zoom home after the trip if I felt so inclined.

July 25

Spent the day wandering around Winnipeg. For various reasons I've visited Winnipeg more frequently than any other Canadian city except Ottawa and of course Toronto where I have lived all my life. It was a typical Summer day, mid-30's without a cloud in the sky, I got baked and felt the after effects for several days.

July 26

A continuation of the baking! In the late afternoon my friend decided he could get away so we drove north to his cottage on Lake Winnipeg, more than half the way to Bissett. Not only was it cooler at the lake it left me with an easy 90 minute drive for the following day to get to the float base. Big storms over the lake, lots of thunder, lightning and high winds, a sign of things to come?

July 27

Left the cottage at Hillside Beach, fueled up on the way to Pine Falls, Manigotagan and on to Bissett and arriving at the Blue Water Aviation office around 11:30. I find out that Christian and his group from Virginia that I'm flying in with are running a bit late but are definitely on their way and should show up around 1:00pm. I spent the next hour doing a final gear sort and check, testing to see if my boat would fit inside the Otter (it didn't) and making arrangements to have my vehicle moved up to Bloodvein Village. The boys from VA arrived right on 1:00pm, introductions made the trip now officially starts.

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