Finally cell coverage!!!

August 8, 2009

Brian finally got cell coverage and was able to call me...twice-once earlier today and then again tonight. Both were brief, but I don't care! I got to hear from him!!

He is doing good, just very tired. Yesterday was interesting for him. It started with him gathering fire wood. As he was being all lumbarjackish (for some reason I pictured him in a red plaid shirt as he told this part of the story) , a brown bear (which he didn't ever actually see) makes warning calls at him. Bear? What the hell!! Now I have to worry about Sip Rats and bears? Bears never came up in our conversations of what to expect while he is out there!!! Okay, I am not dumb. I know there are bears. But for some wierd reason, I did not think about that. Come on! I had alot on my mind. I was more worried about the rats and well, him drowning than to think about bears! Now I have bears to worry about too!!! My goodness!!

Then after the bear encounter it started raining and hard. Luckily he had his fancy camp site (picture below) for him to all curl up in. He should feel comfy in it cause its about the same size as our bedroom! Roughing it huh? Just kidding. He said he hardly slept. It was cold and weird noises of the forest kept him up all night. (Probably the Sip Rats along with the brown bears laying out their deviant plan-their in cahoots I say!!)

So he got up early to begin his hardest part of this journey-the head waters. The reason it is so difficult is because the river starts out as glorified marshes that is very narrow and at times very shallow. There were parts that Brian had to get out of his kayak and drag the thing behind him. Did I mention the water is freezing? And he found his first leech on him today. I'm so proud!! Well he made it about 13ish miles today. Doesn't sound like much, but this is very good considering it is the headwaters and that his boat got more of a ride than he did today!!!!! So tonight he is around Bemidji (yes, that is how you spell it...I know for sure because I used the spy satellite to double check his location!!! I love modern technology!!! And no, I am not exactly sure how to pronounce it!!!!). and he will hopefully reach Cass lake no later than Monday. Once he gets there, it should be easier with no more marshes, etc!!! And hopefully he will have better cell signal.

So he is camping out tonight. And in case you were wondering...its still raining!!!!!!