I rose around 7AM with the goal of being on the water around 8:30. With a full days rest, several home cooked meals and a few hot tub sessions under my belt I was ready to get after it.

Once again, Don and Deb had oatmeal with butter and sugar, buttered toast and coffee waiting for me. Awesome. I packed up the boat and was getting ready to take off when Don trotted down to the river bank with a yellow shopping bag in hand - "can't forget your cookie dough!" He had packaged me a bag full of Aunt Edmoes famous cookie dough (the eggless version) on ice and wrapped in several zip locks. Armed with enough sugar to take down a Rhino I hit the water at 8:45 with Don and Deb both video taping via phones my departure.

It turned into a fine day on the river. Sun was out, it hit about 68 degrees and all was good. Just an hour into the day I noticed two deer swim across the river about 25 yards ahead of me (as I passed the location I noticed their well worn trail went directly below a big deer stand...someone had it figured out). 2 bald eagles, flying one after the other swooped down just off the front of my boat as they left their perch in search for quieter grounds.

At lunch I had reached the Aiktin Diversion dam. Lori had gave me a tip regarding the dam, which was constructed in the early 1900s to divert flood waters from the town of Aiktin, MN. For my purposes though it was a way to cut about 20 miles off of my trek. The diversion channel/River Canal required a short portage, which I knocked off easy enough and then decided to have lunch. Apple slices dipped in peanut butter, cheese its, peanut butter crackers some sour gummy worms and Aunt Edmoes cookie dough. Not a bad lunch!

I paddled the diversion dam and continued for the rest of the day. My camp spot for the night, called Lone Pine, was a nice little spot perched on a small hill over looking the river. As with almost all the other sites thus far, it was overrun with poison ivy.

I've had a lot of run ins with poison ivy over the years. It's my theory that if you stomp around the woods enough in your life, you're bound to get it (for a long time it seem to be an annual tradition for me). I've always had a vague understanding of how to identify it, but could never 100% say to myself "yes, that is poison ivy. For sure." That is until now. I've seen so much of it I don't think I'll ever forget what it looks like. 3 leaves (the middle one typically having a slightly longer stem) that to me can be roughly traced to look like a left handed mitten. I did have a small dot of ivy on my wrist near the start of the trip. It has since cleared up.

I hit the tent early and called it a day just after the sun had set on the river. Looking forward to a great day tomorrow.