Day 19 Mississippi River

This morning I woke with hopes of passing through Brained, MN by days end. The stretch paddled today consisted of several long, stringy lakes stretched together.

The first thing I noticed in the AM were the amount of fishing boats on the water. I figured a tournament must be underway, based off of the high dollar boats I'd already seen. After packing up and hitting the water at a reasonable time I spoke with a few of the fisherman who confirmed my suspicion- there was indeed a bass tourney going on. 5 fish per boat would be weighed, meaning the top 5 heaviest fish would take first.

To me, there seems to be an inverse relationship between the cost of a boat and the amount of time it sees on the water. The silver beaters with a 25HP motor that hard starts and has to be loved just right to fire off seem to get more water time than the $80,000 suped up bad boy that sits in the storage unit unless it's tournament time, Labor Day or the 4th of July. Just an observation of an angler.

Much of the day was spent ducking from shore to shore to try and avoid the inevitable wind. The breeze made for relatively tough paddling.

After working through the chain of lakes and river I arrived at Potlatch Dam, also the start of my next town, Brained MN. Potlatch dam is run by a now closed paper plant, and after talking with a local in town I found out that the area has become a massive VW storage lot. The emission scandal at VW required the company to offer trade ins for vehicles effected, and apparently thousands of those relatively new vehicles are parked at the now defunct paper mill. You can search google earth and see the lot. Kind of odd.

After the portage I paddled through town until reaching Kiwanas Park, my destination for the night. I pulled my canoe into a covering and unloaded some of my boat. It seemed like the park was a popular local destination so I did my best to stay out of sight.

I left the boat and gear and skated into town for a burger and Sunday night football. I found just what I was looking for at the local watering hole Yesterday's Gone (YG's for short). The bartender, Dan, shared stories of a few other through paddlers he'd met in his 14 years working at the joint. We told stories and I had a darn good burger while watching football. Tough to beat.

I skated back to Kiwanas park, set up my hammock for the first time all trip, and quickly fell asleep hoping no one gave me any trouble through the night.

Day 19- success.