Northern Saturday

I woke up Saturday morning to Jake ripping the quilt off my sleepy self. I worked Friday so Saturday morning is my time for sleeping in. Jake, my fiancé, woke up early to go call on some trucks since our old beater broke down again.

We head back over to Genoa, where his dad lives, a short distance from Jake's ma in Eveleth, MN. Jake and I spend a lot of time in Genoa, either chatting with his dad or in the garage working on our various junker vehicles, sleds, wheelers, or working on the wood boat. Well today Jake said he'd warm up the sled for me, a sleeper sled which means the 440 XC is actually a 700 twin motor. After he warmed it up, I ripped the trail quick like to Gilbert and then back to Genoa about a three minute ride when you're going 60 mph. When I got back to the house Vinko, Jake's dad, was firing his sled up for a ride. So I just told Jake I was going to ride across the highway to the trails over there just for a bit. It didn't turn out that way.

I ended up ripping down the side of the highway to see if my friend/mother figure was home. She wasn't so I decided I'd go to the "spot" (where her son, my friend Noah had killed himself). I made it there just fine. I parked the sled in front of cross and other items placed there in memorial. Relaxing and stretching from the ride, cleared out the snow from around the cross, then decided to be on my way. I went around the corner and got buried in powder about six inches off the trail. No cell phone, no two-way radio, or anything.

So I started walking down the trail to the rarely driven road that wraps around behind Lake Orebegone. I sat for about five minutes knowing that nobody knew where I was and nobody would be looking over there. I figured I could walk left or right and hope to God that someone was out fishing off one of the boat landings. I decided on left, and thankfully about fifty yards down the road my friend Wolf's truck parked at the landing. He was just pulling up his tip-ups, getting ready to get off the lake. I walked out explained I was stuck, we walked back to his truck together and loaded his gear and drove up to the "spot." Then we hiked up the mine dump to where my sled was buried in powder, Wolf pulled it out no problem. He's a big kid with a long blonde pony tail and a thick chest. I drove it around back to the memorial site, he hopped on and I gave him a ride back to his truck then got my little butt home! Of course as soon as I got to the turn off for Genoa I see Jake standing up on a sled looking around. When I got up to him he took off not even noticing me trying to catch up to him, heading towards a corner. When I hit that corner another sled came around, luckily we both hit our brakes and missed each other by a couple feet. Jake noticed me then, so we rode back to his Genoa, where his dad and some friends were getting ready for their own snowmobile ride.

Brandon, Jake's long time friend, had gotten to Vinko's in the meantime to met up and go fishing. He brought his little mutt pup Blue, named after its one bright blue eye. We said our goodbyes and headed off towards Elliot Lake where our other friends Biggie, and Chubs were already fishing.

That's were my next little Saturday adventure comes into play. There was plenty of ice on the lake, permanents, portables, trucks and people all over the backside of the lake. We drove up with the ice popping, settling underneath us as we went along. Pulling up alongside Biggie's bronco we unloaded our gear and set up our portable as Jake drilled the holes. I went into the warm permanent right away, while the guys sat out fishing on the ice watching the pup. They eventually got cold too with the wind coming out of the northwest fiercely blowing across the ice. Brandon tried to stick Blue the pup in the back of the truck with a blanket but that didn't last long. Soon after, he put the dog in the truck; we heard the laughing of a young fisherman that was set up close by with his parents. That tiny little pup jumped out of the back of the pickup and was playing with a four year old. Brandon didn't mind and it sure didn't seem like the kid minded, but he figured he better go wrangle up the mutt. The mother on the other hand though wanted Blue to stay because the boy had wanted to go home about an hour ago, now he was content playing with the rambunctious black and white puppy.

So the dog was entertained and so was the boy, win win situation. The boys, Brandon and Jake decided they'd go jig around in some different holes. I although was a bit reluctant to leave my mister heater and warm portable house. So I stayed fishing my two holes, with my live bait since we weren't fishing trout finally! But that wind had picked up even more and our portable has a hub system in which the walls and ceiling pop out, well that back wall I was sitting by popped in with the wind. Knocking over the mister heater sending me into a stroke thinking I was going to burn up the portable. I grabbed that heater so fast and as soon as I did the whole ice house went sailing over my head into the air, smoking a permanent house across from me. I was left on the bare ice with my rod in one hand and the heater in the other completely stunned. Luckily the boy's father jumped and caught it in the air; otherwise we'd have been picking it out of a tree across the lake. Also he loaned us the ice picks to hold it down securely, and invited us to his house after fishing for a few beers. We fished a while longer moving our ice house in between Chubs and our truck tying off to both of them as well as using the ice picks in the grommets on the house itself.

Jake's enthusiasm got the best of him though, right after the fish started biting he had to run and pick up beer because the only store out there was closing soon. So he leaves me there in the house alone again, untying all of the tie-downs I had to the trucks so I had to hold the sides out so they wouldn't pop in on me again. I was so irate by the time he got back I almost chugged that pint of schmirnoff that Brandon graciously bought me. After getting a couple crappies we packed up and headed down the road to the house party we had been invited too. It ended up being a blast, four older people who we had met on the lake with a bunch of beer. We had so much fun getting bombed with them. I will definitely remember to stop by their place when we go back out that way.

We drove back although clearly intoxicated, and I do not advocate that for anyone, but we just had a few back roads until we got to Brandon's house so we were ok. Until the morning when I woke up on the pull out couch in just my bra and pants because I got hot when they threw me on the bed with all my fishing clothing layered on. Then walked around not even noticing because I was still buzzed from the booze. All in all a great weekend, although there was a snowmobile that was buried, and an ice house that blew away, and parts that were exposed.