The boys were all eager
And ready to go
We lined up our gear
All in a row.
Bruce made the comment
“It’s way too much stuff.
We’re never going to fit it
The room’s not enough.”
But into the cupboards
The closets and drawers
We fit all our belongings
And had room for s’more.
Before leaving our hometown
We slept on the lake
But unfamiliar noises
Kept us awake.
With sore eyes and muscles
But still full of life
I started the engine
Which woke up my wife.
At 6 in the morning
We left from our slip
For the start of our journey
Not aware of a blip.
I think a gremlin
Crawled in overnight
And put a kink in my engine
Just out of sight.
There started a noise
A clicking of sorts
That made me concerned
So I turned back to the port.
“We’ll get this noise fixed,”
I said to the boys,
“And be back on our way,”
To continue our joy.
But one thing led to another
As projects sometimes go
And we are pulling the motor
To get down below.
To locate the problem
And give her new life
So she’ll pure like a kitten
And relieve our strife.
So we’ll make a new plan
To go on our trip
When the engine is fixed
And get over the blip.
Because I hadn’t any friends coming, Margaret decided to come the day before I was to push off to cross Lake Superior, so we had a little extra planning and running at the last minute. A run to the grocery store (because she didn’t quite approve of my menu planning, or lack of it) to get a few more vittles, a stop by work to tie up some loose ends there, and a quick drive to Lac La Belle to get her meds. Gramma Ellen met us at the dock to see us off, but I had mechanic Craig checking over a couple things and that delayed us more…(I had to be sure the Yooper Looper was mechanically ready.) We took an evening cruise, and went back to the dock for the night since it was late evening. After a meal of hamburgers and a WalMart run for some engine cleaner and a nylon line, we hit the bunks, and left the dock at 6:30 the next morning.
Now, with another glitch to fix and not knowing how long it will take, we’re not sure when we’ll leave, but the earliest possible is next weekend. Oh, well. As Richard Carlson says in the title of his book: “Don’t sweat the small stuff and it’s all small stuff.”
