After a brutal night in the cold I shivered my way down the street to breakfast. I got there about 10 minutes early, and there was already a line of cars.  Rust is a huge issue here with the salt on the road in the winter so it was interesting looking at the damage. At 7:29am the car doors opened and the herd of old farmers got out to walk into the diner at exactly 7:30am like trained cattle.

The 8 top was instantly full of 65 and over.  I sat solo at the table next to them so I could charge my phone and gps unit.

3 minutes later I am receiving the 3rd degree as they smell outa town’r all over me. It’s a town of 75 people lol.

We talk paddling, farming, Texas, guns and snow for about 45 minutes.

The local crop is wild rice, and I got to meet the owner of the largest, oldest farm in the area.  Apparently the Indians used to fight each other over the crop.

I find out about the local honey from Greg Smith, farmer, truck driver, life long local.

Breakfast ends, I now have a pound of rice, lots of advice about the next 35 miles of river and a full belly!

I talked strategy with Sam and we decided I needed to grind out the 35 miles so I could take a down day in the city of Aitkin, MN and not on the side of the river so I got busy putting in miles.

The river miles came super easy and I stopped to grab lunch and a sweet little bass!  Back on the water and and off in the distance I could see a cloud front headed my way so I picked up the pace but the rain hit with about 6 miles to go so I pulled into the public campsite in the pouring rain.   Once again everything was closed, no bathrooms, showers, power or water but the sites are beautiful and I found 2 perfect trees to set up my tent.

I figured I would set up my tarp over a picnic table, put all of my gear on that to stay dry, then set up my tent and transfer my gear to the tent.

It was at that moment, I realized I would change how I left a campsite from this moment on.

“The last thing to leave the campsite is the paddle”

I forgot my 550 cord 2 campsites back tied between 2 trees because I took my paddle to the boat…. Then had a squirrel moment and started paddling off.

So now it’s McGyver time to get my gear out and set up when Greg from breakfast pulls up in his rusty farm truck asking if I want to go to the bar to watch the Stars V Wild hockey playoff game.  Greg was in town for the game then headed back north so I set up real quick and went to have dinner and a beer.  Greg knows everyone so I got introduced to a ton of people (this is a town of 200) and had a great time.  It was a bit weird being introduced while in flip flops, rain pants and my kayak rain top looking like a homeless person but they all kinda ignored it. Luckily the Texas Stars lost so I didn’t get burned at the stake lol

As I walked back to my tent at 34 degrees in flip flops, I contemplated if no socks or wet socks in the rain was a better idea for future nights on this trip.

I had an almost perfect camping spot. My view of the grass, trees & river was spectacular but the smell of the town sewer plant 100’ behind me was just as powerful lol

3 minutes later, I was sound asleep