4 days until I hit the water!
The last few days have been busy. I'd like to extend a special thanks to everyone that came out to my "See Ya Later" Party at O'shea's pub. It was a great time! The beers kept flowing and I think everyone had a good time. Thanks again.
I decided to make a semi-water resistant battery charger for my AA batteries. I used a small lexan pelican case and drilled a hole in the front cover to accomodate a 12 volt socket which I epoxied in place. On the inside I used a strip of self adhesive velcro to secure the charger in place so that it wouldn't rattle around in the case. The charger was wired to the 12 volt socket. This set up will allow me to run the extension cord from the solar panel, on the deck, threw the hatch zipper to the charger case which will be kept under the deck and hopefully it will stay dry.
I spent a good portion of the day today packaging down the mountain of food that is required for 70 days on the water. To keep the food items safe and dry I will store them in Eureka barrels. Each food item is also bagged in a plastic freezer bag (to keep it dry) then bagged again in a nylon sack to protect it from punctures. An example of my menu can be viewed on my
website .
As usual I rented a satellite phone from
Key Communications in Winnipeg. It arrived today on the bus. Now that I have the sat phone I was able to kit out my pelican case. this year instead of lugging 2 or more pelican cases accross the portage trails I decided to purchase a new case that would be big enough to contain most of the essential electronics. I bought a Pelican case model 1450. It will contain my camera, sat. phone, batteries, GPS, solar panel, mini tri-pod, filters for the camera and miscellaneous cords and wires.
I've been lucky enough this time around, I've had a good deal of media coverage, for this trip. On June 28th an article will run in the Saskatoon, Sunday Sun. On June 12th an article will run in the P.A. Herald and when I get to La Ronge on Saturday, I'll meet with the editor of the La Ronge Northerner for an interview. I'm not sure when this article will run. I'll also be heard on the air waves this summer on
Blue Sky. CBC's Radio one's noon hour show.
Tuesday June 13th | Between 12 - 1 pm |
Tuesday June 24th | Between 12 - 1 pm |
Tuesday July 8th | Between 12 - 1 pm |
Tuesday July 22nd | Between 12 - 1 pm |
Tuesday August 5th | Between 12 - 1 pm |
Tuesday August 19th | Between 12 - 1 pm |
It all comes down to this. A mountain of gear, waiting to be loaded into the canoe. All the planning and preparation has now come to an end, I'm packed and ready to hit the road tomorrow morning. Ellen is picking me up in the morning and we are going to drive to La Ronge and will spend the night in the Nut Point camp ground. I will push off Sunday morning, though I'm not sure what time. The food was the main concern in that I was worried that it wouldn't all fit into the two barrels. As it turns out, it all fit easily with a bit of space to spare. I learned a good deal from my last big trip in '06. This year, 95% of everything is dried goods or dehydrated. This really saves on space and some weight. Click here to see a sample menu.
