I went back to Mid West Mountaineering first thing. I think I have decided on a PFD even though I couldn't get one exactly as I wanted. I bought a smoke flare,safety knife and some bug proof clothing.I was tempted to buy some ordinary flares if only because of the awesome looking pistol used to set them off.It would satisfy those who thought I should take some sort of fire arm to shoot it out with any bad guys. However,as I don't plan to do any night paddling there didn't seem to be much point. I left without telling the assistants of the choice of kayak I had made but promising to be back in the morning.I bought a small pocket mirror at the pharmacy next door,not out of vanity, but to tie to my paddle if I need to see over the grass in the wetlands if I take the wrong path.
I jumped back on the train and got off near the Metrodome to walk to the river.I was quite staggered to see the amount of turbulence below the St Anthony Falls and the amount of water going over them. I wouldn't want to be swept over them. I was pleased to see the water into the lock. while fast flowing,was quite calm. It was good to see in real life so I know what to expect when I turn up again in 3 weeks. I watched a tug with two barges lock through.
Feeling hungry, I decided to see if I could find the grill I had passed yesterday without taking note of it's exact location. One of the main streets leading away from the river has been made into a pedestrian mall and it is lined with restaurants with outdoor seating. On Thursdays it has a number of produce stalls which made for a very pleasant ambience. I located the grill without any difficulty and for $7.95 enjoyed bacon and eggs,hash browns and toast. The menu is signed with greetings from Pres Clinton who popped in for lunch some years ago. If it was alright with Bill it was certainly alright with me.
I realised there was a Target Store nearby and suspecting there might be groceries sold I headed over .I was right and have now purchased a week or so of food-oatmeal,juice,tuna,rice,pasta dried fruit,bananas and crackers. The only thing I couldn't find was any long life or powdered milk and dried veges.We will probably stop at a bigger supermarket on the way to the lake tomorrow. I also need to stop at an out doors store as the only piece of gear I am missing is a weather radio. It might be good to know if a tornado was heading my way even if there was nothing I could do about it.
I phoned Suzanne from the agreed rendezvous spot at 2.30 and within 20 minutes I was picked up and taken back to their place where I am now. We are going out to a very posh restaurant called Sea Change which is situated in the futuristic Guthrie Theatre on the river. (I checked it out this morning-"Time spent in reconnaissence....." and all that)
The plans have been made for the w/e. Tomorrow will probably just be spent driving to the lake.I don't think we will get away b/4 midday. We will probably just set up camp when we arrive although it might be nice just to wet my new boat and try it out. Greg and Suzanne aren't planning to take their boats. Suzanne has sprained/broken her ankle doing zumba (I knew there was a reason I hadn't taken it up apart from the fact that white men can't dance) so probably won't be doing much of anything. They are quite happy to drive me to the far end of the lake on Sat morning and push me off into Elk lake and leave me to circumnavigate that looking for any further streams b/4 portaging/paddling the 100yards or so into Lake Itasca and the 6k paddle back to the "official start". The time it takes for me to do that will determine how far I will try to go on the first day. I am only planning to do 30k to Coffee Pot campsite but if time and conditions allow I would like to push on to the next campsite 20k further on.if at all possible.
This may be the last post for a while although I will ask Suzanne if she can take some photos to send through when they get back.
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