Good fortune sometimes does fall upon fools. With the rising water, so does the currents. We got started at 10am, with a quick stop at one of our water-resupply stop, and by 6:30pm we made it to camp at 40.6 miles away. Our initially planned camp site was a place call "Ms. Keto Camp". You can probably guess why we decided to skip it and move on to our next camp site called Libby Township. Well, at our new site, we are being overrun by caterpillars. At any moment there are 2 to 3 caterpillars on our body somewhere. Today also mark the first day where our body is not aching somewhere at the end of the day. I discover something interesting today. Apparently, some of my reader misunderstood what I wrote in my blog to what we truly experience in real life. Ok, let me lay it out in a more harsher reality. For the first 5 days, it rained all day. We paddled in the rain, our hands were numb because it was freezing. We slept in the freezing rain at 30ish degree. We didn't shower for the first 6 days because it was freezing. We wore the same wet clothes for the first 5 days because the rain wouldn't let off for it to dry. Once the freezing cold has stopped, armies of mosquito come out in the billions. The only time that we are not being eaten alive by these guys is when we are in the middle of the river or hiding in our tent. We can't cook dinner without them attacking us, we can't sit and eat dinner without them harassing us. Hell, we can't even take a shit without 2 or 3 of them biting us in the ass. This trip is so uncomfortable to the point that when I told Jeffrey that some people may have thought of us having fun, his reply was that he would rather be at home doing homework or mow the lawn, which he used to hate. It is true that we are seeing wondrous things that most people could only read or dream about, such as seeing beautiful sunset, sunrise, and bald eagles everyday, or comes within feet of deers standing still looking into our eyes, or seeing the sky so blue that you only get see similar image on a Windows's wallpaper or how fireflies twinkle in the forest like a hundred stars. But what made all of these moments special is that out here, we don't really have a choice. We are here, we have to deal with the bad, only then are we rewarded with the gift and beauty that god has to offer. I mean, seriously, try this at home. When you wake up tomorrow, do it before the sun comes out, put on something warm (we don't get that choice here because we brought only a few pieces of clothes) take a 30 minutes walk and watch the sun rises. It is the most beautiful thing.
I believe what Jeffrey and I experience is true beauty and what true crap tastes like in raw form. I can't escape it. I do like it, but not all of the time. This trip is very enjoyable, but it is definitely not a walk in the park. I always get people saying that they would do the same if they have the time off. Well, I'm sure they have time off somewhere in their life, they just don't want to do it.
Well, enough of me whining, who want to hear that. Here is a few thing we manage to capture with my iPhone. Also, most of the pictures on the river or pictures of crappy weather were not taken by the iPhone, but by my waterproof camera. I'll post those when I come home from the trip.
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=46.822124,-93.352851+(MyPosition)
longitude: -93.352851
latitude: 46.822124
Picture of the only 2 place we find relieve from the mosquito
- Posted from my iPhone
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