The end of civilization........ as I knew it!

This is QUITE long!!

We went to Canada on a fishing trip the first week in August with my 'little' brother and his family (Steve is 6' 6" and there's really nothing 'little' about him!) It was a fun trip, but we were 1.5 hours from civilization.... we WERE in the middle of NO WHERE. It was beautiful..... but it was NO WHERE!!! In fact, 50 minutes of the 1.5 hours from town was down a 10-mile dirt road that was curvy, hilly, rocky, and full of holes.


The road into the camp looked something like this picture. We passed a sign not a little further along that said, 'ATTENTION: The road is no longer maintained beyond this point", and we laughed!! You can see that the weather is nearly as bad as the road - even though it looks bright out, it was very gloomy and rainy. That's my brother and his family in the truck ahead of us pulling a fishing boat.

And even though we were travelling VERY slowly, and being VERY careful, we dropped the trailer with the 4-wheelers in the road, when the hitch pin broke because the road was so rough. Thank goodness for safety chains, and the fact that we were only creeping along on a dirt road instead of the highway just a short time earlier. When we got out to see what was wrong, the Canadian National Bird (mosquitos) descended like starved, crazed, maniacs.

Steve was already around another bend in the road, and didn't realize for some time that we were no longer following. There was nothing that we could do alone, as it was a very heavy trailer, and the tools were with Steve. So we left the trailer in the middle of this narrow, hilly, curvy, rocky, holey road, and went to catch Steve. We found them trying to back up to find us which was complicated by the rather long fishing boat that he was pulling. Steve hopped in the truck with us, Caleb went with Aunt Honey, they went to camp, and we went back to see if we could fix the trailer/hitch. We were able to fight off the crazed blood-sucking mosquitos, rig the hitch, re-hook the trailer, and continue the trip to camp - still about 5 miles away.

It was late Saturday evening when we finally got in, and we immediately began to realize that the supplies we picked up earier - before we left civilization - were not going to last until the end of the week. Plus there were other things that we realized we needed - maybe I should say WANTED. SO, late Sunday afternoon when we finished supper, David, Steve, and 2 of the 3 kids (Bonnie and Boyd) went fishing. Aunt Honey, Caleb, and I decided to make a run for supplies thinking that after this we'd be set for the week - except for a trip to town to fix the hitch for the trip home. No one wanted to miss out on the fishing for the rest of the week, so we left the camp at 7:50 p.m. - daylight - gorgeous weather. Bill, the camp owner was outside as we drove away from the camp, and I thought he gave us a strange look, but didn't really think too much about it.

It took us almost an hour to get to the main highway to Dryden (aka Civilization) another 40 miles away. We got to town about 9:30 and soon realized that Wal-Mart was closed.... Safeway was closed...... and another grocery store that I can't remember the name was closed. We found a store called 'Extra Foods' which sort of reminded me of Sam's Wholesale in a way. By now it is full dark... and pouring down rain... We couldn't find any shopping carts - just the baskets that you use when you only need a few small items - but certainly not potatoes, produce, 2 cases of COKE, bottled water, large quantities of bug spray in addition to what I already had, etc. - much too bulky AND heavy to carry in one of those small baskets. Having been to Canada (aka the Wilderness) before, DSH (David) tried to get me to buy some of these items the previous day, but I really thought we were getting enough to carry us through the week. For instance, he suggested that I buy 2-3 cases of bottled water instead of one, but I assured him that I wouldn't have a problem drinking the filtered lake water at our cabin. HAHAHAHAA!!! It was yellowish, and cloudy........ and I couldn't hardly drink it. I hate it when that happens!!

Anyway, come to find out, carts are for 'rent' at the 'cart corral'.... outside...... in the dark... in the pouring rain.... Not wanting to pay for a cart, Aunt Honey grabbed a basket, and said she'd just fill it up, set it next to the check-out counter, and then grab another basekt. I needed - I WANTED a cart..... I found the cart corral ..... in the dark.... in the rain....and tried putting my coin in the slot sort of like the strollers at the mall which are generally inside.... in the light... where it isn't raining.... Alas, I only had a 'toonie' which is a $2 Canadian coin and the cart corral only takes a 'loonie' - which is $1 Canadian coin. Back into the store.... change for my 'toonie'...... back to the cart corral.... in the dark... in the rain........ can't figure out the stupid coin slot.... in the dark... in the rain... I might add here, that Canadian parking lots are NOT well-lit like American parking lots. I was afraid - very, very afraid - SERIOUSLY - and wanted to ask that guy in the car that just pulled up how to make the stupid cart corral release it's captives, when I spied an escaped cart - NOT in the cart corral, took it captive, and ran to the light........ (I'm not very good with strangers, and I don't much care for dark parking lots..... Yes, I have issues.)

Remainder of shopping is rather uneventful, except for the freak who was following me in the grocery store (the guy in the car who just pulled up in the dark and rainy parking lot who I considered asking for help). At last, our shopping adventure is complete....... but we still have to drive back to camp, and we have absolutely NO way to call the guys because there is NO cell service. HA - and we thought we'd returned to civilization. So we head back out of town for the 30 mile trek to our favorite dirt road... in the dark.... in the rain! We drove.... in the dark.... in the rain.... for what seemed like an eternity until I wondered out loud if we'd missed that dirt road.

Before we left camp - almost 3 hours ago - I had noted the time and the mileage, and then again when we reached the road to civilation.... you know - pavement! What I did NOT do was note the mileage when we LEFT town to return to the wilderness. We had driven a few miles around town trying to find an open grocery store so I had a general idea, but wasn't exactly sure how far we had come from town, and so I wasn't sure how close we were to our road. Of course, in the dark.... in the rain... everything looked VERY different from our trip in the previous day. We originally (about 3 hours ago) thought this was going to be an uneventful drive to and from town. After all, it was quite simple - drive out to the paved road (Canada 17).... turn left.... go to town.... get groceries.... Dadgummit - WHERE IS THAT ROAD??? (REMEMBER - DARK - RAINY)

We agreed to go 10 more miles and then turn around, when suddenly we began to see signs for 'Melgund Road 9' and 'Melgund Road 5' - roads that we recognized, and knew paralleled our dirt road so we knew we were OK. Have I mentioned that we did NOT have cell service, so we couldn't call our husbands, NOR could we call the camp office to have them relay to the guys that we were OK. By this time it's about 10:30.... and it's dark.... and it's raining.... and I have to admit.... I was just a LITTLE BIT nervous. Just then we saw the sign for 'Borups Road' - OUR dirt road!!! Ahhhhh - back to the wilderness!

I told Aunt Honey to drive slowly (as if telling her was even necessary), because we certainly didn't want to find ourselves off the road, or hitting a moose, or messing up a tire, etc. We agreed that should any of that happen, we were not leaving the vehicle.... because it was dark... and it was raining... and because we knew eventually SOMEONE would come looking for us. When we finally made it back to the camp at 11:45, there were 2 husbands and 1 Camp Owner VERY happy to see us, and happier still that they didn't have to come look for us. It was VERY dark..... and it was STILL raining.... but quite honestly, I was VERY happy to be safely back in the wilderness!!!

Come to find out, had we stopped to inquire, we would have learned that Dryen, Ontario rolls up the sidewalks about 4:00 on Sunday afternoons! UGH!