Day 1

Our fishing trip actually began a week earlier. The whole family went to our place in Hatfield, WI for the 4th of July holiday and spent a few relaxing days in the sun, water, sand, canoeing, biking, etc....we even did a little fishing and just plain goofing around LOL. After four days or so, though, it was time for Louis and I to start heading north.

The plan was for us to head up to Fort Francis, Ontario which is just over the border from International Falls, MN. From there we would catch a float plane and fly to our destination, the Old Post Lodge on Lake St Joseph. We'd fish for four days and then fly back to Fort Francis and return home much in the same way we came...with a stop in Hatfield for the night.

So on the morning ofJuly, 8th, 2008, Louis and I set out for Fort, Francis, Ontario...the first stop on our trip. Not very eventful.....except for the stop at Target on the way. Louis ripped his gym shoes while playing in WI so we stopped along the way to replace them. Ever close your car door and realize right before it closes that you left your keys in the ignition? Yep, that's what I did. Louis is like, 'Just call mom'...not realizing that we are at least six hours from home....I highly doubt she would come. LOL

Now Louis is worried...I told him to relax, we'll just do our shopping as planned and worry about it later. Well, he didn't even see any dang shoes he liked, so it was a wasted stop. But I did buy a package of wire coat hangers, a small pry bar and a screwdriver So I have Louis popping open the side window while I have a coat hanger in each hand trying to push in the buttons for the window lock. As I'm doing this, an old lady walks past with her husband and I hear her commenting "Look! Someone's breaking into that white van!" Yep, that would be me she was referring to. LOL I half expected the police to come screeching up. Took me a few minutes, but I got it open and we were on our way...before the police came LOL

Got to International Falls, MN/Fort Frances, Ont about 7pm Wed night. If you've never smelled paper mills, consider yourself lucky.

I did get some flak at the border because of Louis's paperwork. We adopted Louis in Guatemala when he was a baby, so his records, etc are a little harder to come by. We had applied for a passport, but it got delayed because I sent a certified copy one part of the adoption paperwork rather than the original...well excuuuuse me!! I knew before I left that we needed either a passport or his birth certificate...so there I was, a day before leaving and I have neither because I sent his birth certificate to the passport office since they needed it for documentation. Undaunted, I left with just certified copies of his adoption AND that one piece of ORIGINAL documentation that was holding up his passport...I figured if it was that important, it was going to have to be important enough for us to cross the border LOL Did I even mention I'm the type willing to take a gamble?

So of course, when we went to cross into Canada, they asked for our passports and/or birth certificates. I gave him my passport adn the adotion papers for Louis. He asked if I had a passport or birth certificate for Louis and I told him yes and no...yes he has both, BUT, they are still at the Chicago office...needless to say, we were asked to pull over and step inside LOL Louis was worried because if they didn't allow him to cross, then we couldn't go on the trip...I told him that, like at Target, he needs to learn to relax. After some phone calls, lots of questions, etc we were allowed entry to Canada...took a half hour but we made it!!

We had completed the first leg of our trip. We got our hotel room, went out to dinner and then settled in for the night.