Erik and Adam are recapping hot air balloon trips, and reading responses from listeners on their high and low lights from the 2019 open water season in the BWCA-Quetico Wilderness.
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Episode Transcript
[0:00:00 – 0:00:00] UNKNOWN: Ooh!
[0:00:41 – 0:00:47] Erik: Welcome to Whichever Way the Wind Blows, a hot air balloon podcast.
[0:00:48 – 0:00:49] Erik: I am your blimpy boy, Eric.
[0:00:53 – 0:00:56] Antonio: I’m the fire torch blowing pulling boy, Adam.
[0:00:58 – 0:00:58] Antonio: Up, up, and away.
[0:00:59 – 0:01:00] Antonio: Up, up, and away.
[0:01:01 – 0:01:07] Antonio: We are back in Studio K. We fit this whole basket from the hot air balloon in here.
[0:01:07 – 0:01:10] Antonio: We’re not actually in the air, but we are in a basket.
[0:01:10 – 0:01:16] Erik: Yeah, I chose the hot air balloon package that allowed you to keep the basket at the end of the trip.
[0:01:16 – 0:01:19] Antonio: Yeah, some people lease their basket, others just buy it outright.
[0:01:20 – 0:01:21] Antonio: I think it’s a smart buy.
[0:01:22 – 0:01:23] Antonio: They retain their value.
[0:01:23 – 0:01:37] Erik: Yeah, the best part about hot air balloon tripping is that you just land in your yard at the end of the trip, and then the captain just packs up the hot air balloon, you keep the basket, and he just walks down the road.
[0:01:38 – 0:01:40] Antonio: Especially on those round the whole world ones.
[0:01:40 – 0:01:42] Antonio: They don’t even want the basket back usually.
[0:01:42 – 0:01:44] Erik: No, at the end of it, it’s been so lived in.
[0:01:45 – 0:01:49] Erik: I mean, wicker really does hold all of the smells.
[0:01:49 – 0:01:49] Erik: It does.
[0:01:50 – 0:01:58] Erik: So whenever I do get to the point where I get nostalgic about my trip around the world, I can just go out into the backyard and sniff the basket that I lived in for a month.
[0:02:00 – 0:02:01] Erik: That’s nice.
[0:02:02 – 0:02:02] Antonio: That’s nice.
[0:02:02 – 0:02:03] Antonio: So that’s nice.
[0:02:03 – 0:02:05] Antonio: Yeah, I didn’t even take any pictures.
[0:02:05 – 0:02:07] Erik: I just have the basket to sniff.
[0:02:07 – 0:02:09] Erik: Well, welcome back.
[0:02:09 – 0:02:10] Erik: How was the trip?
[0:02:10 – 0:02:10] Erik: Thank you.
[0:02:11 – 0:02:12] Erik: It was incredible.
[0:02:13 – 0:02:13] Erik: How was the Sphinx?
[0:02:15 – 0:02:17] Erik: I mean, I think it’s a little overrated.
[0:02:21 – 0:02:23] Erik: Yeah, the pyramids and the Sphinx.
[0:02:23 – 0:02:27] Erik: What else do you fly over on the hot air balloon trip around the world?
[0:02:27 – 0:02:29] Erik: The Eiffel Tower was amazing.
[0:02:29 – 0:02:30] Erik: The Great Wall?
[0:02:30 – 0:02:31] Erik: Yeah.
[0:02:31 – 0:02:31] Erik: Saw that.
[0:02:31 – 0:02:34] Erik: That almost got boring after a while.
[0:02:34 – 0:02:35] Erik: Yeah, it’s quite long.
[0:02:35 – 0:02:37] Erik: Going over for like a couple of days.
[0:02:38 – 0:02:38] Erik: Yeah.
[0:02:38 – 0:02:39] Erik: Lots of ocean.
[0:02:40 – 0:02:41] Erik: Lots of ocean.
[0:02:41 – 0:02:41] Erik: Oh, man.
[0:02:43 – 0:02:49] Erik: So, I did read a couple of books in that time, which we will get to down the line.
[0:02:49 – 0:02:49] Erik: Awesome.
[0:02:50 – 0:02:50] Erik: In…
[0:02:52 – 0:03:10] Erik: on tumble home which is what this is be funny if there was some way somebody was confused as to what the show was at this point it is a boundary waters podcast and we are brought to you as always by our listeners friends and
[0:03:12 – 0:03:13] Erik: What’s another one?
[0:03:13 – 0:03:14] Erik: Loved Ones.
[0:03:14 – 0:03:17] Erik: Loved Ones on Patreon.
[0:03:18 – 0:03:19] Erik: You guys are all still out there.
[0:03:19 – 0:03:20] Erik: Thank you.
[0:03:21 – 0:03:29] Erik: Sorry for the month-long break, but we’re back in the studio trying to find our way through everything generally.
[0:03:29 – 0:03:31] Erik: We actually haven’t even been in Studio K in like months.
[0:03:31 – 0:03:32] Erik: It’s been a while.
[0:03:33 – 0:03:55] Erik: the last few episodes a little odd yeah um and on top of the patreon sponsors thank you we of course are sponsored by a beer as well there’s still a bunch of sponsors in the fridge i get told every day we need to start drinking the sponsors to get them out of the fridge
[0:03:56 – 0:04:02] Antonio: We were talking about getting a little mini fridge installed here in Studio K. Yeah, we might have to do that.
[0:04:03 – 0:04:04] Antonio: It will always be stocked.
[0:04:06 – 0:04:07] Erik: So we’ve got a big one here.
[0:04:08 – 0:04:10] Erik: We didn’t forget about you, Scott.
[0:04:11 – 0:04:12] Erik: We were saving this.
[0:04:13 – 0:04:17] Erik: This is one that just appeared on the desk in Outfitting at one point.
[0:04:17 – 0:04:19] Erik: Classic, just classic.
[0:04:21 – 0:04:44] Erik: just a ghost beer appearance uh and it is uh we i think it’s relatively chronological and how we waited to do this one but it’s also it felt like one worth waiting for the essentially season finale we’re kind of off the schedule a little bit in that but now this one still counts as season two
[0:04:45 – 0:04:45] Erik: Yes.
[0:04:45 – 0:04:46] Erik: Yes.
[0:04:46 – 0:04:51] Erik: So you, as you probably heard, the Loon intro is still playing.
[0:04:51 – 0:04:52] Erik: There’s still a few open waters.
[0:04:53 – 0:04:53] Erik: There are.
[0:04:53 – 0:04:55] Erik: Clearwater is still open.
[0:04:56 – 0:04:57] Erik: Last time I checked.
[0:04:57 – 0:04:59] Erik: But this is from Scott.
[0:05:00 – 0:05:03] Erik: He attached it with a little note here that I’m going to read.
[0:05:04 – 0:05:04] Erik: Do tell.
[0:05:04 – 0:05:08] Erik: Went deep into the beer collection to find something unique.
[0:05:09 – 0:05:12] Erik: Save this one for a longer episode.
[0:05:12 – 0:05:13] Erik: It’s a sipper.
[0:05:14 – 0:05:15] Antonio: Yeah, it looks like a sipper.
[0:05:16 – 0:05:31] Erik: It is a Boulevard Smokestack Series Bourbon Barrel Quad Ale, aged in bourbon barrels with cherries, coming in at 11.8% alcohol.
[0:05:31 – 0:05:33] Antonio: Holy moly, hot dog.
[0:05:33 – 0:05:34] Antonio: BV.
[0:05:35 – 0:05:41] Antonio: It’s got this little wire harness on top with an actual cork, so you know it’s serious.
[0:05:41 – 0:05:44] Erik: Yeah, we’re going to get some good sound effects based on the corkage.
[0:05:45 – 0:05:52] Erik: The last time we were drinking something this potent, I believe, was the Dragon’s Milk.
[0:05:52 – 0:05:53] Erik: I remember that one, yes.
[0:05:54 – 0:05:55] Erik: That one got a little…
[0:05:55 – 0:05:56] Erik: I think we finished that.
[0:05:57 – 0:05:59] Erik: I can’t remember what we ended up listening to at the end of that.
[0:05:59 – 0:06:00] Erik: I just started playing music.
[0:06:02 – 0:06:03] SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
[0:06:03 – 0:06:08] Erik: I’m not going to go into the full bourbon barrel quad description here.
[0:06:08 – 0:06:09] Antonio: What’s the quad mean?
[0:06:12 – 0:06:13] Erik: It’s a quadruple.
[0:06:13 – 0:06:13] Erik: It’s an Abbey style.
[0:06:13 – 0:06:16] Erik: So there’s like triples and quads and doubles.
[0:06:17 – 0:06:27] Erik: This is a quadruple, which I believe is maybe comparable because, you know, we are beer fringe knowledgeable people.
[0:06:28 – 0:06:30] Antonio: I know more about beer than I do about hot air balloons, that’s for sure.
[0:06:31 – 0:06:31] Erik: Yeah.
[0:06:31 – 0:06:39] Erik: So I think it’s kind of comparable to like a pale ale, extra pale ale, IPA, double.
[0:06:40 – 0:06:52] Erik: It’s a quadruple Abbey style after fermentation on cherries separated into a number of oak bourbon barrels where it aged for varying lengths of time.
[0:06:53 – 0:07:15] Erik: yeah so um let’s pop this we’ve got glasses we’re gonna start getting into oh that’s already feeling like it’s got some cover your eyes yeah i got safety glasses on hey there it was i didn’t want to put a dent in your ceiling so i kind of thanks that’s very considerate
[0:07:27 – 0:07:32] Erik: So, not as dark as I was thinking it was going to look.
[0:07:32 – 0:07:32] Erik: It’s golden.
[0:07:33 – 0:07:33] Erik: It is golden.
[0:07:34 – 0:07:37] Erik: And we’re drinking these out of appropriate glasses, I believe.
[0:07:37 – 0:07:38] Erik: We do have glassware.
[0:07:38 – 0:07:42] Antonio: I don’t know what kind of glass this is, but it looks appropriate.
[0:07:43 – 0:07:43] Antonio: Cheers, sir.
[0:07:44 – 0:07:45] Antonio: Welcome home.
[0:07:45 – 0:07:46] Antonio: Welcome back.
[0:07:51 – 0:07:51] Antonio: Ooh.
[0:07:54 – 0:07:54] Erik: Wow.
[0:07:58 – 0:07:58] Erik: Yeah.
[0:07:59 – 0:08:00] Erik: Cherries, definitely in there.
[0:08:01 – 0:08:04] Erik: Mm-hmm.
[0:08:04 – 0:08:12] Erik: Yeah, we had an email from somebody who was like, yeah, sorry, didn’t sound like you guys really enjoyed that smoky beer, but, you know, I had never really had it.
[0:08:12 – 0:08:14] Erik: It was the Laos River episode, I believe.
[0:08:15 – 0:08:15] Erik: Mm-hmm.
[0:08:15 – 0:08:16] Erik: Remember how smoky that beer was?
[0:08:16 – 0:08:17] Erik: Yeah.
[0:08:17 – 0:08:18] Erik: I don’t think…
[0:08:18 – 0:08:19] Erik: I kind of enjoyed it.
[0:08:19 – 0:08:20] Erik: It was different.
[0:08:20 – 0:08:20] Erik: Yeah.
[0:08:20 – 0:08:23] Erik: So if we came off not enjoying it, I think we…
[0:08:24 – 0:08:27] Antonio: No, I like it when we get something that’s outside the wheelhouse, so to speak.
[0:08:28 – 0:08:31] Erik: You’re not going to know what you like unless you try a lot of different things.
[0:08:33 – 0:08:33] Antonio: Truly, yeah.
[0:08:33 – 0:08:36] Antonio: No, I hope we didn’t give that impression.
[0:08:36 – 0:08:36] Erik: No.
[0:08:38 – 0:08:46] Erik: Yeah, I’m not going to be like pounding them down over the course of like nine holes of playing disc golf or anything, but a nice fall sitting.
[0:08:47 – 0:08:49] Erik: Your mid-range game would go real to heck.
[0:08:50 – 0:08:50] Erik: Real to heck.
[0:08:51 – 0:08:54] Erik: So, yeah, we’re back in the studio.
[0:08:54 – 0:08:56] Erik: We’re talking thoughts.
[0:08:58 – 0:09:05] Erik: Highlights, lowlights of your last open water season, which is still not officially over.
[0:09:06 – 0:09:08] Erik: I wonder how many people are in the boundary waters right now.
[0:09:09 – 0:09:10] Erik: Oh, boy.
[0:09:10 – 0:09:15] Erik: I would guess probably under 10, depending on what.
[0:09:15 – 0:09:20] Antonio: Yeah, I mean, there’s only so many lakes still open for paddling, and I don’t know how I’d really want to be out paddling today.
[0:09:20 – 0:09:24] Erik: Well, and even Clearwater has got skim ice around some of the bays and edges.
[0:09:24 – 0:09:30] Antonio: Yeah, and I did hear a report of somebody was ice skating the Cherokee Loop.
[0:09:31 – 0:09:31] Antonio: Wow.
[0:09:31 – 0:09:32] Antonio: Out of Sawbill.
[0:09:32 – 0:09:33] Antonio: Where did you hear about that?
[0:09:34 – 0:09:40] Antonio: A buddy at work told me he heard from a friend that somebody else had done it, pulled it off.
[0:09:40 – 0:09:42] Antonio: And I said, that’s a little…
[0:09:42 – 0:09:47] Antonio: I mean, we’d been out on the ice already once this year and had like three inches, but I popped a whole…
[0:09:49 – 0:09:51] Antonio: nearby, and it was only like an inch.
[0:09:51 – 0:09:57] Antonio: It kind of slowly backed away, and then we’ve been getting some kind of heavy snow on top of that, so there’s a real slush issue.
[0:09:57 – 0:10:01] Antonio: So I don’t know when this occurred, but Cherokee is a bigger lake.
[0:10:02 – 0:10:05] Erik: Big lake, lots of islands and rocks, sunken.
[0:10:05 – 0:10:06] Erik: You could easily run into something.
[0:10:06 – 0:10:15] Antonio: And then I was like, well, how did they just put those blade protectors and hobble through the portages, or did they bring a separate set of boots to do the portages in?
[0:10:15 – 0:10:16] Antonio: They have to switch.
[0:10:16 – 0:10:17] Antonio: That’s a lot of portages.
[0:10:17 – 0:10:18] Erik: It sounds like a lot of work.
[0:10:19 – 0:10:35] Antonio: there’s no way you could put on skate protectors and hobble across you can barely walk across like flat cement right so yeah I don’t know interesting way to maneuver through the boundary waters this time of year I’ve never heard of it I might want to try it someday
[0:10:36 – 0:10:38] Antonio: I have heard of it, but I’ve never- We get good skating conditions.
[0:10:38 – 0:10:41] Erik: Actually talked to somebody about it.
[0:10:41 – 0:10:41] Erik: Yeah.
[0:10:41 – 0:10:43] Erik: So if you have skated- A skate loop.
[0:10:43 – 0:10:46] Erik: A skate loop, tumblehomecasts at gmail.com.
[0:10:47 – 0:10:47] Erik: Let us know.
[0:10:48 – 0:10:54] Erik: I’ve heard of like, there’s like a guy that swims across Quetico every year, or maybe he’s only done it once.
[0:10:55 – 0:10:56] Erik: But I remember like- Oh, yeah.
[0:10:57 – 0:11:03] Erik: Yeah, like out of left field, oddball, like modes of travel in the boundary waters.
[0:11:04 – 0:11:06] Erik: That would be a fun conversation to have.
[0:11:06 – 0:11:07] Antonio: No hang gliders, though.
[0:11:07 – 0:11:08] Antonio: Yeah.
[0:11:08 – 0:11:08] Antonio: You can have skates.
[0:11:10 – 0:11:10] Erik: Yeah.
[0:11:11 – 0:11:13] Antonio: You can have a boat, but no hang gliders.
[0:11:14 – 0:11:15] Antonio: All right.
[0:11:15 – 0:11:24] Erik: Well, before we get into what sounds to me like a lot of reading, so don’t want to blow out the voices too early.
[0:11:24 – 0:11:26] Erik: We need to get them a little bit…
[0:11:26 – 0:11:27] Erik: I’m warming up still, yeah.
[0:11:27 – 0:11:29] Erik: Yeah, more into shape.
[0:11:30 – 0:11:32] Erik: Before we get to your responses to the question of the year.
[0:11:33 – 0:11:35] Erik: Question of the year.
[0:11:36 – 0:11:37] Erik: It is the holiday season.
[0:11:38 – 0:11:39] Erik: We have just…
[0:11:41 – 0:12:02] Erik: experienced friend slash thanksgiving and as such christmas music is now allowed oh yeah so i just have a couple of random holiday related questions for you okay favorite
[0:12:04 – 0:12:26] Antonio: christmas song slash album oh it’s easily charlie brown christmas easily easily yeah um yeah i’m just gonna vote for that one i listened to that one more than all the other christmas albums put together and i don’t have a favorite song off of it i always listen to it in full whenever i’m gonna put that on so um yeah
[0:12:28 – 0:12:29] Erik: Um, I think I would agree with that.
[0:12:30 – 0:12:35] Erik: Although I, and yeah, I don’t just like listen to one of the songs.
[0:12:36 – 0:12:37] Erik: It’s always from start to finish.
[0:12:38 – 0:12:39] Erik: Um,
[0:12:42 – 0:12:43] Antonio: Hard to argue.
[0:12:43 – 0:12:45] Antonio: The Vince Guaraldi trio.
[0:12:45 – 0:12:46] Antonio: Yes.
[0:12:47 – 0:12:52] Antonio: It’s just, I don’t know, there’s something about that just really gets me feeling very Christmassy.
[0:12:52 – 0:12:57] Antonio: And I go back to it time and time again, and I’m always impressed.
[0:12:58 – 0:12:59] Antonio: It always does the trick.
[0:12:59 – 0:13:04] Antonio: I have a playlist that I just have my favorite Christmas albums on.
[0:13:05 – 0:13:08] Antonio: I can give out a few honorable mentions, perhaps.
[0:13:08 – 0:13:08] Erik: Yes.
[0:13:10 – 0:13:15] Antonio: My joke one would be the New Kids on the Block Christmas, which I used to have the tape of when I had my old truck.
[0:13:15 – 0:13:19] Antonio: And that was like one of the three tapes I owned was the New Kids on the Block Christmas.
[0:13:19 – 0:13:19] Antonio: I remember that.
[0:13:20 – 0:13:21] Antonio: Funky, funky Santa.
[0:13:23 – 0:13:24] Antonio: Funky, funky Christmas.
[0:13:24 – 0:13:25] Antonio: I’m sorry.
[0:13:25 – 0:13:26] Erik: No.
[0:13:26 – 0:13:28] Antonio: And I still believe in Santa Claus.
[0:13:28 – 0:13:29] Antonio: There’s a lot of great ones on there.
[0:13:30 – 0:13:31] Erik: That’s kind of embarrassing.
[0:13:31 – 0:13:31] Antonio: It is.
[0:13:32 – 0:13:33] Antonio: I’ll throw that one out there.
[0:13:34 – 0:13:34] Antonio: It’s true.
[0:13:34 – 0:13:35] Antonio: I still have it on my playlist.
[0:13:35 – 0:13:36] Antonio: It’s on Spotify.
[0:13:37 – 0:13:40] Erik: No, it’s just the fact that the new kids on the block still believe in Santa.
[0:13:40 – 0:13:42] Antonio: Yeah, well, I don’t know.
[0:13:42 – 0:13:44] Erik: How old were the new kids on the block?
[0:13:45 – 0:13:46] Antonio: Were they teens?
[0:13:46 – 0:13:47] Antonio: Yeah, they were.
[0:13:47 – 0:13:48] Antonio: Well, I don’t know.
[0:13:48 – 0:13:50] Antonio: Probably a few of them were in their 30s or something.
[0:13:50 – 0:13:51] Erik: Gross.
[0:13:52 – 0:13:54] Antonio: Singing about whatever.
[0:13:54 – 0:13:58] Antonio: I always like Elvis Christmas.
[0:13:58 – 0:13:59] Erik: Oh, I don’t listen to that.
[0:13:59 – 0:14:02] Antonio: Elvis Christmas is a really good album.
[0:14:02 – 0:14:05] Antonio: It’s my favorite Elvis, and really the only Elvis I’ll listen to.
[0:14:05 – 0:14:07] Erik: Your favorite Elvis is Christmas Elvis.
[0:14:07 – 0:14:07] Antonio: Interesting.
[0:14:08 – 0:14:10] Antonio: Yeah, yeah.
[0:14:10 – 0:14:12] Antonio: And I’ll give a shout out to the She and Him Christmas.
[0:14:12 – 0:14:13] Antonio: There’s two of those.
[0:14:13 – 0:14:14] Antonio: They’re both good.
[0:14:15 – 0:14:16] Antonio: Yeah, I think that does it.
[0:14:16 – 0:14:19] Antonio: That’s my tops of my list, but there’s been some new ones.
[0:14:19 – 0:14:22] Antonio: I was doing some research for our next show, and I saw RuPaul has a Christmas album.
[0:14:23 – 0:14:23] Erik: Oh, my.
[0:14:23 – 0:14:25] Antonio: I’m a little scared to look into that.
[0:14:25 – 0:14:26] Antonio: I don’t know about that.
[0:14:26 – 0:14:26] Erik: Yeah.
[0:14:27 – 0:14:29] Antonio: Beach Boys Christmas is awesome.
[0:14:30 – 0:14:33] Erik: Yeah, that’s a good one.
[0:14:33 – 0:14:46] Erik: Getting to fly around the world on a hot air balloon, you get to experience like, well, these people are going to have Christmas and it’s going to be their summer.
[0:14:47 – 0:14:50] Antonio: That’s really an odd juxtaposition.
[0:14:50 – 0:14:55] Antonio: Or like people who are in the Caribbean having a Christmas.
[0:14:56 – 0:14:58] Antonio: It’s got to be weird having a warm Christmas like that.
[0:14:58 – 0:15:04] Antonio: I know, it’s just that… Natalie would want me to mention the Mariah Carey Christmas, for sure.
[0:15:04 – 0:15:04] Antonio: Oh, sure.
[0:15:04 – 0:15:07] Antonio: That’s like a classic, and that one gets played a lot in the house, too.
[0:15:08 – 0:15:10] Antonio: So I would give the shout-out that’s her favorite.
[0:15:10 – 0:15:11] Antonio: That’d be my guess, at least.
[0:15:12 – 0:15:15] Erik: Yeah, I think Charlie Brown is definitely my go-to.
[0:15:16 – 0:15:20] Erik: It’s hard because it’s really easy to just burn that one out and play it way too much.
[0:15:21 – 0:15:21] Erik: Yeah.
[0:15:21 – 0:15:27] Erik: But at the same time, my honorable mention would be, what’s his name?
[0:15:27 – 0:15:28] Erik: Dave Brubeck?
[0:15:28 – 0:15:29] Erik: Brubeck, yeah.
[0:15:29 – 0:15:30] Erik: That’s a good jazzy.
[0:15:30 – 0:15:31] Erik: Brubeck’s on my list for sure.
[0:15:32 – 0:15:43] Erik: Yeah, and then just honorable mention, shout out, because I have been listening to it recently, although I’m hot and cold on it, is the Delicate Steve Christmas album.
[0:15:43 – 0:15:44] Erik: Yeah.
[0:15:45 – 0:15:46] Erik: We had listened to it.
[0:15:46 – 0:15:47] Antonio: We had that on Thanksgiving the other night.
[0:15:47 – 0:15:48] Erik: Yeah.
[0:15:48 – 0:15:56] Erik: And like the more I listen to it, the more it’s like, it’s the music for like after the party or like the next morning.
[0:15:56 – 0:16:00] Erik: It’s like hangover Christmas music because it’s kind of twangy and forlorn.
[0:16:00 – 0:16:01] Erik: Yeah.
[0:16:01 – 0:16:03] Erik: Almost like Western sounding.
[0:16:04 – 0:16:06] Erik: And yeah, it’s just, it’s not as upbeat and peppy.
[0:16:07 – 0:16:07] Erik: Yeah.
[0:16:07 – 0:16:09] Erik: It’s like a slide guitar kind of a thing.
[0:16:09 – 0:16:13] Erik: And it really does like conjure up images of like…
[0:16:14 – 0:16:29] Erik: uh a drunk santa at the bar with his beard beard pulled off just like the beard is pulled off just to the side just drinking like two three finger shots of whiskey you know bad santa kind of stuff
[0:16:33 – 0:16:39] Antonio: Well, we did go out and we had gone out last week and picked out the Christmas tree.
[0:16:40 – 0:16:40] Antonio: Scouting?
[0:16:41 – 0:16:41] Antonio: Yeah, we scouted one.
[0:16:42 – 0:16:42] Antonio: I tagged it.
[0:16:42 – 0:16:48] Antonio: I put marking tape in the branch so I wouldn’t forget which one was the right one because it was in kind of a little grove, a nice balsam.
[0:16:49 – 0:16:51] Antonio: So we went out and got it today.
[0:16:51 – 0:16:52] Antonio: And it is up…
[0:16:53 – 0:16:55] Antonio: And Natalie’s currently putting the lights on it.
[0:16:56 – 0:16:56] Antonio: Yeah.
[0:16:56 – 0:16:59] Antonio: It’s a nice, we cut it a little too tall.
[0:16:59 – 0:17:01] Antonio: Like I had to do some trimming when we got it home.
[0:17:02 – 0:17:07] Antonio: I cut down a large balsam and then we cut the top off of that.
[0:17:07 – 0:17:08] Antonio: That’s the way to do it.
[0:17:08 – 0:17:09] Antonio: Oh, it’s beautiful.
[0:17:09 – 0:17:13] Antonio: It’s nice and dense and tall and slender.
[0:17:13 – 0:17:14] Erik: It’s nice and narrow.
[0:17:14 – 0:17:15] Erik: Yeah.
[0:17:15 – 0:17:17] Erik: It can be the trouble with Christmas trees sometimes.
[0:17:17 – 0:17:18] Antonio: It’s too bushy.
[0:17:18 – 0:17:19] Antonio: Too wide.
[0:17:19 – 0:17:19] Antonio: Yeah.
[0:17:19 – 0:17:20] Antonio: You don’t want them too bushy.
[0:17:20 – 0:17:21] Erik: Yeah.
[0:17:21 – 0:17:24] Antonio: So yeah, it really is starting to feel like Christmas now.
[0:17:25 – 0:17:29] Antonio: We’re almost into, it’ll be December when this comes out, I guess.
[0:17:29 – 0:17:31] Antonio: It would be impossible for it not to.
[0:17:31 – 0:17:33] Antonio: It would be because it’s the last day of November.
[0:17:33 – 0:17:34] Antonio: Yes.
[0:17:34 – 0:17:35] Antonio: We’ve got a storm coming in.
[0:17:35 – 0:17:37] Erik: It is not currently snowing.
[0:17:37 – 0:17:40] Antonio: No, but it’s going to be snowing here any minute.
[0:17:40 – 0:17:42] Antonio: And we’ve got a good base on the ground.
[0:17:43 – 0:17:45] Antonio: The trails are setting up pretty nice.
[0:17:45 – 0:17:50] Antonio: So it’s definitely nice and dark and cool and starting to feel like Christmas for sure.
[0:17:50 – 0:17:54] Erik: Yeah, it’s beginning to be that slow month of the year.
[0:17:54 – 0:18:03] Antonio: We were just talking about this on Thanksgiving, how it is only the beginning of winter, and we still have eight more months of winter ahead of us.
[0:18:03 – 0:18:11] Antonio: But this is the darkest part of winter, so it’s got a special kind of feeling where you almost get a little antsy until you get some snow on the ground because it’s so dark.
[0:18:11 – 0:18:11] Erik: Yeah.
[0:18:11 – 0:18:16] Antonio: Once you get a little snow, everything starts to feel like it’s really winter and you’re in and you’re, you’re on your way.
[0:18:17 – 0:18:26] Erik: So, yeah, no, it’s, it’s, you know, for me, I’ve been coming from places where, like I said, it was entirely different time schedules.
[0:18:26 – 0:18:31] Erik: So it was like June, our June to come back and have it like,
[0:18:34 – 0:18:51] Erik: mid-afternoon the darkness starts settling in oh yeah i have not adjusted to that yet but i do really appreciate it much more than the long the long light days which we have talked about at length for sure in the past stoke the wood stove up and yep get cozy
[0:18:52 – 0:18:53] Erik: Getting cozy.
[0:18:53 – 0:18:55] Erik: Well, we’re not going to get too cozy yet.
[0:18:55 – 0:19:05] Erik: We’re going to still talk about the bright green, blue, long days of summer and open water paddling in the form of a question of the year.
[0:19:05 – 0:19:08] Antonio: And I am looking forward to reading these responses.
[0:19:08 – 0:19:09] Antonio: Yes.
[0:19:09 – 0:19:10] Antonio: Do we have any correspondence?
[0:19:11 – 0:19:11] UNKNOWN: Yeah.
[0:19:12 – 0:19:13] Erik: I forgot about correspondence.
[0:19:13 – 0:19:15] Antonio: I would never let you forget about it.
[0:19:15 – 0:19:16] Antonio: We can’t get into the main course.
[0:19:17 – 0:19:19] Antonio: We still got to get into correspondence.
[0:19:19 – 0:19:19] Erik: Yeah, we have.
[0:19:19 – 0:19:21] Antonio: Or do we want to do correspondence later?
[0:19:21 – 0:19:23] Antonio: It does not need to be at the beginning of the episode.
[0:19:24 – 0:19:25] Antonio: We’re a little rusty.
[0:19:25 – 0:19:26] Antonio: I don’t know.
[0:19:26 – 0:19:28] Antonio: I feel odd because we’ve been out of the studio for a while.
[0:19:29 – 0:19:32] Antonio: It’s taken me a while to get my wind back.
[0:19:33 – 0:19:37] Erik: Yes, we have a bit of correspondence.
[0:19:38 – 0:19:42] Erik: Again, we are a little – you’re kind of shaking off the rust here.
[0:19:42 – 0:19:51] Erik: I have some that was actually physically mailed to my house, but I don’t want to try to describe what it was.
[0:19:52 – 0:19:54] Erik: I forgot it, so that’s – the point is –
[0:19:55 – 0:20:01] Erik: We will bring that up and read the nice things that were said and sent to us.
[0:20:02 – 0:20:03] Antonio: As long as they’re nice.
[0:20:03 – 0:20:05] Antonio: I’m not going to read it if they’re mean.
[0:20:05 – 0:20:05] Erik: No.
[0:20:06 – 0:20:15] Erik: I’ll just say they used my address, but the name of the address was hashtag PBNash.
[0:20:15 – 0:20:15] Erik: Yes.
[0:20:16 – 0:20:17] Antonio: Which I really appreciated.
[0:20:17 – 0:20:20] Antonio: That’s always going to find its way to the correct recipient.
[0:20:20 – 0:20:20] Antonio: You could just…
[0:20:21 – 0:20:25] Antonio: Put hashtag PBNash on any package and it will arrive at our houses.
[0:20:25 – 0:20:27] Antonio: Hashtag PBNash55604.
[0:20:27 – 0:20:28] Antonio: It will find Eric.
[0:20:28 – 0:20:29] Erik: Yeah.
[0:20:30 – 0:20:36] Erik: But I think everything else that I have in terms of correspondence, correspondence, is directly related to the question.
[0:20:37 – 0:20:37] Antonio: Okay.
[0:20:37 – 0:20:39] Antonio: Yeah, and I don’t have anything off of Instagram.
[0:20:39 – 0:20:44] Antonio: It’s been a quiet month and I’ve made like two posts on the Instagram the entire time you’re gone.
[0:20:44 – 0:20:44] Erik: Yeah.
[0:20:44 – 0:20:45] Antonio: I just kind of shut her down.
[0:20:46 – 0:20:46] Antonio: Well, you know.
[0:20:46 – 0:20:47] Antonio: I needed a break.
[0:20:47 – 0:20:48] Antonio: Sometimes you need a break.
[0:20:49 – 0:20:49] Erik: Yeah.
[0:20:49 – 0:20:56] Erik: Sometimes you need to miss something or someone to fully appreciate it.
[0:20:56 – 0:20:59] Erik: You just get used to the same thing all the time.
[0:21:00 – 0:21:02] Erik: You know, it’s like anything.
[0:21:03 – 0:21:04] Antonio: So we got nothing for how she going by?
[0:21:05 – 0:21:08] Erik: Nothing for how she going by.
[0:21:08 – 0:21:10] Antonio: Yeah, like we had a few.
[0:21:10 – 0:21:16] Antonio: There’s been a few things, but I don’t think they’re like show related really that we need to bring them up.
[0:21:16 – 0:21:21] Erik: Yeah, I guess unless you wanted to address the letter that you sent.
[0:21:22 – 0:21:23] Antonio: Yeah.
[0:21:23 – 0:21:25] Antonio: I think that’s a private matter.
[0:21:25 – 0:21:25] Erik: Okay.
[0:21:25 – 0:21:25] Antonio: All right.
[0:21:25 – 0:21:30] Antonio: We did have a nice letter and we sent out some correspondence of our own.
[0:21:30 – 0:21:31] Erik: We sent out correspondence of our own.
[0:21:32 – 0:21:32] Erik: Yeah.
[0:21:32 – 0:21:34] Antonio: Did a little drawing and sent that out.
[0:21:34 – 0:21:37] Antonio: So I hope that found its intended recipient.
[0:21:37 – 0:21:39] Antonio: If you’re out there, congratulations.
[0:21:39 – 0:21:40] Antonio: We knew you could do it.
[0:21:41 – 0:21:56] Erik: Yeah, I guess the only thing that’s not directly related to a question of the year was an email from Brian who sent me a link to a Boundary Waters board game that exists from 1991.
[0:21:57 – 0:21:57] Erik: Oh, really?
[0:21:57 – 0:21:58] Erik: Yeah.
[0:21:58 – 0:21:59] Antonio: Darn it, they beat us to it.
[0:22:00 – 0:22:03] Erik: Well, I think I remember seeing this.
[0:22:03 – 0:22:08] Antonio: I’ve acquired some new materials that are going to be really important for the tiles I need to build for Tumble Home, the board game.
[0:22:08 – 0:22:09] Antonio: So that’s exciting.
[0:22:10 – 0:22:16] Erik: I think I remember seeing this at the lodge for the longest time and it just kind of disappeared.
[0:22:16 – 0:22:18] Erik: I have no idea how it works.
[0:22:18 – 0:22:19] Antonio: What’s it called?
[0:22:19 – 0:22:20] Antonio: Canoe trip?
[0:22:21 – 0:22:25] Erik: It’s called Boundary Waters Canoe Trip, an adventure travel game for the entire family.
[0:22:25 – 0:22:25] Antonio: Oh, my God.
[0:22:25 – 0:22:26] Antonio: We need a copy of this.
[0:22:27 – 0:22:28] Antonio: It’s $100 on eBay.
[0:22:28 – 0:22:29] Antonio: That’s a steal.
[0:22:31 – 0:22:35] Erik: I mean, I guess we could.
[0:22:35 – 0:22:36] Erik: It’s been done, apparently.
[0:22:36 – 0:22:37] Erik: It’s been tried.
[0:22:37 – 0:22:38] Erik: I don’t know.
[0:22:38 – 0:22:45] Antonio: I mean, I can’t really proceed with beta testing on our game right now, knowing now that this is out there.
[0:22:45 – 0:22:47] Erik: Well, maybe we’ll keep our eyes on eBay.
[0:22:47 – 0:22:50] Erik: And maybe see if there’s a cheaper version that shows up.
[0:22:50 – 0:22:52] Erik: Yeah, we got to keep our eyes peeled.
[0:22:52 – 0:22:52] Erik: $100 is worth.
[0:22:52 – 0:22:53] Antonio: Yeah, I don’t know about that.
[0:22:53 – 0:22:59] Antonio: You can buy a lot of expansion packs for Carcassonne with that kind of money.
[0:22:59 – 0:23:00] Erik: Yeah.
[0:23:01 – 0:23:01] Erik: So…
[0:23:02 – 0:23:03] Antonio: Let’s get into it, eh?
[0:23:04 – 0:23:05] Antonio: All right.
[0:23:06 – 0:23:12] Antonio: We’ll take a moment to hear a word from our sponsors, then we’ll get right back to the actual question of the year.
[0:23:12 – 0:23:13] Erik: We have sponsors this week?
[0:23:13 – 0:23:14] Erik: Yeah, of course.
[0:23:14 – 0:23:14] Erik: All right.
[0:23:14 – 0:23:17] Erik: Well, let’s listen to our sponsors.
[0:23:21 – 0:23:31] Antonio: Dumbbell Home, a Boundary Waters podcast, is brought to you by RPM Discs, and this week by the Pewakawaka, a good, reliable, straight midrange.
[0:23:32 – 0:23:37] Antonio: This disc will easily hold a line, and with the glide that is sneaky long.
[0:23:37 – 0:23:38] Antonio: The Pewakawaka.
[0:23:39 – 0:23:48] Antonio: It’s a four-speed from RPM Discs, and it’s a really good disc if you’re just wanting to play some little putting games in your campsite in the Boundary Waters, I guess.
[0:23:48 – 0:23:49] Antonio: All right, now back to the show.
[0:23:55 – 0:23:55] Antonio: And we’re back.
[0:23:55 – 0:23:57] Antonio: You ever seen a P. Waka Waka around here?
[0:23:57 – 0:24:00] Antonio: Is that exclusive to not North America?
[0:24:01 – 0:24:04] Antonio: I don’t think there is any P. Waka Waka exclusive to not America.
[0:24:04 – 0:24:06] Antonio: It looks like a gray J.
[0:24:06 – 0:24:07] Antonio: It’s a bird.
[0:24:07 – 0:24:08] Antonio: We’ve deduced this.
[0:24:08 – 0:24:09] Antonio: It’s a bird.
[0:24:10 – 0:24:11] Antonio: It looks like a gray J.
[0:24:11 – 0:24:12] Erik: Yes.
[0:24:12 – 0:24:12] Erik: A small gray J.
[0:24:14 – 0:24:14] Antonio: Or is it a chickadee?
[0:24:17 – 0:24:18] Erik: I mean, it’s a P. Waka Waka.
[0:24:20 – 0:24:23] Antonio: We were out just breaking in some trails the other day.
[0:24:23 – 0:24:26] Antonio: Got down by this little mini creek that we hike by.
[0:24:26 – 0:24:33] Antonio: And I just kind of always walk out there and stop and listen for the water underneath the ice and snow.
[0:24:33 – 0:24:39] Antonio: And we’re just standing there and this little family of chickadees came flying in and landed by us.
[0:24:39 – 0:24:40] Antonio: They’re very vocal.
[0:24:40 – 0:24:41] Antonio: It was quite cute.
[0:24:41 – 0:24:44] Antonio: And I was just like, oh, hey, I didn’t know you guys were going to be here.
[0:24:45 – 0:24:45] Antonio: How’s it going?
[0:24:46 – 0:24:48] Antonio: They kind of chirp back, all right, see you later.
[0:24:49 – 0:24:52] Antonio: Totally normal, just talking to chickadees in the woods.
[0:24:52 – 0:24:53] Antonio: Yeah, it’s that time of year.
[0:24:53 – 0:24:54] Antonio: Yeah, it is.
[0:24:55 – 0:24:57] Erik: Very entertaining.
[0:24:57 – 0:25:01] Erik: It’s much better to experience the chickadees
[0:25:02 – 0:25:19] Erik: In that way, then, it is to experience the flocks of small ground birds that find it necessary to eat the gravel on the Gunflint Trail in large flocks, but are not capable of getting 100% of their friends away from the 60 mile per hour moving vehicle.
[0:25:20 – 0:25:24] Erik: I feel like every time I drive up or down the trail, I kill like four birds.
[0:25:24 – 0:25:25] Erik: Those little white ones?
[0:25:26 – 0:25:28] Erik: No, those are the snow buntings in the late fall.
[0:25:28 – 0:25:31] Erik: These are the early winter, like, red poles.
[0:25:31 – 0:25:31] Erik: Oh, yeah.
[0:25:32 – 0:25:37] Erik: And, like, yeah, like 90% of them are good, but there’s always, like, those last hanger-ons.
[0:25:37 – 0:25:39] Erik: Like, I got to get one more piece of gravel.
[0:25:41 – 0:25:41] Erik: And then you just.
[0:25:41 – 0:25:42] Erik: You pushed it.
[0:25:42 – 0:25:43] Antonio: You pushed it too far.
[0:25:43 – 0:25:43] Erik: You pushed it.
[0:25:43 – 0:25:44] Erik: Now you’re stuck in my grill.
[0:25:47 – 0:25:47] Erik: All right.
[0:25:48 – 0:25:48] Erik: Back to summer.
[0:25:49 – 0:25:49] Erik: Summer.
[0:25:51 – 0:25:51] Erik: Open water.
[0:25:52 – 0:25:53] Erik: The land of always summer.
[0:25:54 – 0:26:05] Erik: We’re closing out the 2019 open water season with a general discussion on highlights and lowlights of your time in the BWCA.
[0:26:08 – 0:26:08] Erik: Where’d you go?
[0:26:09 – 0:26:10] Erik: What’d you see?
[0:26:10 – 0:26:12] Erik: And how did it change you?
[0:26:13 – 0:26:15] Erik: It’s a long time till spring.
[0:26:15 – 0:26:18] Erik: Let’s savor the moments we had on the water before the ice takes over.
[0:26:20 – 0:26:22] Erik: I finished with, does anybody have any questions?
[0:26:23 – 0:26:29] Erik: Which is a reference to one of the greatest concert movies of all time.
[0:26:30 – 0:26:31] Erik: Stop making sense.
[0:26:32 – 0:26:33] Erik: We’re after a song.
[0:26:34 – 0:26:37] Erik: David Byrne asks the crowd, anybody has any questions?
[0:26:38 – 0:26:41] Erik: I was more serious than he was, so let’s see.
[0:26:41 – 0:26:42] Erik: Does anybody have any questions?
[0:26:42 – 0:26:43] Antonio: We need to get a lamp.
[0:26:44 – 0:26:45] Antonio: We’re going to find out.
[0:26:45 – 0:26:45] Antonio: Large suit.
[0:26:48 – 0:26:49] Erik: All right.
[0:26:51 – 0:26:52] Erik: Do you want to read the first one?
[0:26:52 – 0:26:54] Erik: The most upvoted.
[0:26:54 – 0:26:55] Erik: This is off of Reddit.
[0:26:55 – 0:26:57] Erik: We also did get some emails.
[0:26:57 – 0:26:58] Erik: We will read those.
[0:27:00 – 0:27:01] Antonio: You just did Reddit and emails?
[0:27:02 – 0:27:02] Antonio: Yes.
[0:27:02 – 0:27:03] Antonio: Nothing on the Facebook for this one?
[0:27:04 – 0:27:06] Erik: I didn’t end up using the Facebook.
[0:27:06 – 0:27:06] Antonio: No.
[0:27:07 – 0:27:07] Antonio: I’ll read the first one.
[0:27:11 – 0:27:15] Antonio: Our BWCA chiming in, and we thank you.
[0:27:15 – 0:27:16] Antonio: I haven’t seen any of these.
[0:27:16 – 0:27:21] Antonio: For the record, I’ve been avoiding our BWCA just so I could come at these fresh.
[0:27:22 – 0:27:22] Erik: Yep.
[0:27:24 – 0:27:27] Antonio: Aruthnb, eight points.
[0:27:28 – 0:27:28] Antonio: One month ago.
[0:27:29 – 0:27:30] Antonio: Top three highlights.
[0:27:31 – 0:27:37] Antonio: Number one, becoming a Tumble Home Patreon and receiving my Coghlan’s brand nylon mesh sack in the mail.
[0:27:37 – 0:27:40] Antonio: It will be treasured on all future trips.
[0:27:40 – 0:27:41] Antonio: Careful with those.
[0:27:41 – 0:27:42] Antonio: They’re delicate.
[0:27:43 – 0:27:46] Erik: Yeah, you really… What can you use the mesh sack for?
[0:27:46 – 0:27:49] Erik: Maybe a hat or a pair of socks.
[0:27:50 – 0:27:53] Antonio: I like to use it to clean up micro litter, but not anything too heavy.
[0:27:54 – 0:27:54] Antonio: Yeah, no, just the…
[0:27:54 – 0:27:55] Antonio: It’s only very small.
[0:27:55 – 0:27:58] Antonio: You don’t want to try and put a ripped pair of underwear in there.
[0:27:58 – 0:28:00] Antonio: You just want to stick to little candy wrappers.
[0:28:00 – 0:28:02] Antonio: Yeah, just the corners of Snickers.
[0:28:02 – 0:28:03] Antonio: Yeah, if you…
[0:28:04 – 0:28:07] Antonio: Yeah, careful with that precious Coghlan’s nylon mesh sack.
[0:28:08 – 0:28:13] Antonio: Two, being able to take my kids, ages 7 and 10, on their first Boundary Waters trip.
[0:28:14 – 0:28:21] Antonio: We spent a week on South Koishui River and have already planned for a week next June going from Clearwater Lodge.
[0:28:21 – 0:28:22] Antonio: Oh, boy.
[0:28:22 – 0:28:25] Antonio: Good choice, and that should have been number one for the record.
[0:28:25 – 0:28:26] Antonio: That should have been number one.
[0:28:29 – 0:28:32] Antonio: Number three, breakfast at Britain’s Cafe and Ely.
[0:28:33 – 0:28:34] Antonio: Mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm.
[0:28:34 – 0:28:35] Antonio: Stuffed hash browns.
[0:28:35 – 0:28:36] Erik: Underrated breakfast spot.
[0:28:37 – 0:28:45] Erik: You know, we lauded the food options of Grand Marais in our Living in the Northwoods episode.
[0:28:45 – 0:28:53] Erik: One aspect of Grand Marais that can be greatly improved upon, which I think Ely does best them at, is solid breakfast.
[0:28:55 – 0:28:55] Antonio: True.
[0:28:56 – 0:29:01] Antonio: Yeah, I mean, there’s a couple spots to get breakfast, but there’s not an all-star breakfast in town.
[0:29:01 – 0:29:04] Erik: Well, that’s, yes, in town.
[0:29:04 – 0:29:10] Erik: I’ll put the trail-centered breakfast up against most breakfasts anywhere.
[0:29:10 – 0:29:12] Erik: I’m not biased, and I would say that is true.
[0:29:12 – 0:29:18] Erik: In terms of just, like, greasy spoon, I need butter and cheese in my life.
[0:29:19 – 0:29:20] Antonio: That’s the place to go.
[0:29:20 – 0:29:22] SPEAKER_01: But, yeah, Graham Ray’s a little… Yeah.
[0:29:22 – 0:29:25] Antonio: Yeah, no, nothing in town is as good as a trail center breakfast.
[0:29:25 – 0:29:26] Antonio: That’s for sure.
[0:29:26 – 0:29:29] Erik: That was one of the things that I do miss about living in Ely.
[0:29:29 – 0:29:30] Antonio: Britain’s.
[0:29:30 – 0:29:32] Antonio: Britain’s.
[0:29:32 – 0:29:35] Antonio: We ate there on our Quetico trip when we were in town.
[0:29:35 – 0:29:38] Antonio: Where was the little diner we ate our breakfast at that time?
[0:29:38 – 0:29:39] Antonio: Remember that?
[0:29:40 – 0:29:40] Erik: Yeah.
[0:29:40 – 0:29:41] Erik: That was Britain’s.
[0:29:41 – 0:29:42] Erik: That was it, right?
[0:29:42 – 0:29:43] Erik: Yeah.
[0:29:43 – 0:29:45] Erik: It’s like one block off the main drag.
[0:29:45 – 0:29:50] Antonio: I assumed it was, but I wasn’t recalling the name just from our trip.
[0:29:51 – 0:29:53] Antonio: So I have had that wonderful breakfast.
[0:29:54 – 0:29:56] Erik: It is quintessential.
[0:29:56 – 0:29:58] Antonio: I don’t think I had the stuffed hash browns, though.
[0:29:59 – 0:30:07] Erik: I think I usually go for the omelet there because it’s the, I love that they use like the fakest cheese possible.
[0:30:07 – 0:30:07] Erik: Yeah.
[0:30:07 – 0:30:09] Erik: But it makes it so much more delicious.
[0:30:10 – 0:30:11] Antonio: American cheese.
[0:30:11 – 0:30:11] Antonio: Yeah.
[0:30:12 – 0:30:12] Antonio: Yeah.
[0:30:12 – 0:30:14] Antonio: Melts better than real cheese.
[0:30:14 – 0:30:17] Antonio: I think we hit it, we were probably on day 20 or 21 of our trip.
[0:30:17 – 0:30:21] Antonio: We did our hitchhike into town and resupply and have breakfast and-
[0:30:22 – 0:30:23] Antonio: I had the Ron Swanson special.
[0:30:24 – 0:30:26] Antonio: Give me all your bacon and eggs.
[0:30:27 – 0:30:28] Antonio: I don’t think you understood me.
[0:30:28 – 0:30:29] Antonio: I said all of your bacon.
[0:30:31 – 0:30:32] Antonio: Top three lowlights.
[0:30:33 – 0:30:33] Antonio: Moving on.
[0:30:34 – 0:30:35] Antonio: Top three lowlights.
[0:30:35 – 0:30:44] Antonio: Number one, spending our eighth year living in South Carolina, over 1,300 miles from the edge of the BWCA, and only being able to make it one trip a year.
[0:30:45 – 0:30:48] Antonio: Listening to Tumble Home in rush hour traffic takes the edge off.
[0:30:48 – 0:30:51] Antonio: Two, catching zero keeper walleye on our trip.
[0:30:52 – 0:30:55] Antonio: Well, you know, that’s nothing to be ashamed of.
[0:30:55 – 0:30:56] Antonio: It happens to me all the time.
[0:30:57 – 0:31:04] Antonio: And three, realizing 2020 is a leap year and we have yet one more day before our next trip.
[0:31:04 – 0:31:06] Antonio: That is a real bummer.
[0:31:07 – 0:31:08] Antonio: Thanks for nothing, February.
[0:31:09 – 0:31:10] Antonio: We do have a question.
[0:31:11 – 0:31:11] Antonio: Oh, nice.
[0:31:12 – 0:31:12] Antonio: Question.
[0:31:13 – 0:31:17] Antonio: What is the craziest thing you have seen a newbie group do in the Boundary Waters?
[0:31:17 – 0:31:18] Antonio: Hashtag PBNash.
[0:31:18 – 0:31:21] Erik: Hashtag PBNation.
[0:31:21 – 0:31:26] Antonio: Actually, it was hashtag PBNation, which is an acceptable form of the hashtag.
[0:31:26 – 0:31:27] Antonio: That’s okay.
[0:31:27 – 0:31:30] Antonio: I don’t want to misrepresent what was typed.
[0:31:30 – 0:31:35] Antonio: What is the craziest thing you’ve seen a newbie group do in the Boundary Waters?
[0:31:35 – 0:31:36] Antonio: I just like watching them paddle.
[0:31:37 – 0:31:40] Antonio: And that’s a lot of them, you know, so that’s just kind of a general answer.
[0:31:40 – 0:31:42] Antonio: I just love watching them paddle and zigzag.
[0:31:42 – 0:31:45] Antonio: We see this side of the canoe more than you see the front of it.
[0:31:46 – 0:31:51] Antonio: You can always tell a newbie group from a long ways off because they’re constantly flashing the side of their canoe at you.
[0:31:52 – 0:31:52] Antonio: What are they doing?
[0:31:52 – 0:31:53] Antonio: Oh, gosh.
[0:31:55 – 0:31:56] Antonio: All three of them are paddling on one side.
[0:31:57 – 0:31:57] Antonio: Yeah.
[0:31:57 – 0:32:00] Erik: It’s, you know, it’s all…
[0:32:02 – 0:32:05] Erik: Under the umbrella of the bourgeois still, like, it’s just one of the…
[0:32:06 – 0:32:08] Erik: It’s one of the aspects of it.
[0:32:08 – 0:32:08] Erik: It’s not…
[0:32:09 – 0:32:16] Erik: I mean, yeah, to a certain extent, there is a criticism in it, but it’s all under the umbrella of, like, love and…
[0:32:16 – 0:32:17] Erik: It is.
[0:32:17 – 0:32:18] Erik: …being out there with them.
[0:32:19 – 0:32:19] Erik: It’s not…
[0:32:20 – 0:32:22] Erik: I’m glad there’s no video of me learning how to paddle.
[0:32:22 – 0:32:25] Erik: Well, yeah, and that’s what I was going to say.
[0:32:25 – 0:32:27] Erik: I’m sure what I looked like on my first trip.
[0:32:29 – 0:32:38] Erik: So the craziest for me is probably what my first trip looked like, which was like zip-tied six packs of 20-ounce plastic bottles of Coke and Sprite.
[0:32:38 – 0:32:39] Erik: Yeah, you got to bring that Sprite.
[0:32:39 – 0:32:39] Erik: Totally illegal.
[0:32:40 – 0:32:43] Erik: Totally like, we need mixtures, dude.
[0:32:43 – 0:32:45] Erik: I’m like, I was 17, you know.
[0:32:45 – 0:32:49] Erik: So with that frame of reference, you always look at it, and it is entertaining.
[0:32:49 – 0:32:50] Erik: Yeah.
[0:32:50 – 0:32:50] Erik: Yeah.
[0:32:50 – 0:32:56] Antonio: But it’s not, you know, we’re not working at it with, you know, eyes of scorn.
[0:32:56 – 0:32:59] Antonio: I got stuck in the mud and fell over and dropped my canoe in my first portage.
[0:33:00 – 0:33:00] Erik: Yeah.
[0:33:00 – 0:33:05] Erik: I think, I mean, some of the craziest things that I’ve seen, I think we’ve talked about it.
[0:33:05 – 0:33:09] Antonio: Bringing soda is one thing, but haven’t you had people just bringing jugs of water?
[0:33:09 – 0:33:10] Antonio: That’s insane to me.
[0:33:10 – 0:33:11] Antonio: And they were going to portage them.
[0:33:12 – 0:33:19] Erik: I think some of the weirder things, crazier things, first timers, I don’t, I would assume, I would hope that they were, was like, um,
[0:33:19 – 0:33:24] Erik: Clearly purchased from the gas station in Grand Marais bundles of wood.
[0:33:24 – 0:33:24] Erik: Oh, wow.
[0:33:24 – 0:33:28] Erik: Wrapped up in like big heavy-duty plastic dry bags.
[0:33:28 – 0:33:29] Erik: Yeah.
[0:33:29 – 0:33:32] Erik: That’s always like… Portaging wood.
[0:33:33 – 0:33:34] Antonio: Portaging wood.
[0:33:34 – 0:33:37] Antonio: Yeah, so portaging wood or water I think is going to be our final answer.
[0:33:37 – 0:33:37] Antonio: Yeah.
[0:33:37 – 0:33:39] Antonio: You don’t need to portage either of those items.
[0:33:40 – 0:33:40] Erik: Yeah.
[0:33:40 – 0:33:46] Antonio: If you take this away from this episode, you’ll be a step ahead if you’re going on your first trip next year.
[0:33:49 – 0:33:52] Antonio: So I think that’ll do it for answering that question.
[0:33:52 – 0:33:57] Antonio: Thank you for your response, and I think you earned your eight points for sure.
[0:33:59 – 0:34:03] Erik: Mike underscore underscore?
[0:34:04 – 0:34:05] Erik: Two underscores.
[0:34:05 – 0:34:07] Erik: Mike double underscore H. Hi.
[0:34:07 – 0:34:07] Erik: Hi.
[0:34:09 – 0:34:09] Erik: Hey, Mike.
[0:34:10 – 0:34:10] Erik: Hey.
[0:34:10 – 0:34:14] Erik: Took my seven-year-old son on his first Boundary Waters trip.
[0:34:15 – 0:34:31] Erik: See, we’re just not at that level of being able to provide an incredible experience like that or get the vicariousness of living through introducing that to a child, let alone your own.
[0:34:32 – 0:34:33] Erik: That’s amazing.
[0:34:33 – 0:34:39] Antonio: It’s got to be incredible to see the park through someone else’s eyes for the first time again.
[0:34:39 – 0:34:44] Erik: And anybody that’s doing that, including you, Mike, thank you.
[0:34:44 – 0:34:48] Erik: That is the future of the park.
[0:34:50 – 0:34:54] Erik: Not his first canoe camping trip, but first time portaging, and he did great.
[0:34:55 – 0:34:59] Erik: We had a great time together, even though it was fast, just a weekend trip.
[0:34:59 – 0:35:04] Erik: We saw six moose on Burnt Lake, two sets of a cow, and two calves.
[0:35:06 – 0:35:32] Erik: caught no fish closest we came was one little northern that i got near the canoe before he shook the hook that was the low lights that was a low light and now i also realized he wasn’t starting the comment by just saying hi it was high and low oh gotcha yeah i don’t know i’ve heard that a lot from burnt lake you’re not alone there either yeah well the walleyes can be elusive
[0:35:33 – 0:35:34] Antonio: I mean, that’s.
[0:35:34 – 0:35:35] Antonio: Unless you’re on ice skates.
[0:35:36 – 0:35:36] Erik: Right.
[0:35:36 – 0:35:37] Erik: I don’t know.
[0:35:37 – 0:35:39] Antonio: That’s prime ice skating territory over there.
[0:35:39 – 0:35:39] Antonio: No.
[0:35:40 – 0:35:40] Erik: Yeah.
[0:35:40 – 0:35:41] Erik: Low, shallow water.
[0:35:42 – 0:35:44] Erik: You can probably skate through there pretty easily right away.
[0:35:45 – 0:35:45] Antonio: Yeah.
[0:35:46 – 0:36:00] Erik: Yeah, the, I mean, the highlight is, I can’t, you know, agree with more, but the low light that I’ve also, this is the second response that has included the lack of catching big fish as a low light.
[0:36:01 – 0:36:04] Erik: Like, if that’s the worst thing that happens to you on your bonfire trip, that’s pretty amazing.
[0:36:04 – 0:36:08] Erik: Like, not catching fish, like, you’re not, that’s really, for me.
[0:36:09 – 0:36:10] Erik: Fish are all bonus.
[0:36:10 – 0:36:10] Antonio: Yeah.
[0:36:10 – 0:36:12] Antonio: If you get a bream, you know.
[0:36:12 – 0:36:12] Antonio: All bonus.
[0:36:12 – 0:36:16] Antonio: That’s Charlie Bostrom smiling upon you from the heavens.
[0:36:18 – 0:36:18] Antonio: What do we got here?
[0:36:18 – 0:36:20] Antonio: This looks like an eight-parter.
[0:36:20 – 0:36:21] Erik: Yeah, you’re getting the big ones.
[0:36:21 – 0:36:23] Erik: Well, I’m a good reader, so.
[0:36:23 – 0:36:24] Erik: Yeah, you’re doing all right.
[0:36:26 – 0:36:29] Antonio: There’s a good friend, Ghost of Eddie Abbey with seven points.
[0:36:32 – 0:36:32] Antonio: Highlights.
[0:36:33 – 0:36:33] Antonio: Hi.
[0:36:34 – 0:36:41] Antonio: One, taking our seven-year-old and five-year-old boys on their first Boundary Waters trip and doing awesome.
[0:36:42 – 0:36:46] Antonio: Two, boys catching their first smallmouth bass and lakers.
[0:36:46 – 0:36:46] Antonio: Wow.
[0:36:47 – 0:36:48] Antonio: That’s a multi-species deal.
[0:36:49 – 0:36:50] SPEAKER_01: Yes.
[0:36:50 – 0:36:51] Antonio: Nicely done.
[0:36:52 – 0:36:54] Antonio: Three, Rose Lake Vistas and Rose Falls.
[0:36:55 – 0:36:56] Antonio: Absolutely awesome.
[0:36:57 – 0:37:07] Antonio: four discovering night floats to stargaze from the canoe on a calm night i am very intrigued by number four yeah i don’t know how many times i’ve actually pulled that off
[0:37:08 – 0:37:10] Erik: I haven’t done it many times in the canoe.
[0:37:10 – 0:37:24] Erik: I, when, when I used to run dogs though, we would do night runs where we would hang out until like right about the sun went down and then like stage a run back to the kennel where like you didn’t use headlamps or anything.
[0:37:25 – 0:37:28] Erik: And then you would kind of just slowly let your eyes adjust with the snow.
[0:37:29 – 0:37:29] Erik: Um,
[0:37:30 – 0:37:49] Erik: But yeah, the only other time that I can think of doing the night stargazing was the midnight start on the angle worm trip that I did with a friend of mine where we went in, did the two-mile portage on boardwalks and stuff, and then had to find a campsite on angle worm under the stars.
[0:37:49 – 0:37:53] Erik: But I’ve never physically had a campsite and then gone out.
[0:37:53 – 0:37:54] Erik: We should…
[0:37:54 – 0:37:55] Erik: Consider doing that next year.
[0:37:55 – 0:38:03] Antonio: I usually, uh, part of like selecting a campsite for me is usually like, is it, which kind of view does it have of the, of the night sky?
[0:38:03 – 0:38:04] Erik: Yeah.
[0:38:05 – 0:38:10] Antonio: A lot of times I’m looking to have a view to the north in case the Borealis come out.
[0:38:11 – 0:38:11] Erik: Exactly.
[0:38:11 – 0:38:12] Antonio: The Vindleys.
[0:38:12 – 0:38:14] Antonio: The Vindleys.
[0:38:14 – 0:38:25] Antonio: But sometimes, you know, if you know there’s going to be like a new moon or a very sliver of a moon in one way or the other, then you may want one that’s facing south and you get a really nice Milky Way look.
[0:38:26 – 0:38:27] Antonio: So those are fun too.
[0:38:27 – 0:38:30] Antonio: But, you know, you get pretty good looks just from the campsite.
[0:38:31 – 0:38:34] Antonio: But I don’t know, getting out in the boat at night, that is pretty awesome.
[0:38:34 – 0:38:34] Antonio: Yeah.
[0:38:35 – 0:38:38] Antonio: Five, wife making it to the planned end of the trip.
[0:38:39 – 0:38:39] Antonio: All right.
[0:38:41 – 0:38:42] Antonio: No comment.
[0:38:43 – 0:38:44] Antonio: Six, pizza biters.
[0:38:44 – 0:38:45] Antonio: Hashtag PB&H.
[0:38:46 – 0:38:51] Antonio: I add that hashtag, but I’m glad to get more people in on the secret of pizza biters.
[0:38:52 – 0:38:57] Antonio: Seven, trail center breakfast pre-trip and the beer burger post-trip.
[0:38:58 – 0:38:58] Antonio: You nailed it.
[0:38:59 – 0:38:59] Antonio: And eight…
[0:39:00 – 0:39:03] Antonio: Poplar House cocktails the night before entry.
[0:39:03 – 0:39:04] Antonio: Nicely done.
[0:39:04 – 0:39:06] Antonio: Poplar House, that’s right.
[0:39:07 – 0:39:12] Antonio: They have a very fine cocktail menu and a welcoming atmosphere and bar.
[0:39:13 – 0:39:20] Erik: It gives you the, I think the best way to do it is trail center breakfast, Poplar House finish.
[0:39:21 – 0:39:21] Erik: Right.
[0:39:21 – 0:39:24] Erik: Because you get that nice big elevated view over the lake.
[0:39:24 – 0:39:25] Erik: You sure do.
[0:39:25 – 0:39:33] Erik: Obviously, you like really good food and people, but it just, it doesn’t create such a like abrupt end to the trip.
[0:39:33 – 0:39:34] Erik: You kind of still get that like, hey.
[0:39:35 – 0:39:35] Erik: Right.
[0:39:36 – 0:39:37] Antonio: There’s the Boundary Waters right there.
[0:39:38 – 0:39:42] Antonio: All right, so that was eight highlights, and we have a few lowlights.
[0:39:43 – 0:39:46] Antonio: Number one, big headwind on departure morning.
[0:39:46 – 0:39:51] Antonio: Always tough, especially if you’re not really fully amped up.
[0:39:51 – 0:39:52] Antonio: I don’t know.
[0:39:52 – 0:39:53] Antonio: That’s the wrong way to put it.
[0:39:53 – 0:40:00] Antonio: You’re fully amped up, but I’ve always said you’re not really hitting your real stride as a paddler until maybe day two or three usually.
[0:40:01 – 0:40:07] Antonio: So to have a big headwind on your first leg of the trip even is a real kick in the short sometimes.
[0:40:07 – 0:40:13] Erik: Or I think that could be departing the park, too.
[0:40:14 – 0:40:20] Erik: I think leaving to start the trip with a headwind, it’s like, all right, whatever.
[0:40:20 – 0:40:21] Erik: I’m getting out there.
[0:40:22 – 0:40:22] Erik: I can do it.
[0:40:22 – 0:40:23] Erik: You are fresh, at least.
[0:40:24 – 0:40:27] Erik: The headwind on the last day where you have to leave…
[0:40:29 – 0:40:39] Erik: Probably a little bit harder because you’re not… Well, you might have that muscle kind of a little bit more to get at it, but you also don’t want to leave as much.
[0:40:39 – 0:40:40] Antonio: Right on.
[0:40:40 – 0:40:41] Erik: But you have someplace to be, I’m assuming.
[0:40:42 – 0:40:42] Erik: Yeah.
[0:40:42 – 0:40:43] Erik: Those people do.
[0:40:43 – 0:40:44] Antonio: Going to get burgers and beer.
[0:40:45 – 0:40:45] Erik: Yeah.
[0:40:45 – 0:40:46] Antonio: Yeah, that’s the thing.
[0:40:46 – 0:40:54] Antonio: On your last leg of the trip, there’s always a beer out there on the front of the canoe dangling from a stick, and you got to chase that beer.
[0:40:54 – 0:40:54] Antonio: Ice cold.
[0:40:55 – 0:40:55] Erik: Ice cold.
[0:40:56 – 0:40:57] Antonio: Number two, leaving the park…
[0:40:58 – 0:40:58] Antonio: Yeah.
[0:40:58 – 0:41:01] Antonio: Which we just said, you know, yeah, it’s tough to leave.
[0:41:01 – 0:41:03] Antonio: And especially if you had to really work to do it.
[0:41:03 – 0:41:03] Antonio: Maybe.
[0:41:04 – 0:41:04] Antonio: Yeah.
[0:41:04 – 0:41:09] Antonio: Maybe I should just let this wind, you know, who couldn’t, couldn’t quite make it out.
[0:41:09 – 0:41:10] Antonio: Or windbound.
[0:41:10 – 0:41:11] Antonio: Sorry.
[0:41:11 – 0:41:12] Antonio: Nothing we can do.
[0:41:12 – 0:41:15] Erik: Maybe it is easier to leave in the wind because you’re like, whatever.
[0:41:15 – 0:41:16] Erik: Conditions are nasty.
[0:41:16 – 0:41:17] Erik: Leaving on a beautiful day.
[0:41:17 – 0:41:20] Erik: That’s kind of the sense I get from people at Clearwater.
[0:41:20 – 0:41:23] Erik: You know, when they’re checking out and it’s like pouring rain, blowing.
[0:41:23 – 0:41:25] Erik: They’re like, well, this isn’t as hard to leave.
[0:41:25 – 0:41:25] Erik: Yeah.
[0:41:25 – 0:41:27] Erik: And like the glass calm.
[0:41:27 – 0:41:27] Erik: Yeah.
[0:41:27 – 0:41:31] Antonio: I guess if it’s a beautiful, perfect day when you’re leaving, it’s like, well, we’ll shoot.
[0:41:32 – 0:41:32] Erik: Can’t we just stay?
[0:41:33 – 0:41:37] Antonio: Final low light number three, October trip was scuttled due to rain, snow, weekend.
[0:41:37 – 0:41:40] Antonio: Didn’t want that to be the intro for the newbie that I was taking.
[0:41:42 – 0:41:44] Antonio: Yeah, probably a good call there.
[0:41:44 – 0:41:46] Antonio: October trips can do that to you.
[0:41:46 – 0:41:47] Antonio: Question.
[0:41:47 – 0:41:48] Antonio: We got a question too.
[0:41:48 – 0:41:48] Antonio: Nice.
[0:41:49 – 0:41:54] Antonio: What conditions or combination of conditions are appropriate, acceptable to scuttle a trip?
[0:41:54 – 0:41:55] Erik: Hmm.
[0:41:57 – 0:42:00] Antonio: The last time we scuttled a trip was before the wedding.
[0:42:00 – 0:42:05] Antonio: We were discussing going out on an October trip, maybe just a one-nighter.
[0:42:05 – 0:42:14] Antonio: We were going to get out and kind of do a bachelor party weekend or one-night trip right before the wedding.
[0:42:14 – 0:42:18] Antonio: That whole week before the wedding, it rained and was windy.
[0:42:18 – 0:42:20] Antonio: It rained like five inches in like a day.
[0:42:21 – 0:42:23] Antonio: We decided to say to heck with that.
[0:42:23 – 0:42:24] Antonio: We scuttled the trip.
[0:42:24 – 0:42:25] Antonio: That was the last time we scuttled.
[0:42:26 – 0:42:29] Erik: And I’m glad we did it because it would have been miserable out there.
[0:42:29 – 0:42:34] Antonio: Yeah, and it’s like, well, we have the luxury of that because it’s like, well, maybe we’ll just go next week then or something.
[0:42:34 – 0:42:39] Antonio: So I think the parameters are different depending on how far you’ve had to travel for the trip.
[0:42:39 – 0:42:39] Erik: Exactly, yeah.
[0:42:40 – 0:42:43] Antonio: And then how far out do you actually, you know, a lot of times weather can change.
[0:42:44 – 0:42:49] Antonio: Like, you know, for instance, with this storm coming in, it was supposed to start this morning and now it’s kind of been moved back to like tonight.
[0:42:50 – 0:42:50] Erik: Mm-hmm.
[0:42:50 – 0:42:58] Antonio: so the weather changes quick up here so it’s hard to say is it really nasty enough to scuttle it or just postpone perhaps you know how long do you have to wait
[0:43:00 – 0:43:06] Antonio: How far do you have to travel to even give yourself the option to either go or scuttle?
[0:43:07 – 0:43:11] Antonio: There’s lots of other fun things you can do where you just kind of alter the trip.
[0:43:11 – 0:43:12] Erik: Yeah.
[0:43:12 – 0:43:16] Antonio: Maybe just base camp and do a couple day trips later if you can.
[0:43:17 – 0:43:19] Antonio: There’s different varying degrees of scuttle-age.
[0:43:19 – 0:43:20] Antonio: Scuttle-age.
[0:43:20 – 0:43:21] Antonio: Scuttle-age.
[0:43:21 – 0:43:23] Erik: Yeah, I think it’s a safety thing, obviously.
[0:43:25 – 0:43:37] Erik: It gets hard when you’re working on the parameters of a predetermined recreation.gov slash US Forest Service quota system and how…
[0:43:39 – 0:44:02] Erik: hard you want to follow those rules of like when you can enter and when you can’t, you know, obviously if it’s too windy to go out, I usually tell people, you know, you’re supposed to enter on the day that your permit is for, but I don’t think anybody’s going to come chasing you down because you held off because there’s three foot rollers on Clearwater.
[0:44:02 – 0:44:03] Erik: Right on.
[0:44:03 – 0:44:08] Antonio: And a lot of times you hear it, it’s like these early May or October trips.
[0:44:08 – 0:44:08] Erik: Yeah.
[0:44:10 – 0:44:33] Antonio: may is not quite in there because you have the permits in effect but october at least you’re just kind of on a self-permitting system so you can you have a lot more flexibility on that october trip may is the one where it’s like that’s the one where you oh there’s still ice you get a lot of those questions yeah you can scuttle if you can’t get the boat in the water i guess that’s a legit reason to scuttle yeah yeah i don’t really truly can you ice skate the majority of may is permitted like that
[0:44:33 – 0:44:36] Antonio: Yeah, they really should bump that back to Memorial Day.
[0:44:36 – 0:44:37] Erik: They should.
[0:44:37 – 0:44:42] Erik: And then October should, I mean, go a couple weeks later because the first week of October.
[0:44:42 – 0:44:47] Antonio: Sure, I’ll trade a few weeks at the beginning of May, especially before even fishing opener.
[0:44:47 – 0:44:48] Antonio: It’s like 50-50.
[0:44:48 – 0:44:50] Antonio: They shouldn’t be charging people to go in before you can even fish.
[0:44:51 – 0:44:52] Antonio: Yeah, May 1st.
[0:44:52 – 0:44:59] Erik: Like, that’s a, I would say, less than 50% chance that you were going to have open water on the big Gunflint side lakes.
[0:45:00 – 0:45:01] Erik: Absolutely not.
[0:45:01 – 0:45:04] Erik: Like, it’s pretty rare that they’re open.
[0:45:05 – 0:45:12] Erik: But, I mean, I thought it was mostly just like a more night comfort thing.
[0:45:12 – 0:45:17] Erik: I’ve never been at like a landing looking out at the water and being like, you just can’t.
[0:45:17 – 0:45:18] Antonio: I guess one, yeah.
[0:45:18 – 0:45:18] Antonio: Can’t go.
[0:45:19 – 0:45:23] Antonio: Usually it’s wind that will be a bigger factor in that decision for me.
[0:45:23 – 0:45:28] Antonio: Anytime I’m thinking back now and all the time is like, I think we’re going to wait a day.
[0:45:28 – 0:45:32] Antonio: It was usually because of wind, but often wind is coupled with rain.
[0:45:32 – 0:45:32] Antonio: Yeah.
[0:45:32 – 0:45:34] Antonio: Slash, you know, sleet or whatever.
[0:45:36 – 0:45:42] Antonio: Sometimes you can wait an hour and it’ll pass, but sometimes it’s like, it’s clearly going to be an all day system moving through.
[0:45:42 – 0:45:44] Antonio: Like, let’s just bump this thing back.
[0:45:44 – 0:45:56] Erik: Yeah, and then at Clearwater, I see this weather for myself personally looks like trash.
[0:45:57 – 0:46:06] Erik: I wouldn’t want to go out there, and you’re seeing the permits and the reservations on the books or whatever, and you’re like, well, they’re probably not going to want to go out.
[0:46:06 – 0:46:08] Erik: This is like four-day traffic.
[0:46:09 – 0:46:36] Erik: low moving through with rain and wind and and then they show up and it’s like well i would much rather go out and sit in bad weather than what’s the alternative sitting here sitting inside in the office down in the cities you know it’s like all right well yeah then i entirely agree like yeah so it it you know it’s on on a trip by trip basis who you’re with
[0:46:36 – 0:46:57] Antonio: yeah what you literally do you know is the ghost of ed abby said you’re bringing a newbie out like you’d rather not go and it’s gonna be nasty that’s not a good introduction but i don’t know you know it’s a tricky one because you can always talk i’ve paddled through some bad stuff and been just fine too so
[0:46:59 – 0:47:03] Antonio: You got to take it case by case, but I can’t disagree with the call in October.
[0:47:03 – 0:47:07] Antonio: If there’s snow, especially, then it clearly was, you know, pretty cold.
[0:47:08 – 0:47:08] Antonio: Yeah.
[0:47:09 – 0:47:19] Antonio: So that also makes the danger level a little higher and, you know, you’re better off just hanging out at Poplar House and have a few nice cocktails and maybe do a hike, huh?
[0:47:20 – 0:47:20] Antonio: Yep.
[0:47:21 – 0:47:26] Erik: A hike and then get back under a roof next to a wood stove.
[0:47:28 – 0:47:31] Erik: Northbound underscore paddler.
[0:47:31 – 0:47:32] Erik: Highlight.
[0:47:33 – 0:47:46] Erik: After realizing my girlfriend isn’t willing to, quote unquote, embrace the suck as much as I am, I had a successful trip with her this summer that was on her terms.
[0:47:46 – 0:47:49] Erik: We paddled into Lake Four and camped in the same site for two nights.
[0:47:50 – 0:47:57] Erik: Didn’t explore, didn’t fish, just relaxed, hammocked, played cribbage, and drank boxed wine for three days.
[0:47:57 – 0:47:58] Erik: That sounds amazing.
[0:47:58 – 0:48:00] Erik: Great experience.
[0:48:00 – 0:48:06] Erik: I believe it rekindled her interest in the BWCA, so I think I can make this happen again in the future.
[0:48:06 – 0:48:07] Antonio: Yeah.
[0:48:08 – 0:48:09] Erik: Low light.
[0:48:10 – 0:48:17] Erik: That’s the only trip I did this season, and it hardly sated my appetite for a physically grueling exploration of the best place on Earth.
[0:48:19 – 0:48:25] Erik: Next year, I’m going to plan for a hell of a trip, whether I find willing partners or not.
[0:48:26 – 0:48:30] Erik: The Great Marathon Paddle 2020 is going to happen.
[0:48:30 – 0:48:31] Erik: Hey-oh.
[0:48:32 – 0:48:34] Antonio: Clearwater Loop in one day.
[0:48:36 – 0:48:45] Erik: Yeah, I was thinking I really like the in-the-field stuff that we do, obviously, because we’re in the field.
[0:48:46 – 0:48:49] Erik: We should start talking about what we’re going to put together for next year.
[0:48:49 – 0:48:50] Erik: For sure.
[0:48:50 – 0:48:52] Erik: How much time we need to take off of work for that to happen.
[0:48:53 – 0:48:54] Antonio: Yeah, I’m saving up my PTO.
[0:48:54 – 0:49:03] Erik: It’s going to be hard to not do at least another four-day trip like we had the Heart of the Park trip last year.
[0:49:03 – 0:49:03] Erik: That was a beaut.
[0:49:03 – 0:49:04] Erik: That was great.
[0:49:12 – 0:49:15] Antonio: ASG 32,000.
[0:49:15 – 0:49:16] Antonio: Five points.
[0:49:17 – 0:49:18] Antonio: Highlight.
[0:49:18 – 0:49:22] Antonio: Taking my 28 weeks pregnant wife to the Boundary Waters for her first time.
[0:49:23 – 0:49:25] Antonio: She had a great time and was such a trooper.
[0:49:26 – 0:49:28] Antonio: We went at the end of September and there were no bugs.
[0:49:29 – 0:49:30] Antonio: Her only requirement.
[0:49:31 – 0:49:35] Antonio: None of her camping gear fit so she had to wear my base layers and my rain jacket.
[0:49:35 – 0:49:36] Antonio: Haha.
[0:49:36 – 0:49:36] Antonio: Haha.
[0:49:38 – 0:49:39] Antonio: Really botched the ha-ha there.
[0:49:40 – 0:49:41] Antonio: I love typing out ha-ha.
[0:49:41 – 0:49:41] Antonio: I get it.
[0:49:42 – 0:49:42] Antonio: I get it.
[0:49:42 – 0:49:44] Antonio: It’s more of a thing you got to read it in your mind.
[0:49:45 – 0:49:47] Antonio: It’s hard to ha-ha out loud.
[0:49:48 – 0:49:48] Antonio: Lowlight.
[0:49:50 – 0:49:55] Antonio: Realizing that I’ve spent eight years in Minnesota and I’ve only gone to the BWCA two times.
[0:49:56 – 0:49:58] Antonio: Yes, her first trip was my second.
[0:49:58 – 0:49:59] Antonio: What a waste of time.
[0:50:00 – 0:50:02] Antonio: I am determined to get out there at least twice a year.
[0:50:03 – 0:50:06] Antonio: I also look forward to that first trip that we will get to bring our daughter on.
[0:50:08 – 0:50:10] Antonio: Yeah, there’s a lot of this theme going on, bringing out the kids.
[0:50:11 – 0:50:12] Antonio: Yep, get those kids out there.
[0:50:12 – 0:50:13] Antonio: The next generation of paddlers.
[0:50:14 – 0:50:23] Antonio: So, you know, it’s got to be a challenge bringing the youngsters out there, but it’s an important thing that we do it.
[0:50:23 – 0:50:28] Antonio: And I don’t know if there’s any way we can, like, we need to mentor some youths, Eric.
[0:50:28 – 0:50:33] Erik: Yeah, that’s a thought that I have a lot.
[0:50:33 – 0:50:37] Antonio: I’m not sure we’d be great with youths, but they would learn a lot, I’m sure.
[0:50:38 – 0:50:45] Antonio: Can you just imagine if they just gave us a ragtag bunch of like a little league team and we would have taken them out?
[0:50:46 – 0:50:49] Antonio: Well, I mean, what does it take to do that?
[0:50:49 – 0:50:50] Antonio: I don’t know.
[0:50:51 – 0:50:54] Antonio: You probably need to have like kids to start with.
[0:50:55 – 0:50:57] Antonio: You have no frame of reference.
[0:50:57 – 0:50:59] Antonio: Can we just borrow some other people’s children and bring them out?
[0:50:59 – 0:51:00] Antonio: Yeah.
[0:51:01 – 0:51:03] Antonio: What would we call that?
[0:51:06 – 0:51:06] Antonio: What?
[0:51:07 – 0:51:07] Antonio: The program?
[0:51:07 – 0:51:08] Antonio: The program, yeah.
[0:51:08 – 0:51:09] Antonio: Is it a program or is it a camp?
[0:51:09 – 0:51:10] Antonio: I don’t even know.
[0:51:10 – 0:51:14] Erik: It’s a Tumble Home-based children’s Boundary Waters exploration program.
[0:51:15 – 0:51:15] Antonio: What is the name of it?
[0:51:15 – 0:51:17] Antonio: Lord help these children.
[0:51:17 – 0:51:18] Antonio: I don’t know.
[0:51:19 – 0:51:20] Antonio: We’ll have to get back to it, I guess.
[0:51:20 – 0:51:21] Antonio: Tumble Tunes?
[0:51:22 – 0:51:23] Antonio: Tumble Tunes?
[0:51:24 – 0:51:24] Erik: Oh, no.
[0:51:24 – 0:51:25] Erik: That’s bad.
[0:51:25 – 0:51:25] Antonio: See?
[0:51:26 – 0:51:26] Antonio: Tumble Tots.
[0:51:26 – 0:51:27] Antonio: Tumble Tots.
[0:51:27 – 0:51:29] Antonio: We’re bringing out three- and four-year-olds.
[0:51:29 – 0:51:32] Antonio: Yeah, those are the best age to experience the Boundary Waters.
[0:51:32 – 0:51:34] Antonio: I will lead a program on doodling.
[0:51:36 – 0:51:38] Antonio: We’ll draw some flowers in camp.
[0:51:38 – 0:51:38] Antonio: Yeah.
[0:51:39 – 0:51:40] Antonio: And with some finger paint, maybe.
[0:51:41 – 0:51:45] Antonio: And I’m sure three and four-year-olds love pizza biters.
[0:51:45 – 0:51:46] Antonio: I don’t know what the problem is here.
[0:51:46 – 0:51:48] Antonio: This sounds like a real no-brainer.
[0:51:48 – 0:51:50] Antonio: Everybody loves pizza biters.
[0:51:50 – 0:51:51] Antonio: 2020, tumble tots.
[0:51:52 – 0:51:57] Erik: Yeah, and I will show them the best ways to make kindling with a full-sized axe.
[0:52:00 – 0:52:01] Antonio: Very good.
[0:52:01 – 0:52:01] Erik: Yeah.
[0:52:05 – 0:52:08] Erik: Bike, ski, paddle.
[0:52:08 – 0:52:09] Erik: Coming in.
[0:52:11 – 0:52:13] Erik: Just digging the solo trips.
[0:52:14 – 0:52:17] Erik: Last trip in August was ham back to poplar.
[0:52:17 – 0:52:19] Erik: Rockwood guys are cool.
[0:52:19 – 0:52:22] Erik: I’d like to do a 100 mile loop next year.
[0:52:22 – 0:52:24] Erik: Holy moly, hot dog.
[0:52:24 – 0:52:28] Erik: Did the three rivers loop back in the 90s.
[0:52:28 – 0:52:29] Erik: Almost 100.
[0:52:29 – 0:52:30] Antonio: Maybe I’ll retrace it.
[0:52:32 – 0:52:33] Antonio: What’s the three rivers loop?
[0:52:35 – 0:52:36] Antonio: Kawishui.
[0:52:38 – 0:52:39] Antonio: That’s a river.
[0:52:39 – 0:52:40] Antonio: I named one.
[0:52:40 – 0:52:42] Erik: You named a river.
[0:52:43 – 0:52:45] Erik: Yeah, the Rockwood guys are cool.
[0:52:46 – 0:52:51] Antonio: The best outfitter on the Kawishui poly louse.
[0:52:53 – 0:52:53] Erik: Sure, yeah.
[0:52:53 – 0:52:55] Antonio: We can kind of do that.
[0:52:55 – 0:52:56] Antonio: Lollipop style.
[0:52:57 – 0:52:57] Erik: Yeah.
[0:52:59 – 0:53:01] Antonio: The frost has to be in there, though, no?
[0:53:02 – 0:53:02] SPEAKER_01: I don’t know.
[0:53:04 – 0:53:07] Antonio: I don’t know how you could… Anyways, get back to us.
[0:53:07 – 0:53:10] Antonio: What’s the three… We got to know more on that three rivers loop.
[0:53:11 – 0:53:18] Erik: Maybe it’s the Malign and the Darkie and the… Oh, yeah, it’s Aquetico River.
[0:53:20 – 0:53:20] Antonio: What do they call that?
[0:53:20 – 0:53:22] Antonio: The Hunter’s Island loop.
[0:53:22 – 0:53:25] Erik: Yeah, when are we going to start the Aquetico podcast?
[0:53:26 – 0:53:27] Antonio: After season three.
[0:53:27 – 0:53:27] Antonio: All right.
[0:53:27 – 0:53:28] Antonio: That’ll be season four.
[0:53:28 – 0:53:30] Antonio: We’ll just be all Quetico.
[0:53:30 – 0:53:30] Antonio: Yeah.
[0:53:30 – 0:53:34] Antonio: After we get our visas and… Work permits.
[0:53:34 – 0:53:37] Antonio: And work permits and the cash is rolling in.
[0:53:39 – 0:53:45] Antonio: LVNV1212, four points.
[0:53:45 – 0:53:47] Antonio: 2019 was my first BWCA experience.
[0:53:47 – 0:53:50] Antonio: Clearwater and Siegel were my first entry points.
[0:53:50 – 0:53:52] Antonio: Loved the campsites on Caribou.
[0:53:53 – 0:53:57] Antonio: Tipped over trying to adjust the foot brace on Red Rock, LOL.
[0:53:59 – 0:54:00] Antonio: Highlights.
[0:54:00 – 0:54:00] Antonio: I am hooked.
[0:54:00 – 0:54:03] Antonio: Three trips planned for 2020.
[0:54:03 – 0:54:03] Antonio: Dang.
[0:54:03 – 0:54:04] Antonio: That was the highlight.
[0:54:05 – 0:54:05] Erik: Hmm.
[0:54:07 – 0:54:32] Antonio: low lights i live in pennsylvania so it’s about 1200 miles to get there i need to figure out how to embrace this flying is possible but there’s not an easy in out and flying with gear problematic schedules are rigid i will not drive through chicago ever ever again i am jealous of the folks who only have to drive up from the twin cities wow that’s a whole nother perspective
[0:54:33 – 0:54:33] Erik: Yeah.
[0:54:34 – 0:54:40] Erik: Try, I mean, it is a little bit more expensive, but it does exist.
[0:54:41 – 0:54:43] Erik: Fly into Thunder Bay.
[0:54:43 – 0:54:44] Erik: I don’t think it is more expensive.
[0:54:45 – 0:54:46] Erik: I think it is a little bit.
[0:54:46 – 0:54:52] Erik: Well, I guess it depends on what you weigh, gas, travel time to go down to Minneapolis.
[0:54:52 – 0:54:54] Erik: Because going to Duluth makes no sense.
[0:54:54 – 0:54:55] Erik: No.
[0:54:56 – 0:54:57] Erik: Flying in there makes no sense.
[0:54:58 – 0:55:02] Antonio: If you can afford to, just fly to Grand Marais International on a charter jet.
[0:55:02 – 0:55:02] Erik: Yeah.
[0:55:03 – 0:55:07] Erik: But Thunder Bay is only an hour from… Thunder Bay is super reasonable.
[0:55:07 – 0:55:09] Erik: It’s a really nice airport.
[0:55:09 – 0:55:11] Erik: It’s a nice airport for the size.
[0:55:12 – 0:55:12] Erik: Yeah.
[0:55:12 – 0:55:13] Erik: Yeah.
[0:55:14 – 0:55:16] Erik: I mean, I think it’s an hour from Grand Marais.
[0:55:17 – 0:55:17] Erik: Sure.
[0:55:17 – 0:55:18] Erik: A little bit more maybe.
[0:55:18 – 0:55:18] Antonio: Maybe an hour and a half.
[0:55:19 – 0:55:19] Antonio: Yeah.
[0:55:20 – 0:55:24] Erik: Or depending on where you’re going, maybe you’re doing a Far East Vento unit entry.
[0:55:25 – 0:55:28] Erik: You’re probably an hour from…
[0:55:29 – 0:55:32] Antonio: I’ve never tried renting a car at Thunder Bay.
[0:55:32 – 0:55:32] Antonio: YQT.
[0:55:32 – 0:55:32] Antonio: YQT.
[0:55:34 – 0:55:36] Antonio: That’s the one thing I’ve kind of…
[0:55:36 – 0:55:39] Antonio: I’ve never tried renting a car there, but it’s available.
[0:55:39 – 0:55:42] Antonio: Why do all the Canadian airport codes start with Y?
[0:55:43 – 0:55:43] Antonio: Why?
[0:55:45 – 0:55:45] Antonio: I don’t know.
[0:55:46 – 0:55:46] Erik: Okay.
[0:55:46 – 0:55:50] Erik: Because there’s no consistency in the United States based.
[0:55:51 – 0:55:53] Erik: No, I don’t.
[0:55:53 – 0:55:54] Antonio: I’m sure there’s a story there.
[0:55:55 – 0:55:57] Erik: Abbreviations or acronyms.
[0:55:58 – 0:56:02] Antonio: M-S-P-O-R-D. Because the Y looks like an airplane.
[0:56:03 – 0:56:04] Erik: Ah, upside down.
[0:56:04 – 0:56:05] Erik: Flying straight into the ground.
[0:56:09 – 0:56:11] Erik: I like that they all start with Ys.
[0:56:11 – 0:56:12] Erik: They’re some of my favorite airport codes.
[0:56:13 – 0:56:13] Erik: They are.
[0:56:13 – 0:56:14] Erik: YYC.
[0:56:14 – 0:56:15] Erik: They’re fun to say.
[0:56:16 – 0:56:19] Erik: They just refer to each other’s cities by their airport codes.
[0:56:20 – 0:56:22] Antonio: Yeah.
[0:56:22 – 0:56:25] Antonio: There’s some pretty good YQT swag up there in Thunder Bay.
[0:56:25 – 0:56:30] Antonio: Last time we were up there, I saw a couple interesting stickers and shirts.
[0:56:30 – 0:56:32] Antonio: I wanted one, but none were for sale.
[0:56:32 – 0:56:33] Antonio: It was just people wearing them.
[0:56:34 – 0:56:35] Antonio: They weren’t willing to sell their shirts.
[0:56:36 – 0:56:37] Antonio: We should just make our own.
[0:56:38 – 0:57:05] Antonio: yqt anyways yeah check it out thunder bay is a nice airport and it’s on the like south side of town too so real easy down to the border yeah the only border crossing there is pretty reasonable usually i’ve never run into like any lines there though timing wise it’s reasonable but like overall scrutiny is i mean that’s anywhere though coming back into the united states don’t look suspicious be cool and be cool
[0:57:07 – 0:57:11] Erik: The flights in and out of that airport though, the schedules are super weird.
[0:57:11 – 0:57:18] Antonio: You’re either arriving at 6 a.m. Eastern time zone or you’re arriving at like 1 in the morning.
[0:57:18 – 0:57:20] Antonio: There is no middle of the day flights in the YQT.
[0:57:20 – 0:57:21] Antonio: There’s no midday flights.
[0:57:22 – 0:57:26] Antonio: You pretty much only can get in there from like via Winnipeg or Toronto.
[0:57:26 – 0:57:55] Erik: yeah when we flew to winnipeg to go to that hockey game we had to be like we drove up the night before and stayed at hashtag valhalla the valhalla and that’s a nice uh yeah we recommend the valhalla we do we are also sponsored by them we do free popcorn in the bar and yeah we had to be up at like 4 30 to catch like a 5 15 flight and then you get an hour back so like then you land in winnipeg at like three at like six in the morning that’s
[0:57:55 – 0:57:58] Erik: And it’s like, all right, well… Now what?
[0:57:58 – 0:58:01] Erik: We can’t do anything for like 10 hours.
[0:58:01 – 0:58:02] Erik: Let’s go to the mall.
[0:58:02 – 0:58:06] Erik: And it’s the middle of January and 20 below.
[0:58:07 – 0:58:08] Erik: That’s a whole other story.
[0:58:08 – 0:58:08] Erik: It is.
[0:58:09 – 0:58:13] Erik: But yeah, consider Thunder Bay for your access to the Bajau waters.
[0:58:14 – 0:58:19] Erik: Don’t explore the city or spend any time there because Thunder Bay is…
[0:58:21 – 0:58:47] Antonio: not much what i i don’t know i like thunder bay it’s growing on me yeah i’ve heard i’ve heard bad stories it’s fun i’m i’m more and more pro thunder bay the more time i spend up there i’ll say that it’s it’s a nice little city nothing wrong with thunder bay let’s not disparage our neighbors to the north i’m disparaging it i know you’re kind of kind of disparaging a little bit but uh you got to give it more of a chance okay
[0:58:47 – 0:58:51] Antonio: They have some nice restaurants and the downtown’s pretty vibrant.
[0:58:51 – 0:58:54] Antonio: They have a nice disc golf course and they have the Sleeping Giant, which I really wanted.
[0:58:55 – 0:58:56] Antonio: I want to do a Sleeping Giant trip.
[0:58:56 – 0:58:58] Antonio: That’s my next thing I want to do.
[0:58:58 – 0:58:59] Erik: That sounds like fun.
[0:58:59 – 0:59:07] Antonio: We went to a restaurant and they had like 14 different kinds of margaritas and like very…
[0:59:09 – 0:59:37] Antonio: artisanal tequilas artisanal you’re not finding that even in Duluth probably the level of tequila game that that place had so I’m just saying I don’t know there is a there’s some sketchiness to it apparently it’s the murder capital of Ontario or whatever but is it apparently yeah but that’s nothing like that’s that’s like one murder a decade yeah right that’s not really a bad thing I don’t know why even that got brought up but yeah so anyways Thunder Bay is nice
[0:59:39 – 0:59:41] Erik: Min, for you.
[0:59:43 – 0:59:47] Erik: Hey, my big takeaway this year is watch out for bees.
[0:59:49 – 0:59:55] Erik: While gathering wood, I noticed some buzzing and instinctively took off my hat and swatted.
[0:59:56 – 1:00:00] Erik: This led to a sting on the top of my head and one on my hand.
[1:00:01 – 1:00:04] Erik: I dropped the logs I was hauling and ran out of the woods into the lake.
[1:00:05 – 1:00:08] Erik: This is the second time I’ve been stung getting firewood in the BWCA.
[1:00:08 – 1:00:12] Antonio: Is this bees or hornets or wasps?
[1:00:13 – 1:00:17] Antonio: Bees are the description used.
[1:00:17 – 1:00:19] Antonio: Yeah, well, I’m just saying it could have been wasps.
[1:00:19 – 1:00:22] Antonio: They came out of the ground while you’re pulling wood.
[1:00:22 – 1:00:23] Antonio: Maybe it was a wasp.
[1:00:24 – 1:00:27] Erik: I believe the bees live in the dead pines I’m after.
[1:00:28 – 1:00:28] Antonio: Oh.
[1:00:28 – 1:00:30] Antonio: Perhaps I should stick to cedars.
[1:00:30 – 1:00:31] Antonio: Yeah, there you go.
[1:00:32 – 1:00:34] Antonio: Bees don’t live in cedars.
[1:00:34 – 1:00:35] Antonio: That’s a rock fact.
[1:00:37 – 1:00:38] Antonio: That’s a rock fact!
[1:00:39 – 1:00:41] Antonio: I’m finally getting some energy back.
[1:00:41 – 1:00:42] Antonio: I got a little pep back now.
[1:00:42 – 1:00:47] Antonio: I started to show it on a low, but my barometer is rising.
[1:00:47 – 1:00:50] Antonio: And that sounds totally cool.
[1:00:51 – 1:00:51] Erik: Yeah.
[1:00:51 – 1:00:53] Antonio: What’s the… My personal barometer.
[1:00:53 – 1:00:57] Antonio: I’m at 100 and 1,007 millibars.
[1:00:57 – 1:01:00] Antonio: You had the inverse of the actual barometer?
[1:01:00 – 1:01:00] Antonio: Yeah.
[1:01:00 – 1:01:01] Antonio: Yeah.
[1:01:02 – 1:01:03] Erik: There is a response here.
[1:01:03 – 1:01:10] Erik: We don’t always read responses, but this response, take it or leave it from Fat Tire Bike.
[1:01:10 – 1:01:12] Erik: You must immediately stop and be absolutely still.
[1:01:13 – 1:01:16] Erik: Bees are friendly and will not sting if you hold still.
[1:01:16 – 1:01:18] Erik: I know it is very hard, but it works.
[1:01:19 – 1:01:20] Erik: Hornets and wasps are different.
[1:01:20 – 1:01:21] Erik: Might as well run.
[1:01:21 – 1:01:22] Erik: Yeah.
[1:01:24 – 1:01:32] Antonio: See, the ground nature of it, because a few people I was playing golf with this year got hit by the hornets or whatever, the wasps.
[1:01:33 – 1:01:35] Antonio: This isn’t a bees or wasps podcast.
[1:01:35 – 1:01:39] Antonio: We’re not experts in these things, but the ones in the ground are real nasty little devils.
[1:01:39 – 1:01:40] Erik: Yeah.
[1:01:40 – 1:01:42] Antonio: The bees, I feel like, are just hanging out on flowers.
[1:01:42 – 1:01:49] Antonio: So I’m not sure what’s what, but that’s my understanding of the matter of the insects with stingers.
[1:01:51 – 1:01:53] Antonio: There’s probably a Latin name for that.
[1:01:53 – 1:01:54] Erik: Insects with stingers?
[1:01:54 – 1:01:55] Erik: Yeah.
[1:01:56 – 1:01:58] Erik: It means insects with stingers.
[1:01:58 – 1:01:59] Antonio: It’s in Latin.
[1:02:00 – 1:02:01] Antonio: Hopalicious.
[1:02:01 – 1:02:02] Antonio: Hopalicious.
[1:02:02 – 1:02:03] Antonio: Three points.
[1:02:04 – 1:02:05] Antonio: What up?
[1:02:06 – 1:02:06] Antonio: Highlights.
[1:02:07 – 1:02:07] Antonio: Hi.
[1:02:08 – 1:02:09] Antonio: Going to Ensign Lake.
[1:02:10 – 1:02:13] Antonio: Catching a 20 plus inch smallies and eating pizza biters.
[1:02:14 – 1:02:15] Antonio: Third pizza biter shout out.
[1:02:16 – 1:02:17] Antonio: Hashtag PB&H.
[1:02:19 – 1:02:23] Antonio: And Ensign, your nemesis, Lake, got highlights.
[1:02:23 – 1:02:24] Antonio: So what do you think about that?
[1:02:25 – 1:02:26] Antonio: Oh, no, here we go.
[1:02:26 – 1:02:28] Antonio: Lowlights going to Ensign Lake.
[1:02:28 – 1:02:29] Antonio: Perfect.
[1:02:30 – 1:02:31] Antonio: I walked right into that one.
[1:02:32 – 1:02:32] Erik: Yeah.
[1:02:33 – 1:02:38] Antonio: Seeing more kayaks than canoes and awful last resort campsites.
[1:02:38 – 1:02:39] Erik: Mm-hmm.
[1:02:39 – 1:02:40] Antonio: See you next year.
[1:02:40 – 1:02:41] Antonio: Hashtag PBNash.
[1:02:42 – 1:02:43] Antonio: Hashtag Idiot Farm.
[1:02:44 – 1:02:44] Antonio: Wow.
[1:02:44 – 1:02:47] Erik: Oh, Idiot Farm teasing a future sponsor.
[1:02:47 – 1:02:48] Antonio: Yes, Idiot Farm.
[1:02:50 – 1:02:52] Antonio: I like how the hashtags are typed out here.
[1:02:52 – 1:02:54] Antonio: Just fully typed out.
[1:02:54 – 1:02:55] Antonio: The entire word hashtag.
[1:02:57 – 1:02:57] Antonio: Love it.
[1:02:57 – 1:02:59] Antonio: Thank you for chiming in.
[1:03:02 – 1:03:05] Erik: Are we doing Midwest Mountaineering this next spring?
[1:03:05 – 1:03:06] Erik: Is it too early to discuss?
[1:03:08 – 1:03:09] Antonio: Or is this a question from you?
[1:03:09 – 1:03:11] Antonio: It’s a question from me to you.
[1:03:11 – 1:03:14] Antonio: Wait, are we doing Midwest Mountaineering or are we doing the Madison?
[1:03:14 – 1:03:14] Antonio: Canoe Copia.
[1:03:15 – 1:03:16] Antonio: Ooh, Canoe Copia.
[1:03:16 – 1:03:17] Antonio: I thought we were doing Canoe Copia this year.
[1:03:19 – 1:03:20] Erik: Yeah, I should probably look into that.
[1:03:20 – 1:03:23] Erik: I think that’s something that we need to sign up for.
[1:03:23 – 1:03:30] Antonio: I can show you a couple of trout streams and what time is our PowerPoint presentation in the white cedar room.
[1:03:32 – 1:03:35] Erik: Yeah, so we’re not just going to have a booth.
[1:03:35 – 1:03:44] Erik: We’re also going to be doing discussions and talks on how to start a mildly successful Boundary Writers podcast.
[1:03:44 – 1:03:55] Antonio: If anybody who is planning out Midwest Mountaineering or Canoe Copia is listening to this, reach out to us and whoever gets to us first, we will agree to be a presenter.
[1:03:55 – 1:03:56] Erik: No, no, no.
[1:03:56 – 1:03:57] Erik: Is that what they’re called?
[1:03:57 – 1:04:04] Erik: Whoever responds to us first with which one we should do, because we can only do one.
[1:04:04 – 1:04:06] Antonio: Yeah, we’re not doing both.
[1:04:06 – 1:04:17] Erik: So if I get an email with somebody saying Midwest Mountain Meering, Widmast Mountain Meering, that is the one we will do first.
[1:04:18 – 1:04:24] Antonio: I’m just saying whichever one says you guys can do a PowerPoint presentation on whatever you want for 40 minutes.
[1:04:24 – 1:04:27] Erik: Are you prepared to create a PowerPoint presentation?
[1:04:28 – 1:04:29] Antonio: Oh, heck yeah.
[1:04:29 – 1:04:29] Antonio: I am not.
[1:04:30 – 1:04:32] Antonio: All right, I’ll do that, and then we can present it together.
[1:04:33 – 1:04:33] Antonio: All right.
[1:04:33 – 1:04:35] Erik: So anyways, hit us up.
[1:04:35 – 1:04:36] Erik: You need to do that.
[1:04:37 – 1:04:39] Antonio: Yeah, I know how to do PowerPoint.
[1:04:40 – 1:04:41] Antonio: I have lots of pictures.
[1:04:43 – 1:04:43] Antonio: A bunch of pictures.
[1:04:43 – 1:04:45] Antonio: I’m pretty good at organizing things.
[1:04:45 – 1:04:46] Antonio: One time I went to Costa Rica.
[1:04:47 – 1:04:49] Antonio: What does this have to do with anything?
[1:04:49 – 1:04:50] Antonio: I don’t know.
[1:04:50 – 1:04:51] Antonio: It’s a PowerPoint presentation.
[1:04:51 – 1:04:52] Antonio: Well, it’s on there.
[1:04:52 – 1:04:53] Antonio: Here’s a slide.
[1:04:53 – 1:04:54] Antonio: Slide six.
[1:04:56 – 1:04:58] Erik: Did you see the way that picture spun into frame?
[1:04:58 – 1:04:59] Antonio: Wasn’t that neat?
[1:04:59 – 1:05:00] Antonio: That was a neat effect.
[1:05:01 – 1:05:02] Antonio: Check out these lizard iguanas.
[1:05:03 – 1:05:05] Antonio: Did you know they call them tree chickens?
[1:05:05 – 1:05:06] Antonio: They ate them all.
[1:05:06 – 1:05:07] Antonio: They ate all the lizards.
[1:05:08 – 1:05:14] Erik: I think we might be reading a response from.
[1:05:16 – 1:05:20] Erik: The best username we have experienced up to this point.
[1:05:21 – 1:05:21] Erik: Oh, boy.
[1:05:22 – 1:05:23] Erik: All right.
[1:05:24 – 1:05:28] Erik: And I don’t know what this necessarily means.
[1:05:28 – 1:05:31] Erik: I know what it means, but I don’t know what it is.
[1:05:31 – 1:05:31] Erik: Okay.
[1:05:31 – 1:05:34] Erik: And it’s Walmart Brand Labanga.
[1:05:35 – 1:05:39] SPEAKER_03: What?
[1:05:40 – 1:05:44] Antonio: I don’t even know what to do with that, but it is incredible.
[1:05:44 – 1:05:46] Antonio: Is that like the people of Walmart kind of reference?
[1:05:48 – 1:05:49] Antonio: Walmart brand.
[1:05:49 – 1:05:50] Antonio: You mean Sam’s Club?
[1:05:51 – 1:05:54] Antonio: Just like a… Sam Labanga.
[1:05:55 – 1:05:57] Erik: Economy version of Labanga?
[1:05:59 – 1:05:59] Antonio: Still excellent.
[1:05:59 – 1:06:01] Erik: Knockoff Labanga?
[1:06:02 – 1:06:02] Antonio: Who knows?
[1:06:03 – 1:06:04] Antonio: Just roll with it.
[1:06:05 – 1:06:12] Erik: I am lucky enough to have spent a good portion of the season exploring some lesser visited lakes slash routes in the park.
[1:06:14 – 1:06:23] Erik: Highlight, taking a seven-day solo trip from Round to Makwa to a two-night stay on Fisher, then finally back to Round.
[1:06:24 – 1:06:29] Erik: Breaking camp at dawn and finding a site off the beaten path brings forth a sense of profound peace.
[1:06:30 – 1:06:35] Erik: I choose to not bring a rod and reel, just some good reading material in my hammock.
[1:06:36 – 1:06:44] Erik: Nothing beats a calm evening enjoying the sunset, looking over the trusty fissure, and enjoying a delicious trail burrito.
[1:06:44 – 1:06:46] Erik: Low light, parentheses kind of.
[1:06:48 – 1:06:52] Antonio: Around day six, I could not stop singing the Bee Gees.
[1:06:52 – 1:06:54] Antonio: That’s weird what songs you get stuck in your head.
[1:06:54 – 1:06:56] Erik: Yeah, that’s a fun aspect of the trip.
[1:06:56 – 1:06:58] Erik: You think you remember the lyrics.
[1:06:58 – 1:07:00] Antonio: You think you remember how the song goes.
[1:07:00 – 1:07:03] Erik: You’re just singing it to the best of your recollection.
[1:07:03 – 1:07:03] Erik: Yeah.
[1:07:04 – 1:07:09] Erik: And started having mild hallucinations of wood goblins and evil pine martins.
[1:07:09 – 1:07:12] Erik: Perhaps the next solo trip will be slightly shorter.
[1:07:13 – 1:07:14] Antonio: Pine Martins have now been disparaged.
[1:07:15 – 1:07:16] Antonio: I’m also going to defend Pine Martins.
[1:07:17 – 1:07:18] Antonio: They’re not evil.
[1:07:19 – 1:07:20] Antonio: They’re adorable.
[1:07:20 – 1:07:25] Erik: Yeah, well, I mean, we’ve trapped a Pine Martin before, and they’re pretty vicious.
[1:07:25 – 1:07:27] Antonio: They’re pretty feisty, yeah.
[1:07:27 – 1:07:28] Antonio: Doesn’t mean they’re evil.
[1:07:28 – 1:07:29] Antonio: That’s their nature.
[1:07:32 – 1:07:32] Antonio: All right.
[1:07:33 – 1:07:34] Antonio: Are you ready?
[1:07:34 – 1:07:35] Antonio: I am not ready.
[1:07:35 – 1:07:35] Antonio: I need a break.
[1:07:36 – 1:07:36] Antonio: You need a break?
[1:07:36 – 1:07:39] Antonio: Wow, I need a break, especially this one’s a long one.
[1:07:39 – 1:07:40] Antonio: So let’s take just a moment.
[1:07:45 – 1:07:47] Antonio: Winona Ryder.
[1:07:47 – 1:07:48] Antonio: Three points.
[1:07:49 – 1:07:49] Antonio: The good.
[1:07:50 – 1:07:55] Antonio: Wife and I are making our first trip to the BWCA after probably 20 years of talking about it.
[1:07:56 – 1:07:56] Antonio: Nailed it.
[1:07:57 – 1:07:58] Antonio: You know, better late than never.
[1:07:58 – 1:08:00] Antonio: Hashtag better late than never.
[1:08:01 – 1:08:01] Antonio: You made it.
[1:08:03 – 1:08:06] Antonio: Number two, Clearwater Lodge.
[1:08:06 – 1:08:13] Antonio: We just stayed one night before and one night after, but as fans of things historic, we really enjoyed the vibe and character of the place.
[1:08:13 – 1:08:22] Antonio: We didn’t need any outfitting, but they did arrange our permits, and with all the issues early last year, they took a lot of stress off of us first-timers.
[1:08:22 – 1:08:25] Antonio: The breakfast was great and very much appreciated.
[1:08:25 – 1:08:27] Antonio: Hey, yeah, another good breakfast option.
[1:08:27 – 1:08:29] Erik: Oh, yeah, forgot about that option.
[1:08:29 – 1:08:31] Erik: Buttermilk pancakes.
[1:08:31 – 1:08:32] Antonio: Buttermilk.
[1:08:33 – 1:08:35] Antonio: Number three, the trip itself.
[1:08:35 – 1:08:36] Antonio: It was everything we hoped it would be.
[1:08:37 – 1:08:40] Antonio: Physically challenging, incredibly beautiful, peaceful.
[1:08:40 – 1:08:43] Antonio: If you’ve been, you know I could go on and on.
[1:08:43 – 1:08:44] Antonio: Four, no bugs.
[1:08:46 – 1:08:46] Antonio: That always helps.
[1:08:47 – 1:08:50] Antonio: Five, trail center and Poplar House.
[1:08:50 – 1:08:54] Antonio: That’s a double shout out for the mid-trail culinary delights.
[1:08:55 – 1:08:55] Antonio: Exactly.
[1:08:57 – 1:09:00] Erik: Oh, you are not done, my friend.
[1:09:02 – 1:09:02] Antonio: The suck.
[1:09:03 – 1:09:03] Antonio: I love that.
[1:09:04 – 1:09:04] Antonio: One.
[1:09:04 – 1:09:05] Antonio: It’s become a thing.
[1:09:06 – 1:09:10] Antonio: Not as bad as some, but living in Kentucky makes for a long drive.
[1:09:10 – 1:09:13] Antonio: This is also a common theme.
[1:09:13 – 1:09:14] Antonio: We’ve had Pennsylvania, Kentucky.
[1:09:15 – 1:09:16] Antonio: Where else?
[1:09:16 – 1:09:17] Antonio: Long ways off.
[1:09:17 – 1:09:18] Antonio: South Carolina.
[1:09:18 – 1:09:19] Antonio: South Carolina.
[1:09:19 – 1:09:21] Antonio: Driving through Chi-town.
[1:09:21 – 1:09:22] Antonio: Driving through Chicago.
[1:09:22 – 1:09:22] Antonio: No bueno.
[1:09:22 – 1:09:23] Antonio: No bueno.
[1:09:24 – 1:09:28] Antonio: Two, we went second week of September, hence the no bugs.
[1:09:28 – 1:09:30] Antonio: The weather wasn’t great, highs in the 40s.
[1:09:31 – 1:09:37] Antonio: It might have hit the low 50s one day, can’t remember now, and either rain, fog, or mist pretty much the whole trip.
[1:09:37 – 1:09:39] Antonio: On the plus side, we were prepared for it.
[1:09:40 – 1:09:50] Antonio: We both prefer cooler weather, and the environmental conditions allowed us to see the lakes and woods in a very unique and gorgeous way that we wouldn’t have been able to experience if it was sunny the whole time.
[1:09:51 – 1:09:51] Antonio: That’s true.
[1:09:52 – 1:09:53] Antonio: Think about the light.
[1:09:53 – 1:10:03] Erik: Yeah, there’s an aspect of the light that gets a little bit more… Hard to put my finger on what the best word to use is.
[1:10:03 – 1:10:13] Erik: A little bit more engaging and mysterious when you get that kind of fog, cloud, mist, cool action.
[1:10:13 – 1:10:19] Erik: Yeah, it’s beautiful to be out there on a cloudless day, but there’s something dynamic about…
[1:10:20 – 1:10:23] Erik: The fall with the clouds and the changing light.
[1:10:24 – 1:10:25] Antonio: Yes.
[1:10:25 – 1:10:30] Antonio: And that said, one sunny day to dry everything out would have been nice, lol.
[1:10:31 – 1:10:37] Antonio: None of that sucked as bad as driving back into the miserable, humid 90 degree plus heat of Kentucky.
[1:10:38 – 1:10:40] Antonio: I actually got angry the further south we drove.
[1:10:41 – 1:10:41] Antonio: That’s a fact.
[1:10:42 – 1:10:43] Erik: Grrr.
[1:10:44 – 1:10:45] Antonio: Three, my trip planning.
[1:10:46 – 1:10:48] Antonio: I planned for how much we could travel in a day.
[1:10:48 – 1:10:51] Antonio: I didn’t figure in near enough time for setting up camp and relaxing.
[1:10:52 – 1:10:55] Antonio: My wife has requested we base camp next trip.
[1:10:56 – 1:10:57] Antonio: And there’s nothing wrong with that.
[1:10:58 – 1:10:58] Antonio: Take it easy.
[1:11:00 – 1:11:04] Antonio: Four, random destruction vandalism of live trees in and around campsites.
[1:11:05 – 1:11:07] Antonio: My wife cutting herself on broken glass.
[1:11:07 – 1:11:08] Antonio: Jeez.
[1:11:08 – 1:11:13] Antonio: It appeared to be a fragment of a Christmas tree ornament on the Little Caribou site.
[1:11:13 – 1:11:14] Antonio: Oh, no.
[1:11:16 – 1:11:19] Antonio: Well, there’s no place in the Boundary Waters for Christmas tree ornaments.
[1:11:19 – 1:11:21] Antonio: They belong on your Christmas tree in the house.
[1:11:21 – 1:11:21] Antonio: Yeah.
[1:11:22 – 1:11:24] Antonio: As we’ve demonstrated today.
[1:11:25 – 1:11:26] Antonio: Sorry to hear that.
[1:11:26 – 1:11:33] Antonio: Number five, not to dwell on the past, but knowing that I’ve wasted 20 years not going kind of sucks.
[1:11:34 – 1:11:38] Antonio: It was a year ago last month that I found the Tumble Home podcast.
[1:11:38 – 1:11:50] Antonio: I was driving back to Kentucky after buying a used canoe from Paragus in Ely and listening to Adam and Eric talk about the BWCA gave me the push I needed to finally make this trip a reality.
[1:11:51 – 1:11:51] Antonio: Eternal thanks.
[1:11:52 – 1:11:53] Antonio: So, I don’t know.
[1:11:54 – 1:11:54] Antonio: Thank you.
[1:11:54 – 1:11:56] Antonio: We appreciate you listening.
[1:11:56 – 1:11:59] Antonio: And we’re glad you’ve made the first step.
[1:11:59 – 1:12:01] Antonio: There’s no point in dwelling on the past.
[1:12:02 – 1:12:02] Antonio: It’s the past.
[1:12:03 – 1:12:11] Antonio: And all you can do is live in the moment and, you know, make more trips happen in the future.
[1:12:12 – 1:12:12] Erik: Yeah.
[1:12:13 – 1:12:20] Erik: The help that we have provided for people to take those first trips will never…
[1:12:23 – 1:12:44] Antonio: get old in terms of how it makes me feel it’s great i can’t believe that we’ve had that much effect on people to do that absolutely even like if we just you know get a couple people a year to try the boundary waters out it’s worth it’s worth it just for that yeah plus we have a lot of fun recording these so we do it’s like a triple win triple win win win win
[1:12:45 – 1:12:47] Erik: Win, win, win.
[1:12:48 – 1:12:50] Erik: Iron clad Franklin.
[1:12:51 – 1:12:54] Erik: My highlights were the petroglyphs on Lac La Croix.
[1:12:54 – 1:12:55] Antonio: Yeah.
[1:12:55 – 1:12:56] Erik: They were totally amazing.
[1:12:57 – 1:13:05] Erik: Oh, also realizing we had a ton of whiskey left last night and all of us getting quite tipsy and laying on the shore watching the stars and talking.
[1:13:06 – 1:13:07] Antonio: That sounds very nice.
[1:13:07 – 1:13:07] Erik: Yeah.
[1:13:07 – 1:13:09] Erik: Low light was fishing was bad.
[1:13:10 – 1:13:10] Antonio: Yeah.
[1:13:11 – 1:13:12] Antonio: Sounds like it was a fine trip.
[1:13:13 – 1:13:13] Antonio: Yeah.
[1:13:13 – 1:13:20] Erik: Yeah, those Lac La Croix pictographs, petroglyphs.
[1:13:20 – 1:13:21] Antonio: Those are my favorite ones I’ve ever seen.
[1:13:22 – 1:13:24] Erik: That’s the Clearwater Moose.
[1:13:24 – 1:13:24] Erik: I know.
[1:13:24 – 1:13:29] Erik: It was based off of that one, except we have removed the back leg.
[1:13:30 – 1:13:32] Erik: The doink?
[1:13:33 – 1:13:34] Antonio: Yes, the doink.
[1:13:38 – 1:13:40] Antonio: Coast to coast chemist.
[1:13:40 – 1:13:41] Antonio: Two points.
[1:13:42 – 1:13:42] Antonio: Highlight.
[1:13:42 – 1:13:48] Antonio: Catching a monster largemouth bass on clear lake during my first trip.
[1:13:49 – 1:13:49] Antonio: Low light.
[1:13:49 – 1:13:54] Antonio: Washing that same bass off before a picture and watching it wiggle away back into the lake.
[1:13:55 – 1:13:57] Antonio: Oh, he looked delicious.
[1:13:57 – 1:13:58] Antonio: Yeah.
[1:14:00 – 1:14:26] Antonio: yeah you know sometimes it’s uh you know the the one that gets away it’s uh it’s hard it’s haunting when one gets away right before you get a nice picture of it too because it’s like you have the memory of the beautiful fish yeah but it sure is nice to have a picture oh man so many of those where it’s like how do we fail to get a picture of that or you just something happens you catch one you don’t have your camera with you or something like that or they wiggle back to the lake so
[1:14:27 – 1:14:29] Antonio: You don’t hear a lot about largemouth up in the Boundary Waters.
[1:14:30 – 1:14:30] Erik: No, you don’t.
[1:14:30 – 1:14:31] Antonio: They’re out there.
[1:14:32 – 1:14:38] Erik: Did that walleye from up on the Granite River, was that captured in a photo at all?
[1:14:38 – 1:14:39] Erik: Never, never.
[1:14:39 – 1:14:40] Erik: It never actually was, huh?
[1:14:40 – 1:14:42] Erik: That’s the salt in the wound.
[1:14:42 – 1:14:43] Erik: Yeah, tirader.
[1:14:47 – 1:14:48] Antonio: We have the memory.
[1:14:49 – 1:14:51] Antonio: I will always have that picture in my head.
[1:14:51 – 1:14:54] Antonio: I actually have a mental gif.
[1:14:54 – 1:14:58] Erik: Yes, I definitely have a mental gif of that whole experience.
[1:14:58 – 1:14:59] Erik: That’s a high slash low light.
[1:15:00 – 1:15:01] Antonio: Yeah, that is all in one.
[1:15:02 – 1:15:02] Antonio: I don’t know.
[1:15:02 – 1:15:03] Antonio: It’s kind of funny.
[1:15:03 – 1:15:06] Antonio: It’s a good story if you have a big one and you lose it.
[1:15:06 – 1:15:08] Antonio: Especially in the way that that was lost.
[1:15:09 – 1:15:10] Antonio: Doing a backflip into the river?
[1:15:10 – 1:15:11] Erik: Come on.
[1:15:11 – 1:15:19] Erik: Loon paddler highlight exploring the Snake River, probably one of the most zen paddle days I have experienced.
[1:15:19 – 1:15:20] Antonio: Is it one of the three rivers?
[1:15:21 – 1:15:21] Antonio: I don’t think so.
[1:15:21 – 1:15:22] Erik: Where’s the Snake River?
[1:15:23 – 1:15:23] Antonio: I don’t know.
[1:15:23 – 1:15:25] Antonio: I thought we were supposed to be the experts here.
[1:15:25 – 1:15:26] Antonio: We don’t know anything.
[1:15:26 – 1:15:29] Antonio: We’re just… We’re not connoisseurs.
[1:15:29 – 1:15:30] Antonio: We’re enthusiasts.
[1:15:30 – 1:15:31] Erik: Enthusiasts.
[1:15:31 – 1:15:43] Erik: Ending our trip on an entry point that allows two entries a day and my son running into a fellow kids for the BWC activist coming onto the lakes at the same time from that entry point.
[1:15:44 – 1:15:45] Erik: Tumble tots.
[1:15:46 – 1:15:47] Erik: Neither knew of the other’s plans.
[1:15:49 – 1:15:50] Erik: A dad and his two sons went with us…
[1:15:52 – 1:15:57] Erik: It was their second year in and they announced they will be part of our group every year after.
[1:15:57 – 1:16:00] Erik: Yes, we converted three more paddlers to lifetime paddlers.
[1:16:01 – 1:16:01] Erik: Nice.
[1:16:02 – 1:16:03] Antonio: Party horn!
[1:16:03 – 1:16:04] Antonio: Toot toot toot toot!
[1:16:06 – 1:16:33] Erik: low allowing the kid to convince me to paddle to each paddle in a single canoe that’s an extra canoe deportage and when paddling in windy days there is no rest for the weary when you are in a single for shorter trips you’re definitely not getting any IR time in a single no but for longer trips for shorter trips they would be fun dot dot dot but not for longer trips sorry
[1:16:34 – 1:16:40] Erik: Also the low point of the trip, getting to the lake where we were going to camp on and there were no campsites available.
[1:16:41 – 1:16:41] SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
[1:16:41 – 1:16:47] Erik: It was close to sunset and ended up spending one night camped on the beach of another cruise campsite.
[1:16:47 – 1:16:51] Erik: The next morning the lake opened up and we were able to find a great spot to settle in.
[1:16:53 – 1:16:54] Erik: Yeah, we talked about that.
[1:16:55 – 1:16:58] Erik: The campsite etiquette and… Yeah.
[1:16:58 – 1:17:01] Erik: That can very easily be a low light of a trip.
[1:17:02 – 1:17:03] Erik: Now I see…
[1:17:04 – 1:17:10] Erik: We are an hour and 20 minutes in, and I see a potential for a loon bleep.
[1:17:10 – 1:17:10] Erik: I’m just warning you.
[1:17:10 – 1:17:12] Erik: It comes shortly after the low light.
[1:17:13 – 1:17:13] Antonio: Okay.
[1:17:13 – 1:17:14] Antonio: I’ll watch out for it.
[1:17:15 – 1:17:16] Antonio: We’ve kept it clean so far.
[1:17:16 – 1:17:16] Erik: Yeah.
[1:17:17 – 1:17:19] Antonio: Sandy Crafts, two points.
[1:17:20 – 1:17:21] Antonio: Highlight.
[1:17:21 – 1:17:23] Antonio: Getting on three trips with my pops.
[1:17:24 – 1:17:33] Antonio: You never know how many more you’re going to get, and regardless of the weather or the planning I might have done or any situation, he is always a great companion.
[1:17:34 – 1:17:38] Antonio: My pal bringing some peanut butter whiskey was delicious and a great surprise.
[1:17:38 – 1:17:40] Antonio: Peanut butter whiskey, huh?
[1:17:41 – 1:17:41] Antonio: Wow.
[1:17:41 – 1:17:43] Antonio: Got a couple of potential bleeps in here.
[1:17:43 – 1:17:47] Antonio: I missed one already, and here’s another low light.
[1:17:48 – 1:17:50] Antonio: My darn bad planning.
[1:17:51 – 1:17:53] Antonio: Well, it was my execution, that and the weather.
[1:17:53 – 1:17:55] Antonio: We were dealt some pretty rough weather.
[1:17:55 – 1:17:57] Antonio: Landlocked due to the rain and wind.
[1:17:57 – 1:18:01] Antonio: Three days of heavy wind with rain, and everything eventually gets wet.
[1:18:02 – 1:18:06] Antonio: We came prepared and the weather eventually cleared off and we had a great finish.
[1:18:06 – 1:18:12] Antonio: A couple extra days in camp, eating good food with great company and sipping whiskey wasn’t so bad.
[1:18:12 – 1:18:15] Antonio: Hashtag not too shabby.
[1:18:15 – 1:18:17] Antonio: I added that hashtag just to be clear.
[1:18:18 – 1:18:19] Antonio: Thank you, Sandy Crafts.
[1:18:19 – 1:18:21] Antonio: I’m not too shabby.
[1:18:21 – 1:18:25] Antonio: I don’t mind the language, but, you know, I hate to censor someone, but.
[1:18:25 – 1:18:26] Antonio: You’re right, but.
[1:18:26 – 1:18:30] Antonio: You go on Reddit, you can read the unedited version of that.
[1:18:30 – 1:18:31] Erik: Right, exactly.
[1:18:33 – 1:18:34] Erik: Max Cavan.
[1:18:35 – 1:18:36] Erik: Friend of the show?
[1:18:36 – 1:18:38] Erik: Friend of the show.
[1:18:39 – 1:18:52] Erik: My highlight of the year was finding the Dumb Alone podcast and going from someone who had always dreamed about doing a B-dub trip to someone who was able to do three trips this season and wished I could have gotten in some more.
[1:18:53 – 1:18:54] Antonio: That’s baller.
[1:18:54 – 1:18:55] Erik: That is great.
[1:18:56 – 1:19:02] Erik: I know I’ve mentioned it before, but I’ve grown up spending lots of time on the Gunflint Trail at the family cabin, but never really did anything in the park.
[1:19:03 – 1:19:11] Erik: I’ve always been aware of it, and always curious, and always envious, as I would see these loaded canoes coming and going across Gunflint Lake.
[1:19:12 – 1:19:20] Erik: The insights and information you guys provide have been invaluable, and while I am not a seasoned B-Dub vet, far from it in fact, I am hooked.
[1:19:21 – 1:19:24] Erik: Personally, I don’t think it would have happened without this podcast.
[1:19:24 – 1:19:27] Erik: Again, humbled by that.
[1:19:27 – 1:19:29] Antonio: You’re a future seasoned vet.
[1:19:29 – 1:19:30] Antonio: Yeah.
[1:19:30 – 1:19:31] Antonio: You’re just not one yet.
[1:19:32 – 1:19:34] Erik: Yeah, he doesn’t really have a low light.
[1:19:34 – 1:19:38] Erik: Maybe the fact that I couldn’t get another trip in before things started to ice.
[1:19:39 – 1:19:40] Erik: There are no bad days in the park.
[1:19:41 – 1:19:42] Erik: Agree with that completely.
[1:19:42 – 1:19:54] Erik: I’m thankful for every minute I’m able to experience this incredible resource, even if that means portaging the wrong direction onto a ski trail and ending up back where we started.
[1:19:55 – 1:19:56] Erik: Thanks for all you guys do.
[1:19:57 – 1:19:59] Erik: Keep up the good work.
[1:20:01 – 1:20:02] Antonio: Tumblebuds.
[1:20:04 – 1:20:04] Antonio: Merci.
[1:20:05 – 1:20:06] Erik: Tumblebuds?
[1:20:06 – 1:20:06] Erik: Oh, man.
[1:20:06 – 1:20:13] Erik: You’re getting to read all the ones from people we know and have met.
[1:20:15 – 1:20:16] Erik: Rose?
[1:20:18 – 1:20:43] Erik: rider although i should say i did meet the previous responder randomly at stone harbor yeah i believe i was heckled in the streets of grime array by max uh peaceful heckle yeah it was a it was a lovely heckling lovely heckle yeah max caught me buying troughs yeah he did portage trough catcher no i’m not buying these
[1:20:44 – 1:21:03] Antonio: yeah uh big fan big fan of being uh gently heckled in the streets gentle heckling no it was friendly friendly heckling yeah rojo rider has never heckled always been friendly though one point i don’t understand how rojo only has one point
[1:21:06 – 1:21:07] Erik: This may be a timing thing.
[1:21:07 – 1:21:07] Antonio: I don’t know, maybe.
[1:21:08 – 1:21:11] Antonio: We haven’t awarded any extra points today, and I don’t think we can start now.
[1:21:11 – 1:21:13] Antonio: So we’re stuck on one, and that’s fine.
[1:21:13 – 1:21:14] Antonio: Maybe it was by design.
[1:21:15 – 1:21:20] Antonio: Perhaps he was downvoting his own post just to be the last.
[1:21:20 – 1:21:22] Erik: I’m still waiting for printing to come in last.
[1:21:23 – 1:21:23] Antonio: Yeah.
[1:21:23 – 1:21:24] Erik: You know he’s going to.
[1:21:24 – 1:21:24] Antonio: You know.
[1:21:25 – 1:21:29] Antonio: One point for Rojo Ryder, friend of the show.
[1:21:30 – 1:21:31] Antonio: Highlights.
[1:21:32 – 1:21:32] Antonio: Hi.
[1:21:32 – 1:21:32] Antonio: Hi.
[1:21:33 – 1:21:36] Antonio: Number one, Quetico, the falls chain trip at the end of June.
[1:21:38 – 1:21:39] Antonio: Yes.
[1:21:41 – 1:21:43] Antonio: Nice work.
[1:21:43 – 1:21:44] Antonio: Trip of the year.
[1:21:46 – 1:21:53] Antonio: For anybody out there who is listening, if you want a really challenging trip and the trip of a lifetime, do the Falls Chain.
[1:21:54 – 1:21:55] Antonio: Can’t recommend it enough.
[1:21:56 – 1:21:57] Antonio: And I’m super jealous.
[1:21:57 – 1:21:59] Antonio: And I miss the Falls Chain.
[1:21:59 – 1:22:00] Antonio: We got to go back.
[1:22:00 – 1:22:01] Erik: I miss Quetico in general.
[1:22:02 – 1:22:02] Antonio: Yeah.
[1:22:03 – 1:22:04] Antonio: No Quetico this year for us.
[1:22:05 – 1:22:05] Erik: No.
[1:22:07 – 1:22:07] Antonio: Number one, Quetico.
[1:22:08 – 1:22:13] Antonio: The falls chain trip at the end of June, we saw a ton of wildlife on this trip, including my first moose.
[1:22:14 – 1:22:23] Antonio: We also shared our site on Conipi with a bunch of turtles, snapping and painted, who were making the yearly trek out of the water at night to lay their eggs.
[1:22:24 – 1:22:28] Antonio: There was also a family of northern flickers in one of the dead trees on the site.
[1:22:28 – 1:22:34] Antonio: We watched the adults frantically going out to retrieve food for the hungry chicks from sunup to sundown.
[1:22:35 – 1:22:44] Antonio: This was a good reminder as to why we should not cut down dead trees, which not only provide the shelter for a lot of critters, but also the food that the flickers were after.
[1:22:45 – 1:22:49] Antonio: We also saw beavers, otters, and caught walleye pretty much on demand.
[1:22:50 – 1:22:50] Antonio: Wow.
[1:22:52 – 1:22:54] Antonio: I don’t understand how this has one point.
[1:22:55 – 1:22:56] Antonio: It should have more points.
[1:22:56 – 1:22:57] Antonio: That’s a great write-up.
[1:22:58 – 1:23:01] Antonio: And moving on to point number two.
[1:23:01 – 1:23:08] Antonio: BWCA highlight was definitely seeing the big winchy and the famed Misquahills for the first time.
[1:23:08 – 1:23:13] Antonio: This whole area was also very interesting ecology-wise.
[1:23:14 – 1:23:14] Antonio: Excuse me.
[1:23:16 – 1:23:22] Antonio: Seeing the different burn areas from both natural fires and controlled burns and how these areas recover.
[1:23:22 – 1:23:25] Antonio: A lot of berries and other food for wildlife thrive after a burn.
[1:23:26 – 1:23:29] Antonio: It was pretty obvious that the fires are good for the wilderness.
[1:23:29 – 1:23:31] Antonio: This area deserves the hype it gets.
[1:23:32 – 1:23:33] Antonio: Absolutely.
[1:23:33 – 1:23:37] Antonio: Shout out to Winch and shout out to the Misquat Hills.
[1:23:37 – 1:23:37] Antonio: Big Winch.
[1:23:37 – 1:23:38] Antonio: A lovely area.
[1:23:40 – 1:23:42] Antonio: Lowlights turned into highlights.
[1:23:43 – 1:23:44] Antonio: Section two.
[1:23:44 – 1:23:45] Antonio: Number one.
[1:23:45 – 1:23:45] Erik: Section two.
[1:23:46 – 1:23:53] Antonio: Just as we got to Konnipi, the winds really picked up, forcing us to take a site that wasn’t quite as far as we wanted to get.
[1:23:53 – 1:23:59] Antonio: But we got to our island site and set up the tarp city just in time to experience our first hail in canoe country.
[1:24:00 – 1:24:04] Antonio: It was rewarding seeing that we made the right choice to pull over earlier than we wanted.
[1:24:05 – 1:24:08] Antonio: This is also the site that allowed us to experience the aforementioned wildlife.
[1:24:09 – 1:24:10] Antonio: Nice.
[1:24:12 – 1:24:24] Antonio: Two, we had a lot of rain on the trip to Winchell, but we embraced the suck and drank bagged wine and played liar’s dice and Farkle under the tarp city all day on Gaskin, a very memorable day that was not planned.
[1:24:26 – 1:24:26] Antonio: All right.
[1:24:27 – 1:24:27] Antonio: Question.
[1:24:28 – 1:24:28] Erik: Uh-oh.
[1:24:30 – 1:24:36] Antonio: Someone we passed on a portage said that the U.S. president had vacationed in the area we had stayed on in Gaskin.
[1:24:37 – 1:24:39] Antonio: I believe this island site on the east side of the lake.
[1:24:40 – 1:24:45] Antonio: I was unable to find any confirmation of this on the internet, so I was wondering if you knew anything about this.
[1:24:46 – 1:24:47] Antonio: The president?
[1:24:48 – 1:24:53] Antonio: Said a U.S. president had vacationed in the area and stayed on Gaskin.
[1:24:53 – 1:24:59] Erik: I find that to be highly unlikely.
[1:25:00 – 1:25:01] Erik: A U.S. president?
[1:25:03 – 1:25:05] Antonio: Yeah, it doesn’t say which president.
[1:25:07 – 1:25:12] Antonio: But everybody knows that Dwight Eisenhower loved camping on horseshoes.
[1:25:12 – 1:25:16] Erik: That would be a thing I feel like people would know about more in the area.
[1:25:16 – 1:25:18] Erik: The Eisenhower campsite.
[1:25:18 – 1:25:22] Erik: In the Cook County, Grand Marais, Gunflint Trail zeitgeist.
[1:25:22 – 1:25:23] Erik: Yeah, sure.
[1:25:23 – 1:25:25] Erik: That would be a known thing.
[1:25:27 – 1:25:32] Erik: Some of the stories of people who have visited Clearwater are well known.
[1:25:32 – 1:25:37] Erik: If a president has been to Gaskin, I feel like that would be a thing.
[1:25:37 – 1:25:47] Erik: I’ve never heard of a president, past or present, having visited, even just visited the Gunflint Trail.
[1:25:47 – 1:26:05] Antonio: Let alone like LBJ famously always took part in 4th of Brulai Way back when But that’s not quite up there LBJ was all about 4th of Brulai He was big Big time on the 4th of Brulai Turns out it was Nixon Spent a night on Gaskin
[1:26:08 – 1:26:17] Antonio: And everybody knows that Jimmy Carter really enjoyed Pine Lake, but these are not Gaskin.
[1:26:17 – 1:26:18] Antonio: I’m not sure what to say about that.
[1:26:18 – 1:26:19] Erik: No, I have nothing to say.
[1:26:20 – 1:26:23] Erik: I’ve not heard anything of the matter on the presidential…
[1:26:23 – 1:26:33] Erik: I don’t know of any presidents that have been to the Boundary Waters, like specifically into a campsite, like maybe like touring on the edges or flying over it or whatever, but like…
[1:26:35 – 1:26:40] Erik: I’ve read a few books that we will be getting into in terms of winter book series reports.
[1:26:41 – 1:26:48] Erik: Maybe I will find out a little bit more when I get to the Sigurd Olsson book that I am planning on rereading.
[1:26:49 – 1:26:56] Erik: I don’t remember even from that one whether or not a president has like gone out and spent time at a site.
[1:26:56 – 1:27:01] Erik: I wouldn’t be surprised if it has happened, but nothing comes to mind.
[1:27:01 – 1:27:03] Erik: No, I think Eisenhower was there.
[1:27:03 – 1:27:04] Antonio: That’s my guess.
[1:27:04 – 1:27:05] Erik: Eisenhower.
[1:27:05 – 1:27:06] Antonio: That’s my guess.
[1:27:08 – 1:27:10] Antonio: Before, it was the Boundary Waters, obviously.
[1:27:10 – 1:27:12] Antonio: That would have been just called canoe country back then.
[1:27:14 – 1:27:16] Erik: Right, yeah, just the roadless area.
[1:27:16 – 1:27:16] Erik: Pure acacia.
[1:27:18 – 1:27:20] Erik: Pure acacia.
[1:27:22 – 1:27:23] Erik: One point.
[1:27:24 – 1:27:24] Erik: Highlights.
[1:27:25 – 1:27:30] Erik: A group of us did the Clearwater Loop this year, and it did not disappoint.
[1:27:30 – 1:27:32] Erik: Stunning views and amazing lakes.
[1:27:32 – 1:27:34] Erik: Johnson Falls was a real highlight.
[1:27:34 – 1:27:35] Erik: We went in mid-September.
[1:27:36 – 1:27:40] Erik: The weather was mostly good, and there were no bugs.
[1:27:41 – 1:27:45] Erik: We saw a huge bull moose swimming across John Lake.
[1:27:47 – 1:27:49] Erik: Really getting into the Tumble Home podcast.
[1:27:49 – 1:27:55] Erik: My partner and I can’t wait for Sundays to come so we can enjoy another episode full of so much great information.
[1:27:57 – 1:27:59] Erik: Yeah, we’re getting back into it.
[1:28:00 – 1:28:02] Erik: We’re going to try to keep up with the Sunday schedule.
[1:28:03 – 1:28:06] Antonio: Yeah, I think we’ll do better this winter than last.
[1:28:06 – 1:28:10] Erik: We will definitely be putting out more this winter than the last winter.
[1:28:13 – 1:28:13] Erik: We have to.
[1:28:15 – 1:28:25] Erik: Episode 74, Living in the Great North Woods, has been really eye-opening to us as far as possibly wanting to live in the areas of the BWCA.
[1:28:26 – 1:28:28] Erik: We’ve probably listened to that episode three times.
[1:28:29 – 1:28:29] Erik: Wow.
[1:28:30 – 1:28:30] Erik: Do it.
[1:28:32 – 1:28:32] Erik: Get up here.
[1:28:33 – 1:28:34] Erik: Come on.
[1:28:34 – 1:28:35] Erik: Quit your jobs right now.
[1:28:36 – 1:28:38] Erik: Everything about the BWCA is a highlight.
[1:28:39 – 1:28:39] Erik: Exclamation point.
[1:28:40 – 1:28:40] Stephanie: Yeah.
[1:28:42 – 1:28:45] Erik: We could have just read that sentence and called it a show.
[1:28:45 – 1:29:00] Erik: The planning and connecting with friends, camping, paddling, wildlife, everything about it is wonderful and I feel grateful that I’ve gotten to experience it and experiencing it for the years to come.
[1:29:00 – 1:29:04] Erik: I don’t know why I ended up reading it like a robot at the end there, but
[1:29:06 – 1:29:07] Antonio: The cadence was fine.
[1:29:08 – 1:29:09] Erik: Only one point.
[1:29:09 – 1:29:13] Erik: That last sentiment there was maybe one of my favorites.
[1:29:13 – 1:29:16] Erik: Everything about the BWCA is a highlight.
[1:29:17 – 1:29:22] Erik: Honestly, when you compare it to the rest of whatever you’re doing…
[1:29:23 – 1:29:24] Erik: Agreed.
[1:29:25 – 1:29:29] Erik: Blow lights, both my partner and I were unsuccessful catching fish.
[1:29:30 – 1:29:37] Erik: Yeah, that’s the worst that anybody can come up with for low lights has regularly been.
[1:29:39 – 1:29:40] Antonio: Can’t catch a keeper.
[1:29:40 – 1:29:41] Antonio: Slow fishing.
[1:29:41 – 1:29:42] Antonio: Yeah.
[1:29:42 – 1:29:42] Erik: Like, really?
[1:29:43 – 1:29:46] Erik: If that’s the worst, I mean.
[1:29:47 – 1:29:49] Antonio: It’s hard to fish from a canoe or from shore.
[1:29:51 – 1:29:56] Antonio: You know, you’re out there trolling around in your Lund with your uncle.
[1:29:57 – 1:29:57] Erik: With your uncle.
[1:29:58 – 1:30:01] Antonio: All right, we got a couple more.
[1:30:02 – 1:30:06] Antonio: Taking it home strong with Cobra 317.
[1:30:07 – 1:30:07] Antonio: One point.
[1:30:08 – 1:30:10] Antonio: Highlights of 2019.
[1:30:10 – 1:30:16] Antonio: One, getting a trip in on top of a very busy summer after relocating away from Minnesota to Colorado.
[1:30:17 – 1:30:17] Antonio: Sad.
[1:30:18 – 1:30:21] Antonio: And finding the podcast as a trip plan during the weeks leading up to the trip.
[1:30:23 – 1:30:23] Antonio: Happy.
[1:30:24 – 1:30:24] Antonio: Two.
[1:30:24 – 1:30:30] Antonio: Breakfast at Britain’s Cafe and ordering the special cinnamon apple pie French toast.
[1:30:30 – 1:30:30] Antonio: Post trip.
[1:30:32 – 1:30:32] Antonio: The best.
[1:30:33 – 1:30:34] Erik: Double shout out for Britain’s.
[1:30:34 – 1:30:34] Antonio: Big time.
[1:30:35 – 1:30:35] Antonio: Very nice.
[1:30:36 – 1:30:36] Antonio: Three.
[1:30:36 – 1:30:40] Antonio: Cooking real meals this trip and not relying on dehydrated meal bags.
[1:30:41 – 1:30:42] Antonio: Troop.
[1:30:42 – 1:31:05] Antonio: lowlights pushed all the way to mid north insula from lake one entry in one day worried about the weather the following night and wanted to be away from the pagami burn area two well these aren’t really numbered so lowlight number two too windy to travel day from base camp on insula on day two
[1:31:09 – 1:31:14] Antonio: On the way back, we hoped to have half a day’s paddle to Lake 3 or 2 area.
[1:31:14 – 1:31:20] Antonio: Beautiful sunny day of paddling, feeling great with knowing we would not have to push as many miles as we did on the way in.
[1:31:21 – 1:31:24] Antonio: Turned out every campsite on Lake 3 and 2 were taken.
[1:31:25 – 1:31:27] Antonio: It was late afternoon and I lost my cool.
[1:31:27 – 1:31:33] Antonio: Ended up having to portage to Lake 1 and took a site hidden in a bay that was very buggy for our last night.
[1:31:33 – 1:31:39] Antonio: It was only an hour’s paddle to the entry, making the last day a short one as weather was incoming as well.
[1:31:40 – 1:31:44] Antonio: Never a bad time to be out in the BWCA, but had a lot thrown at me to test my patience.
[1:31:45 – 1:31:48] Antonio: I will be out again next year for my fourth consecutive trip.
[1:31:50 – 1:31:51] Antonio: Hashtag PBNash.
[1:31:52 – 1:31:56] Antonio: Hashtag BBNash.
[1:31:57 – 1:32:04] Antonio: Controlling one’s temper in the wilderness is always a challenge sometimes.
[1:32:04 – 1:32:08] Antonio: It’s always something I’ve been working on with myself personally.
[1:32:10 – 1:32:20] Antonio: I used to flip off people while I drove, and I feel like I’ve gotten my temper under a little bit more control as I’ve aged.
[1:32:21 – 1:32:25] Antonio: But it’s easy to just like snap on a piece of P cord or something like, God, what?
[1:32:25 – 1:32:27] Antonio: You know, things get tangled or.
[1:32:27 – 1:32:27] Antonio: Oh, yeah.
[1:32:28 – 1:32:31] Antonio: You got to remind yourself that it’s not a big deal.
[1:32:32 – 1:32:35] Antonio: And it’s just a piece of P cord.
[1:32:35 – 1:32:36] Antonio: It’s not worth it.
[1:32:36 – 1:32:36] Antonio: But.
[1:32:38 – 1:32:47] Antonio: There’s nothing wrong with losing your temper on a trip, but we always say no complaining or whining and, you know, trying to do your best to remind yourself where you are.
[1:32:47 – 1:32:48] Erik: Depends.
[1:32:48 – 1:32:49] Erik: It depends.
[1:32:49 – 1:32:51] Erik: But I would say for the most part, unless you’re on a portage.
[1:32:51 – 1:32:52] Erik: Yeah.
[1:32:52 – 1:32:53] Erik: There’s no room for complaining.
[1:32:53 – 1:32:54] Antonio: Yeah.
[1:32:54 – 1:32:56] Antonio: I mean, there’s always ways you can improve yourself.
[1:32:57 – 1:32:59] Antonio: So no shame in losing your temper.
[1:32:59 – 1:33:00] Antonio: Just try and do better next time.
[1:33:02 – 1:33:03] Erik: Aldi one.
[1:33:04 – 1:33:04] Erik: Hey.
[1:33:05 – 1:33:05] Erik: Highlights.
[1:33:07 – 1:33:07] Erik: Hi.
[1:33:07 – 1:33:07] Erik: Hi.
[1:33:08 – 1:33:08] Antonio: Hi.
[1:33:09 – 1:33:13] Erik: Going on three trips and recording my 10th overall trip.
[1:33:14 – 1:33:16] Erik: Bringing my girlfriend on her first trip.
[1:33:16 – 1:33:17] Erik: A successful one at that.
[1:33:18 – 1:33:22] Erik: Completing a 400 plus rod portage and feeling okay.
[1:33:23 – 1:33:24] Erik: And leaving the park…
[1:33:26 – 1:33:28] Erik: with the great memories and healthy.
[1:33:29 – 1:33:30] Erik: Learning lessons.
[1:33:31 – 1:33:35] Erik: Relax and don’t worry so much about getting the perfect site.
[1:33:35 – 1:33:37] Erik: Pack long underwear for those cold windy days
[1:33:39 – 1:33:40] Erik: I’ve never owned a pair before.
[1:33:41 – 1:33:43] Erik: Now, what was I thinking?
[1:33:44 – 1:33:44] Erik: Gear thoughts.
[1:33:45 – 1:33:49] Erik: I finally ditched the rental paddle for a wooden one, and it’s been an enjoyable experience.
[1:33:51 – 1:33:55] Erik: Next year, explore the gun flint side for the first time.
[1:33:55 – 1:33:57] Erik: Huzzah, huzzah.
[1:33:57 – 1:34:00] Erik: Continue to improve camp cooking and dehydrate more food.
[1:34:00 – 1:34:03] Erik: Bring some newbies into the park and spread the joy.
[1:34:04 – 1:34:06] Erik: That’s a great outlook for next year, I would say.
[1:34:06 – 1:34:07] Erik: Yeah.
[1:34:07 – 1:34:08] Erik: All of those things.
[1:34:10 – 1:34:12] Erik: Especially the Gunflint side.
[1:34:13 – 1:34:14] Erik: Explore the Gunflint side.
[1:34:16 – 1:34:19] Antonio: Those are our first real gear shout out for a wooden paddle.
[1:34:20 – 1:34:21] Antonio: Always nice to upgrade.
[1:34:22 – 1:34:25] Antonio: Feels nice having that fancy paddle in your hand.
[1:34:27 – 1:34:28] Erik: One day.
[1:34:28 – 1:34:29] Erik: One day ago.
[1:34:30 – 1:34:31] Erik: Muddyfoot.
[1:34:31 – 1:34:31] Erik: What?
[1:34:32 – 1:34:38] Erik: Which I believe we do have a sponsorship for from you in the fridge.
[1:34:39 – 1:34:40] Erik: It’s coming.
[1:34:40 – 1:34:40] Erik: Don’t worry.
[1:34:40 – 1:34:40] Erik: Wow.
[1:34:41 – 1:34:41] Erik: Nice.
[1:34:42 – 1:34:44] Erik: And this is the last response on Reddit.
[1:34:45 – 1:34:49] Erik: We’ve got a couple of emails and a voicemail.
[1:34:49 – 1:34:51] Erik: All right.
[1:34:51 – 1:34:51] Erik: Let’s get to it.
[1:34:54 – 1:34:55] Erik: Do you need a recola?
[1:34:57 – 1:34:57] Antonio: I’m all right.
[1:34:58 – 1:34:58] Antonio: All right.
[1:35:01 – 1:35:09] Antonio: On my first trip to the BWCA, after years of anticipation, I found a few things predictable and a few that I was very humbly surprised by.
[1:35:09 – 1:35:17] Antonio: We drove from Dayton, Ohio, to Duluth, and at daybreak, with heavy fog, Duluth was so big and industrial, it was so cool.
[1:35:18 – 1:35:21] Antonio: Then drove up North Shore, and it was spectacular and beautiful.
[1:35:21 – 1:35:25] Antonio: Almost romantic, but I was with a dude, so we’ll stick with beautiful.
[1:35:27 – 1:35:30] Antonio: Grammaray was not how I envisioned at all.
[1:35:30 – 1:35:31] Antonio: I pictured a much bigger town.
[1:35:31 – 1:35:32] Antonio: I loved it.
[1:35:32 – 1:35:42] Antonio: We stopped for a bite to eat at a little deli on the lakeside of the middle of town, walked to the office of tourism and down the hill to a beer store for a few supplies.
[1:35:43 – 1:35:47] Antonio: Every single person asked what we were doing, where we were staying, where we came from, etc.
[1:35:48 – 1:35:50] Antonio: The guy at the beer store even gave portage and fishing advice.
[1:35:51 – 1:35:58] Antonio: This was in September, and everyone acted like we were the first customers in April and genuinely cared about what we were doing.
[1:35:59 – 1:36:02] Antonio: It’s like everyone who lives there has this shared bond, the great outdoors.
[1:36:03 – 1:36:05] Antonio: And the locals were also warm and inviting.
[1:36:06 – 1:36:12] Antonio: After studying my map all year, I found the layout of my route as printed, except one portage was a little off.
[1:36:14 – 1:36:20] Antonio: But the map doesn’t have a Danielson scale, as the portage from Little Trout to Misquah Lake was a loon bleep bear.
[1:36:21 – 1:36:23] Antonio: The old Royal X Mad River was beautiful.
[1:36:24 – 1:36:28] Antonio: Wood furniture felt like it was 100 pounds and 40 foot long.
[1:36:30 – 1:36:30] Antonio: WTF.
[1:36:31 – 1:36:37] Antonio: But I did see some of the most magical old white pines I’d ever seen in my life in that section.
[1:36:38 – 1:36:41] Antonio: The smell of the forest was different than any forest I’ve been to.
[1:36:42 – 1:36:44] Antonio: That might sound weird, but true.
[1:36:44 – 1:36:45] Antonio: It was the first thing I noticed.
[1:36:46 – 1:36:51] Antonio: On one night camping at Vista, I experienced a night of stargazing that was undescribable.
[1:36:52 – 1:36:55] Antonio: A million stars, shooting stars, the Milky Way.
[1:36:55 – 1:36:55] Antonio: Wow.
[1:36:56 – 1:36:57] Antonio: It was amazing.
[1:36:58 – 1:37:01] Antonio: The fishing was slow, but good, with some fun northern pike.
[1:37:02 – 1:37:06] Antonio: But as a fisherman, surprisingly, I just enjoyed paddling and looking around the most.
[1:37:06 – 1:37:11] Antonio: Beaver, bald eagle, white pine, spruce, and boulder after boulder.
[1:37:12 – 1:37:14] Antonio: There’s too much to look at.
[1:37:14 – 1:37:17] Antonio: Actually, it made fishing less important, and I loved to fish.
[1:37:19 – 1:37:23] Antonio: To keep this short and summarized, my trip was off the chart great.
[1:37:24 – 1:37:25] Antonio: Planning has already begun for 2020.
[1:37:26 – 1:37:30] Antonio: BWCA is breathtakingly beautiful and is worth protecting.
[1:37:30 – 1:37:34] Antonio: The BWCA is very unique and unspoiled nature at its best.
[1:37:35 – 1:37:38] Antonio: Thank you for the podcast and bringing your backyard to us who live far away.
[1:37:39 – 1:37:40] Antonio: Have a great and peaceful winter.
[1:37:41 – 1:37:42] Antonio: Hashtag muddyfoot.
[1:37:42 – 1:37:43] Antonio: Thanks for the response.
[1:37:44 – 1:37:46] Erik: Yeah, that was an excellent response.
[1:37:46 – 1:37:49] Erik: I thought there was, I mean, all of the responses have been amazing.
[1:37:51 – 1:37:55] Erik: That one I felt like it was like a perfect, the perfect last one from Reddit.
[1:37:55 – 1:38:01] Erik: It seemed like it kind of encapsulated a lot of the thoughts there.
[1:38:02 – 1:38:06] Erik: Even to a certain extent extrapolated on some of them.
[1:38:06 – 1:38:12] Erik: I love the thoughts on Grand Marais, first time through Duluth and like how that felt.
[1:38:14 – 1:38:15] Erik: Yeah, that was great.
[1:38:17 – 1:38:22] Antonio: Yeah, that drive up is even now a special drive for me.
[1:38:23 – 1:38:24] Erik: Yeah, it’s tough.
[1:38:24 – 1:38:32] Erik: It’s like one of those things where you do start seeing it as a little bit of the part of the journey more than…
[1:38:33 – 1:38:37] Antonio: Especially once you get through the tunnels, then I feel like you’re really on the home stretch and you get the tingle.
[1:38:38 – 1:38:38] Erik: Yeah.
[1:38:39 – 1:38:41] Antonio: Getting ready, getting amped.
[1:38:42 – 1:38:42] Erik: It’s very…
[1:38:45 – 1:39:02] Erik: It’s just nice to know that Muddyfoot had the experiences in town and throughout the county, especially in September, which is when most of us…
[1:39:02 – 1:39:06] Antonio: I’m often not feeling that friendly in September, so I’m glad that they had a good experience.
[1:39:07 – 1:39:08] Erik: Get a little bit of that jaded.
[1:39:08 – 1:39:09] Antonio: Friendly in turn.
[1:39:09 – 1:39:12] Antonio: If you’re friendly, you’ll receive friendliness back.
[1:39:12 – 1:39:13] Antonio: Yeah.
[1:39:13 – 1:39:14] Antonio: I think that’s the good rule.
[1:39:16 – 1:39:17] Erik: Yeah, no, so that’s good to hear.
[1:39:17 – 1:39:19] Erik: I really, that was great.
[1:39:20 – 1:39:26] Erik: So thank you all on Reddit for your responses.
[1:39:28 – 1:39:37] Erik: You are a huge part of this show, if not one of the only things keeping us moving forward.
[1:39:38 – 1:39:39] Erik: Thank you for your time.
[1:39:39 – 1:39:40] Erik: Thank you for contributing.
[1:39:42 – 1:39:44] Erik: We look forward to doing it again.
[1:39:45 – 1:39:47] Erik: We’re moving on to some emails here.
[1:39:47 – 1:39:49] Erik: Paint.
[1:39:50 – 1:39:52] Erik: Apparently not everybody’s on Reddit.
[1:39:52 – 1:39:53] Erik: That’s fine.
[1:39:53 – 1:39:54] Erik: Yeah, emails are great.
[1:39:55 – 1:39:56] Erik: We got some highlights.
[1:39:56 – 1:39:58] Erik: This is from Brian.
[1:39:59 – 1:40:04] Erik: Seven years of tripping and finally crossed the border into Quetico.
[1:40:05 – 1:40:05] Antonio: Yeah, yeah.
[1:40:06 – 1:40:15] Erik: On a five-day, four-night loop in August from Cache Bay to Sagatagons to Mack to Conippy to Sagatagons and back out.
[1:40:16 – 1:40:21] Erik: We didn’t see anyone for over 48 hours and had a phenomenal time coming up the falls.
[1:40:21 – 1:40:23] Erik: Chain, A plus campsites the whole way.
[1:40:24 – 1:40:32] Erik: On Conipi, we enjoyed a sunset slash stargazing campfire perched up above the lake out on our rocky point.
[1:40:34 – 1:40:45] Erik: The attached pictures give you an idea of the site, lesson learned on this trip, bring a spot or something similar to communicate a doing fine but running late message to loved ones back home.
[1:40:47 – 1:40:53] Erik: We got windbound on Conipi long enough to make us wonder if we would make our toe on time on the way out.
[1:40:54 – 1:41:01] Erik: It worked out, but it would have been nice to just choose to spend an extra day out there without worrying about people back home.
[1:41:02 – 1:41:02] Erik: Two.
[1:41:04 – 1:41:07] Erik: Second trip of the year was at Mudrow EP.
[1:41:08 – 1:41:12] Erik: Lesson learned, it can be really nice to slow down.
[1:41:12 – 1:41:20] Erik: On our third night, we got the campsite overlooking Lower Bassett Falls at 11 a.m. And then just relax all day with that amazing view.
[1:41:20 – 1:41:23] Erik: I’ve never stopped before noon.
[1:41:25 – 1:41:27] Antonio: There’s nothing wrong with stopping before noon.
[1:41:27 – 1:41:27] Antonio: No.
[1:41:27 – 1:41:28] Antonio: It’s a great feeling.
[1:41:28 – 1:41:31] Erik: We didn’t do a whole lot that day, and that was just about perfect.
[1:41:32 – 1:41:40] Erik: Also, spotted my first bull moose on the Horse River in September, another item off the BWCA bucket list.
[1:41:41 – 1:41:52] Erik: Three, got my wife to sign off on taking my seven-year-old on his first trip next season as a part of a dad-son duo with my tripping buddy and his eight-year-old.
[1:41:52 – 1:41:53] Erik: Both kids will be rookies.
[1:41:54 – 1:42:01] Erik: Can’t wait to share the park with our boys and Clearwater Entry Point is under consideration.
[1:42:03 – 1:42:03] Erik: Consider it.
[1:42:05 – 1:42:12] Erik: Lowlights, number one, was in Graham Ray area on Labor Day weekend when the Northern Lights were supposed to be visible.
[1:42:12 – 1:42:19] Erik: Got up in the middle of the night and drove an hour into town and then up the Gunflint Trail in hopes of spotting them.
[1:42:19 – 1:42:20] Erik: No dice.
[1:42:21 – 1:42:25] Erik: That BWCA bucket list item continues to elude me.
[1:42:25 – 1:42:30] Erik: You are in the solar minimum right now, Brian.
[1:42:31 – 1:42:31] Erik: Just hang on.
[1:42:32 – 1:42:33] Antonio: Give it a few years.
[1:42:33 – 1:42:34] Antonio: Things are coming back up.
[1:42:35 – 1:42:37] Antonio: It’ll happen when it’s going to happen.
[1:42:37 – 1:42:37] Erik: You’ll see them.
[1:42:38 – 1:42:38] Erik: Yeah.
[1:42:38 – 1:42:39] Erik: Faced…
[1:42:39 – 1:42:40] Erik: Sorry.
[1:42:40 – 1:42:40] Erik: Two.
[1:42:40 – 1:42:41] Erik: Confession time.
[1:42:42 – 1:42:45] Erik: Faced with a dilemma, I was forced to leave a trace.
[1:42:48 – 1:42:53] Erik: Hanging the bear bag, I usually have a heavy carabiner on one end to toss over the tree limb.
[1:42:54 – 1:43:03] Erik: The rope got twisted in the branches, and despite Herculean efforts, the paracord was as taut as a guitar string.
[1:43:03 – 1:43:06] Erik: The rope and carabiner would not come down.
[1:43:07 – 1:43:26] Erik: I needed the line and carabiner for the following nights, plus to leave the line and carabiner would be a trace, so I lashed two long limbs together along with my folding saw and maybe a 14-foot long extension saw to cut down the problematic limb.
[1:43:26 – 1:43:27] Erik: Whoa.
[1:43:28 – 1:43:28] Erik: It worked.
[1:43:29 – 1:43:31] Erik: Now I am the jerk that cuts live limbs in the park.
[1:43:32 – 1:43:35] Erik: I’m so ashamed, but the confession feels good.
[1:43:35 – 1:43:36] Antonio: Get it off your chest.
[1:43:36 – 1:43:37] Antonio: It’s not that big of a deal.
[1:43:38 – 1:43:39] Antonio: At least you didn’t leave the rope in the tree.
[1:43:40 – 1:43:40] Erik: Yeah.
[1:43:41 – 1:43:48] Erik: Three, a well-meaning outfitter in Ely, who will remain nameless, offered to mark my mud drill map, which was awesome.
[1:43:48 – 1:43:51] Erik: Unfortunately, the markups are all upside down.
[1:43:51 – 1:43:53] Erik: It is driving me crazy.
[1:43:53 – 1:43:55] Erik: I might just have to buy another one.
[1:43:56 – 1:43:56] Antonio: Oh, no.
[1:43:58 – 1:44:00] Erik: It doesn’t look like that bad of a limb you cut there.
[1:44:01 – 1:44:01] Antonio: I see the picture.
[1:44:01 – 1:44:03] Antonio: That’s more of a twig.
[1:44:03 – 1:44:03] Erik: Yeah.
[1:44:04 – 1:44:05] Erik: Thank you for the email.
[1:44:05 – 1:44:10] Erik: We love the responses in any ways that they come.
[1:44:13 – 1:44:18] Erik: We have one more email and then a voicemail and then we’re out.
[1:44:18 – 1:44:19] Antonio: I’m excited for a voicemail.
[1:44:19 – 1:44:20] Antonio: We haven’t had one in a while.
[1:44:20 – 1:44:21] Erik: We have not.
[1:44:23 – 1:44:26] Antonio: Jacob writes, Hey guys.
[1:44:27 – 1:44:28] Antonio: Hey.
[1:44:28 – 1:44:28] Erik: Hey.
[1:44:29 – 1:44:34] Antonio: Just wanted to submit Emily and I’s piece for the tumble home question of the year.
[1:44:35 – 1:44:39] Antonio: This year, we took our second trip to the BWCA on Memorial Day weekend.
[1:44:40 – 1:44:46] Antonio: We took a different approach and learned how relaxing the park can be if you are knowledgeable and efficient in your travel.
[1:44:47 – 1:44:56] Antonio: Our improvements from our first trip last fall led us to love it so much that on our 22-hour drive back to Colorado, we made the decision to move to Grand Marais.
[1:44:58 – 1:45:02] Antonio: Fast forward to the end of August, and we found ourselves as residents of our beloved Northwoods.
[1:45:03 – 1:45:09] Antonio: We got a chance to meet our favorite podcast hosts, their lovely wives, and wonderful in-laws as well.
[1:45:09 – 1:45:11] Antonio: That’s very nice of you to say.
[1:45:12 – 1:45:16] Antonio: We received a very warm welcome to the Grammaray community and cannot thank you enough.
[1:45:17 – 1:45:24] Antonio: The first week in November, we got the opportunity to bring another Tumble homie into the club as we welcomed our son, Jesse, into this world.
[1:45:25 – 1:45:32] Antonio: Our move up here was centered around a stable lifestyle and a place we love and can share with our child and future children.
[1:45:33 – 1:45:37] Antonio: Meeting him has reinforced our happiness in our decision to make the leap.
[1:45:38 – 1:45:42] Antonio: We are now getting excited to enjoy the area and the BWCA in the winter season.
[1:45:43 – 1:45:50] Antonio: Truly, the possibilities our new home has to offer are endless and much more than one could ever experience in multiple lifetimes.
[1:45:51 – 1:45:57] Antonio: We are so grateful that we have been given an opportunity to become fully immersed in the beauty of this area.
[1:45:58 – 1:46:05] Antonio: Thanks so much for the enjoyment you provide with the show, as well as the help and amity you have shared with us in our personal lives.
[1:46:06 – 1:46:08] Erik: Hope to see you around this winter, Jacob and Emily.
[1:46:08 – 1:46:09] Antonio: It was great to meet you.
[1:46:10 – 1:46:15] Antonio: And I’m very happy to hear your son, Jesse, has joined us.
[1:46:17 – 1:46:19] Antonio: And welcome to the North Shore.
[1:46:20 – 1:46:20] Erik: Beautiful.
[1:46:21 – 1:46:21] Erik: Yeah.
[1:46:22 – 1:46:23] Antonio: You made the right choice.
[1:46:23 – 1:46:24] Antonio: Yes, congratulations.
[1:46:24 – 1:46:29] Antonio: I don’t think there’s any question based on this email and having spoken with you both.
[1:46:30 – 1:46:32] Antonio: Yeah, it’s a great place to live.
[1:46:33 – 1:46:36] Antonio: And, yeah, we had an episode about it earlier this season.
[1:46:37 – 1:46:39] Antonio: All the great things about living up here.
[1:46:39 – 1:46:43] Antonio: Anyways, thanks for listening.
[1:46:44 – 1:46:44] Erik: Yeah, thanks for listening.
[1:46:44 – 1:46:45] Erik: Thanks for reaching out.
[1:46:46 – 1:46:51] Erik: Everybody, you are becoming more and more a part of this show, which is incredible.
[1:46:51 – 1:46:52] Erik: We appreciate it.
[1:46:53 – 1:46:58] Erik: And it’s what makes the Boundary Waters where we live.
[1:46:59 – 1:47:06] Erik: And what we do, as beautiful as it is, is there is an involvement.
[1:47:07 – 1:47:09] Erik: And I have missed…
[1:47:10 – 1:47:17] Erik: Hearing from you, talking about the place that we live, and just generally discussing the bourgeois.
[1:47:17 – 1:47:25] Erik: It’s been nice to have the break for a month, but now that we’re back into it here, I’ve definitely missed it.
[1:47:26 – 1:47:26] Erik: For sure.
[1:47:27 – 1:47:31] Erik: And I look forward to spending time.
[1:47:32 – 1:47:34] Erik: with y’all this winter.
[1:47:35 – 1:47:53] Erik: Um, in a variety of ways, we’re definitely going to get the field recorder out on the lakes, maybe some overnight stuff, probably closer to like just general life in the North woods, day trips, dog sled races.
[1:47:55 – 1:47:55] Erik: Um,
[1:47:55 – 1:48:00] Erik: But I also really look forward to doing some book reports.
[1:48:00 – 1:48:01] Erik: I’ve got a whole stack of books.
[1:48:01 – 1:48:02] Erik: I’ve read a couple.
[1:48:02 – 1:48:04] Erik: I’m looking forward to getting into a couple more.
[1:48:04 – 1:48:11] Erik: I know it sounds like from people that listen, they…
[1:48:11 – 1:48:21] Erik: I think maybe the winter is when we should be more regular than the summer because we’ve got three weeks or three months, that is, to really be active in the park.
[1:48:21 – 1:48:26] Antonio: And then eight months of… Yeah, you’ve got more time to listen to podcasts in the winter, too.
[1:48:27 – 1:48:27] Antonio: Yeah.
[1:48:28 – 1:48:31] Antonio: Might be a whole shift in the future, but…
[1:48:32 – 1:48:38] Antonio: Yeah, it’s good to be back in the studio recording again and hearing from our friends on the internet.
[1:48:39 – 1:48:43] Antonio: And we have a voicemail, I understand?
[1:48:43 – 1:48:44] Antonio: We have two voicemails.
[1:48:44 – 1:48:45] Erik: Oh, boy.
[1:48:46 – 1:48:53] Erik: One that we’re going to stop and listen to, and then the other one we’ll just go out on in a minute.
[1:48:53 – 1:48:54] Erik: Sounds good.
[1:48:54 – 1:49:00] Erik: This is from Antonio, who is a poppin’ wheeler.
[1:49:00 – 1:49:28] Erik: just maybe sitting down and heck yeah tumble home og artwork t-shirt right now uh listening to this and thank you the voicemail answering machine number is in the show notes it does still exist it works thank you for testing it out antonio and let’s have to let’s have a little listen to uh what antonio has to say here hello hi this is antonio
[1:49:29 – 1:49:37] Antonio: I was just calling because I got this really good idea about the game, the Boundary Waters board game.
[1:49:38 – 1:49:48] Antonio: While you guys are working on that, there might be a shorter version that you can put out as you perfect the other one that you have in mind.
[1:49:48 – 1:49:53] Antonio: Have you guys ever played the Oregon Trail?
[1:49:53 – 1:49:58] Antonio: That computer game from the early 90s where you travel across the country and
[1:49:59 – 1:50:03] Antonio: you kind of choose different scenarios and you have different outcomes based on what we chose.
[1:50:04 – 1:50:07] Antonio: Could you make a game about the Boundary Waters that way?
[1:50:07 – 1:50:11] Antonio: If you don’t know about the Oregon Trail, I can tell you more.
[1:50:11 – 1:50:16] Antonio: Or you guys can look it up as well.
[1:50:16 – 1:50:26] Antonio: But it would be really cool because you can have two options for everything in the Boundary Waters, and the options can be real-life experiences to be input from…
[1:50:27 – 1:50:32] Antonio: All the listeners, but from you guys, you guys have got the most amount of experience, I think.
[1:50:33 – 1:50:48] Antonio: And I think it can be pretty sweet because you’ll always have a different scenario based on what you choose and who’s in your group, if you’re a solo paddler, if you’re with your significant other, or if you’re with a group, or maybe even an Eagle Scout.
[1:50:48 – 1:50:49] Antonio: All right.
[1:50:49 – 1:50:50] Antonio: Well, let me know what you guys think.
[1:50:50 – 1:50:51] Antonio: All right.
[1:50:51 – 1:50:51] Antonio: See you.
[1:50:53 – 1:50:57] Erik: We definitely know all about the Oregon Trail.
[1:50:57 – 1:51:02] Erik: I remember shooting 999 pounds of meat until I couldn’t collect any more.
[1:51:02 – 1:51:03] Antonio: Yeah, yeah.
[1:51:03 – 1:51:05] Antonio: The Apple IIe.
[1:51:05 – 1:51:05] Antonio: Yes.
[1:51:05 – 1:51:10] Antonio: It was probably the greatest computer game of all time.
[1:51:10 – 1:51:37] Erik: yes turning at like a 45 degree angle towards the buffalo and shooting a square bullet yeah i i mean you gotta always have extra extra axles you can never have enough axles and is that never afford the river never afford you afford the river you’re doomed no yeah no that’s an interesting it seems like that would that would be more set up for a video game
[1:51:38 – 1:51:40] Antonio: Yeah, we were just talking about this on Thanksgiving.
[1:51:40 – 1:51:45] Antonio: We should just bypass the entirety of board gaming and just develop an Android app.
[1:51:46 – 1:51:49] Antonio: Tumble home the video game.
[1:51:49 – 1:51:49] Erik: Yeah.
[1:51:50 – 1:51:53] Erik: We haven’t even figured out the board game while already jumping into video games.
[1:51:54 – 1:51:55] Antonio: We’re going to do everything.
[1:51:55 – 1:51:56] Antonio: We’re going to do both.
[1:51:56 – 1:51:57] Erik: We’re going to do everything.
[1:51:57 – 1:51:59] Antonio: So anyways, yeah.
[1:51:59 – 1:52:01] Antonio: The board game is still under development.
[1:52:01 – 1:52:05] Antonio: I’ve acquired some new materials for use in the making of the tiles I need.
[1:52:07 – 1:52:13] Antonio: But there’s a lot of different things in play in this video game slash board game yet.
[1:52:13 – 1:52:14] Antonio: They all could be connected.
[1:52:15 – 1:52:19] Erik: I do like the choose-your-own-adventure aspect of the Oregon Trail.
[1:52:19 – 1:52:22] Antonio: Yeah, I love a choose-your-own-adventure book.
[1:52:22 – 1:52:31] Antonio: So yeah, for every decision you make, then there’s other both intended and unintended outcomes.
[1:52:31 – 1:52:32] Erik: Right.
[1:52:32 – 1:52:35] Erik: Yeah, no, and that, I mean, thank you, Antonio.
[1:52:35 – 1:52:40] Erik: That was, thank you for taking advantage of the answering machine.
[1:52:40 – 1:52:43] Antonio: Yeah, I like to hear other people’s voices besides our own.
[1:52:44 – 1:52:44] Antonio: It is nice.
[1:52:44 – 1:52:53] Antonio: It always is a nice change of pace, and it’s fun just to hear somebody’s voice and have their ideas coming through, so.
[1:52:54 – 1:52:56] Antonio: We’ll take these under consideration.
[1:52:56 – 1:52:58] Antonio: The board game is still in development.
[1:52:58 – 1:53:02] Antonio: I know I have literally like three days left to get it done at this point.
[1:53:02 – 1:53:06] Erik: Well, you basically made it sound like it was going to be done by Christmas of this year.
[1:53:06 – 1:53:12] Antonio: I thought for sure it was going to be done by the time you got back from your hot air balloon trip, but not quite done yet.
[1:53:13 – 1:53:15] Antonio: It’s more done than it was last week.
[1:53:15 – 1:53:15] Erik: Yeah.
[1:53:16 – 1:53:21] Antonio: I’m always making progress, and there’s lots of darkness to doodle in.
[1:53:21 – 1:53:29] Erik: Well, I think what we need to do is just get something physical on the table and start playing it.
[1:53:30 – 1:53:32] Antonio: Yeah, you got to have some testing involved.
[1:53:32 – 1:53:34] Erik: Yeah, and then adjust accordingly.
[1:53:34 – 1:53:39] Erik: We’re not going to be able to sit around and talk until we get to a perfect game.
[1:53:39 – 1:53:47] Erik: I don’t think you’re ever going to be able to do it unless you just throw it out and be like, well, this is what it is now, and we’re going to take a few months to play it.
[1:53:48 – 1:53:51] Erik: This is a bit of a pitfall in the game.
[1:53:51 – 1:53:53] Erik: Maybe we should change it.
[1:53:53 – 1:53:57] Antonio: Well, yeah, you know, you’re never going to nail a recipe on the first try.
[1:53:57 – 1:54:00] Antonio: You got to test it out and make some adjustments as you go, so…
[1:54:02 – 1:54:07] Antonio: We will be playing over the course of the winter and getting it just right.
[1:54:08 – 1:54:10] Antonio: But we appreciate all the suggestions.
[1:54:10 – 1:54:12] Antonio: It seems like there is a lot of interest out there in the board game.
[1:54:12 – 1:54:16] Antonio: So don’t want to leave people hanging much longer on this one.
[1:54:18 – 1:54:26] Antonio: But yeah, I think some aspect of choose your own adventure slash determinism would be interesting to include.
[1:54:27 – 1:54:27] Erik: Yeah.
[1:54:28 – 1:54:31] Erik: No, I think we’re definitely going to have something on the table.
[1:54:32 – 1:54:34] Erik: I don’t know if there’s going to be anything that somebody will be able to play.
[1:54:34 – 1:54:43] Antonio: I just wasn’t sure how to make the tiles, and now my buddy has some little thin plastic that I can use to hopefully reinforce what I’ve got.
[1:54:44 – 1:54:45] Antonio: Is there dice involved yet?
[1:54:45 – 1:54:49] Antonio: There is no dice involved right now, but we’re going to have to have some sort of…
[1:54:50 – 1:54:51] Antonio: I’m not sure how that’s going to work.
[1:54:51 – 1:54:56] Erik: I like the idea of dice in terms of determining certain things.
[1:54:56 – 1:54:59] Antonio: Yeah, you’re going to need some dice play involved, for sure.
[1:54:59 – 1:55:00] Antonio: Some randomness.
[1:55:00 – 1:55:00] Antonio: Oh, yeah.
[1:55:00 – 1:55:04] Erik: But then I also like, at the same time, it’s like the trivia aspect…
[1:55:05 – 1:55:07] Erik: to try to include that for like a bonus part.
[1:55:08 – 1:55:08] Erik: There’s so many things.
[1:55:08 – 1:55:13] Erik: It’s like, why don’t we take the best parts of all of the games and roll it in?
[1:55:13 – 1:55:13] Erik: Yeah.
[1:55:13 – 1:55:14] Erik: All right.
[1:55:15 – 1:55:16] Erik: We’re done talking about it.
[1:55:16 – 1:55:22] Erik: The next time you hear us talk about this game, there will be a physical product that you will see us at least playing.
[1:55:22 – 1:55:25] Antonio: Until next week when somebody else asks about it or has another good idea.
[1:55:29 – 1:55:30] Antonio: It’s like fashion.
[1:55:30 – 1:55:31] Antonio: It’s never finished.
[1:55:32 – 1:55:34] Antonio: And it’s always a work in progress.
[1:55:36 – 1:55:46] Erik: Well, boy oh boy, it has been really great to be back in Studio K. It took a little bit to maybe find our voice and footing there for a minute.
[1:55:46 – 1:55:48] Antonio: I think we did okay, though.
[1:55:48 – 1:55:50] Antonio: Yeah, it’s been fun.
[1:55:50 – 1:55:54] Erik: I had an incredibly two hours worth of responses, which…
[1:55:56 – 1:56:20] Erik: is again, we can’t, I mean, we probably get sick of us just talking about how cool it is that we have a, an audience and a community out there that is, I don’t know how busy I am over the course of a day to take time out of your schedule to respond in the thoroughness and the, the level of detail that was in some of those responses.
[1:56:21 – 1:56:21] Antonio: Um,
[1:56:22 – 1:56:33] Erik: It’s not nothing to just sit down and type out three paragraphs of your experiences in the Boundary Waters to contribute to a relatively mediocre Boundary Waters podcast.
[1:56:33 – 1:56:35] Antonio: I would say we’re more obscure than mediocre.
[1:56:35 – 1:56:37] Antonio: All right, we’re obscure, yes.
[1:56:38 – 1:56:48] Antonio: So like, but yeah, no, I mean that people take a lot of time to put that together and that’s what this really, this whole podcast is about is the collective story of the boundary waters.
[1:56:49 – 1:56:53] Antonio: Um, we’re just one piece and you guys have a lot more to say about it than we ever could.
[1:56:53 – 1:56:58] Antonio: So, uh, without your contributions, the show would not be where it is today.
[1:56:58 – 1:56:58] Antonio: So, uh,
[1:56:59 – 1:57:01] Antonio: Two seasons in, it’s feeling really good.
[1:57:01 – 1:57:03] Antonio: And it’s good to have you back, Eric.
[1:57:03 – 1:57:10] Antonio: It’s good to be back in Studio K. And it has been really good to enjoy this bourbon barrel quad.
[1:57:10 – 1:57:11] Antonio: It is gone.
[1:57:11 – 1:57:12] Antonio: It’s gone, baby.
[1:57:12 – 1:57:12] Antonio: It’s gone.
[1:57:12 – 1:57:13] Antonio: I’m still reading.
[1:57:14 – 1:57:15] Antonio: I’m still reading just fine.
[1:57:15 – 1:57:16] Antonio: Drank the whole thing.
[1:57:16 – 1:57:16] Antonio: Yeah.
[1:57:17 – 1:57:40] Antonio: yeah so winter is upon us i think we’ll also be coming back eventually with like our highlights and lowlights and maybe questions we have and some other things we have going on right now a little update from our end of the spectrum and then uh yeah book reports we got lots of uh fun things lined up for the winter i’m excited for the winter
[1:57:40 – 1:57:42] Erik: Yes, winter is going to be very fun.
[1:57:42 – 1:57:48] Erik: It’s a little bit more off the wall, a little bit more free-flowing, obscure, whatever we’re thinking.
[1:57:49 – 1:58:03] Erik: Not that we’re under the vice of doing it in any certain way in the summer, but the winter, it just feels like we can be a little bit more open and then have the time.
[1:58:04 – 1:58:07] Erik: to like read books and kind of go from there a little bit.
[1:58:07 – 1:58:12] Erik: So if you’re not following us on Facebook, feel free to do so.
[1:58:12 – 1:58:20] Erik: The last post I made was kind of a teaser of some of the books that I have been reading and will be eventually reading to do a book report on.
[1:58:22 – 1:58:28] Erik: Beyond that, yeah, I think we’ll probably come back with a little bit more of our own personal highlights, lowlights,
[1:58:30 – 1:58:48] Antonio: trip details from the last season before things truly delve into cold hard winter truly truly uh make sure you are following us on instagram and on uh what’s the beer podcast uh
[1:58:49 – 1:58:50] Antonio: Tumble taps.
[1:58:50 – 1:58:51] Erik: Tumble taps.
[1:58:51 – 1:58:54] Erik: Yeah, we’re going to definitely have to enter in the smokestack series here.
[1:58:56 – 1:58:59] Antonio: And, yeah, you can always reach us on the email as well.
[1:59:01 – 1:59:05] Antonio: But whichever way you find us, we appreciate it.
[1:59:05 – 1:59:08] Antonio: And let’s get to that final voicemail.
[1:59:08 – 1:59:08] Erik: Oh, yes.
[1:59:09 – 1:59:10] Erik: Yeah.
[1:59:10 – 1:59:14] Erik: Happy paddling for the remainder of the open water paddling season.
[1:59:16 – 1:59:17] Erik: Thank you for joining us.
[1:59:18 – 1:59:20] Erik: We are seconds away from…
[1:59:23 – 1:59:46] Erik: crossing the two-hour threshold which i don’t know if we’ve done let’s go well let’s let’s get on the out and go sit by that beautiful christmas tree yeah this has now been fully decorated well we’re having a sushi party now which is pro tip the only way to get through the weekend after thanksgiving yeah do something fresh something light something snappy
[1:59:47 – 1:59:49] Antonio: I’m gonna julienne some carrots.
[1:59:49 – 1:59:50] Erik: Yeah, you gotta…
[1:59:50 – 1:59:54] Erik: There’s only so much beige that my mouth can take.
[1:59:54 – 1:59:56] Erik: I need some wasabi in my life.
[1:59:56 – 2:00:02] Erik: You need some wasabi, some freshness, but…
[2:00:02 – 2:00:03] Erik: Thank you for joining us.
[2:00:03 – 2:00:11] Erik: This has been Whichever Way the Wind Blows, a Blimpy Boy podcast on the Tumble Home Network.
[2:00:11 – 2:00:12] Erik: That’s right.
[2:00:12 – 2:00:14] Erik: We have an Eric.
[2:00:14 – 2:00:14] Erik: We have an Adam.
[2:00:16 – 2:00:43] SPEAKER_01: So let me end this point Oh my, see us all as lonely fires That have burned alive as long as we remember But like all fires and all sunsets We all burn in different ways You are a fast explosion and I am the ember
[2:00:45 – 2:01:12] SPEAKER_01: And though your flames are quick and mean They will not last the year But expire like a sudden falling star That only angels had seen before Migrating to southern jungles And in this way you will come find me in December
[2:01:28 – 2:01:31] Stephanie: Mr. Wenick, it is Stephanie calling from Palmetto Animal Clinic.
[2:01:32 – 2:01:37] Stephanie: Dr. Gagliardi had given me another number for a different chiropractor.
[2:01:39 – 2:01:43] Stephanie: Her name is Dr. Megan, and she does travel.
[2:01:44 – 2:01:46] SPEAKER_03: So her number is…
[2:01:52 – 2:02:00] Stephanie: So let me know if that doesn’t work for you, but that might be more convenient.
