2009 Namekagon--Drive to Namekagon Trail Landing and on to County K

I picked up the canoe, a Wenonah royalex 16.5 ft on Thursday night. I had been a little worried about the Yakima rack which I hadn't ever used before. I shouldn't have, it worked like a charm. I could not find a hook protruding from the plastic flashing of my Mazda5 to attach the front end of the canoe, so I employed a trick I had learned this summer: I attached little rope loops on either side of the chassis under the hood, let it hang out and attach a strap to the loops. The canoe felt rock solid on top of the car. I even felt comfortable enough to let my son Colin drive to hockey practice, which means something.

I took Friday morning off and ran around picking up last minute stuff, primarily groceries (steaks from Widmers!) I thought I had plenty of time but it somehow slipped away and I had to hurry to be at Joel's at noon. But Mellie and I made it and off we went. Beautiful driving weather and we made great time, much better than anticipated: Danbury around 2:10 PM, where we filled the tank and I bought a WI fishing license. We were at Namekagon Trail landing at 2:30, no one else in sight. As we took the last items from the car, the livery van from Jack's Canoe Rental arrived and as we finished loading the van, Craig arrived. The transfer to the livery van and trailer took maybe 10 or 15 minutes. The drive to County Road K took about 35 minutes. We were already glad that we would not have to shuttle this ourselves. Unloading at County K was efficient and after about 20 minutes it was off to the races.