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Marshall Lake 2015

For Valentine's Day today, we spent this afternoon at a winery in Niagara, where we went on a tour, ate a picnic lunch inside in front of a fire while the snow flurries flurried, and tasted some wines. Naturally we talked all about...the G-town trip, what else?!
Mem, that's nice of you to offer a place to lay our heads and crack a couple cold ones. M asked me to approach you about that idea. We're taking 2 days to come up. We'll be there Thursday pm? I like topos too. I intend to print some by then. We wouldn't know what a 30 km paddle 10 port day looked like if it got up and bit us in the asssssymetrical hull. But we're game. (I know. Talk is cheap after wine and chocolate.) Where was that picto again? You can pm me with that detail. Everyone doing their own food sounds simple enough. We're taking another look at our tiny 30L barrel and thinking it might be time for a rethink. I'm leaning to a 60L food and kitchen all in one barrel. We'll see.
 
I got lots of barrels, you can use one if you don't want to buy one. We can go however far you guys feel up too, if it takes us more days to get to the bridge, it's all good. We'll go by what the group wants. Had a big meal tonight with a bunch of friends, lobster and prime rib, lots of wine. We'll probably bbq a prime rib the size of Jellico when you guys get here, that's how my wife rolls.
 
Thanks for the barrel offer, I appreciate that. M reminded me the other day as I was gleefully online shopping for barrel packs that my brother has a barrel. I'm excited about adding a 60L of my very own to my gear pile. We'll see. I've been a good procrastinating boy for awhile now, not having bought any gear items for ages. There's always other things "more important" than tripping gear that sucks my cash out of my wallet. I'm lingering over the different barrel harnesses. My North 49 I'm not crazy about. M says "It's functional. Probably fits both barrel sizes. I find it comfortable. I'm usually the one carrying it." I hate it when she uses that logic stuff on me.
I'm looking forward to your prime rib jerky nearly as much as your lobster jerky. There were leftovers, right? You did make jerky from the pile of extra prime rib and lobsters, right? They'll be perfect for the beach Hilton all inclusive campsite.
 
Yea, she does do excellent BBQ! Just have to be prepared to sit and wait awhile, have another beer...

You gotta watch those 60L barrels Brad, they tend to get heavy fast. It is like any large pack... oh, I can fit more in here...

So, Brad, you are talking of being there on the 6th? Christine wants us to take two days each way as well, although it is only a 12 hour drive for us. I'm just planning so I can get my vacation chit in and confirmed before someone with seniority takes my vacation. It has happened before.

We might just force Mem to slow down to a snails pace, not something he is used to at all.
 
Well, for those I promised topo maps too, for some reason, I can't attach them to an email. The files are quite large, like 75 mbs or something, but even when I got to "one drive", they won't upload. They are tiffs of the full size 1:50's, when you zoom in on them they are perfect copies of the originals. Any ideas?
 
Just give the map numbers and I will order them. I can start covering another living room wall with a different area. ;)
 
Our geek son is here and I cornered him long enough to have him jot down what I need (42-6, 42-11, 42-12?). He says he's on it. I figure if I promise him a couple craft beers per map, I'll have them in no time. I'll ask for extras.
 
I've got those downloaded. My son will work with them and crop them into a map sheet and send them to me. I'll see where I can print them off. A waterproof map sheet for this would be nice. If I can get this done, after the trip I'll leave these copies with you Rob.
 
I'm going to be making up a new set of maps after the trip with the kids in June. They will be very accurate, and I'll get copies to you guys as soon as they are done.
 
Brad, I always do letter sized prints and run them through my thermal laminator at home before a trip. Smallish size means more mappage but I can get more detail on them, make em bigger if I want.
 
That's what I do Karin, only without the thermal thingy. I like the smallish size too. In some places I increase the scale from 1:50k to whatever, if there's a confusing bit of islands or shoreline. I'll keep on this map project and see what I wind up with. Someday I'd like to hand draw some maps for personal artsy fartsy use. Just because.
Rob, just hold onto those maps of yours till we get there. We'll all have a look see.
 
Water, water everywhere...

How do you process water. We use a Katadyn Base Camp system on every trip. We always have enough water, perhaps too much at times but it is always available if we need it, which means lugging it across ports. As I set up sleeping facilities, Christine unpacks it, fills the bag and as she is cooking it runs into a collapsible water jug. Twenty minutes we have a couple of gallons.

We will be bringing our system, would that be sufficient for everyone? I know Mem has had issues in the past where he doesn't drink enough water on work days and suffers due to it.
 
I'll be bringing a personal pump, but I really like those base camp things. I think one of those might be on the menu for the school club. When we cut out the Onaman last August, I made a dedicated effort to drink water like a madman, and I didn't have a single screaming session, much to everyone's disappointment.
 
We'll bring our Katadyn Base Camp bag as well. We don't have a collapsable jug, but usually fill water bottles for the day etc.
 
I'm going to put in for my vacation next week. We will be leaving here on the Thursday morning, arriving Friday afternoon, the 7th. I'll have from the 6th through 23rd off to add some flexibility to the end of the trip for our return home, provided they give me what I ask for.

If it is anything like last year, I put in my vacation requests in February and come June when my first week was due, I reminded my boss and he hadn't yet submitted the form to management. Hopefully that doesn't happen again.
 
We've had ours 3 seasons and haven't had any real issues with it. Replacement filters aren't cheap, ($60), but clean water made efficiently is worth the cost. On a trip in 2010 when wind bound on Aiken's Lake Christine spent the afternoon boiling water on a small fire, but that takes time. Being able to just hang the bag and do other things is wonderful, even if it takes more time late in the season when the filter is getting old.

 
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