This morning was spent with the last few steps of loading up the car, breakfast, and loading up what remained at the main house.  Picking up the trailer, saying goodbye to my parents, and then onto the road by around 7:30.  I went straight up the highway to Mattawa, a trip I'd taken several times, and other than a few pit stops to rest or refuel it was pretty uneventful up to this point.  The only concern was the outside temperature which was skyrocketing.. 15,17,18,19,20 degrees.  This is spring!  what the heck?!  At Mattawa was also where I kicked in the GPS for the first time, since the remaining trip was somewhat new territory for me.  It showed that I would not arrive in time for the park to still be open (kettle lakes) they close at 4:00PM!  so I had to opt for the more expedient and fuel costly route up 101 through Quebec.  This took me past Timiskaming and the Parc Du O'Pemican which I had stayed at before and generally wasn't impressed by.    It also took me past two different historical plaques for 'great fires'  Boreal forests require fires to grow.. but it seems that people are still shocked that they happen.  Today especially, is very dry, and pretty hot now at 28 degrees.   This place is quite flat, I think I will call it 'the prairies of the north'  there are a lot of farms up here, but the soil looks desert like, pale tan, it doesn't look like anything will grow here.  Some of the farms have vast fields covered with plastic flowing in the wind like waves on a lake. I assume they are protecting their early crops from the mood swings of May.  Hopefully they won't be killed in this heat!  I admit, there isn't much up here in the north, and places to stop and get gas are few and far between.  I happened to find an Esso station about an hour out from Kettle lakes, my gas tank was just over half.  Knowing the following day would be bereft of fuel as well, I filled up there.   When I finally arrived at Kettle lakes, I was served pretty efficiently, but once again, no park paper, no map.. I bungled my way around to find my site.  Site 66, and it will be the same one on the way back.  the site is, uh.. sand.  Great.  Usually I back the trailer in and then lift it with my hands to get it into the right position.  On this sand though, it refuses to roll.  At least I won't have to worry too much about it rolling away in the middle of the night.   Since I have to leave early tomorrow, I set up the bare minimum, solar panels, stabilizing jacks.  It is now 31 degrees outside, thankfully, I had the foresight to install the reflective panel I made into the skylight in the trailer.. so it is only 25 degrees inside here.   I have the fan running and the door open, so it will equalize I'm sure.  Unfortunately, there's no signal here, so I have no idea what tomorrow has in store for me.  Weather forecasts for Wawa were showing a reasonably nice day tomorrow, but the temperature here is out of whack with what I saw.. it was only supposed to be 15 degrees.  Lake superior makes its own rules once again.  At least it is nice and breezy.  Anyhow, it is currently 5pm, I guess I need to put my pants back on and make some dinner!

616PM

I had that 4patriots dehydrated vegitable soup for dinner, along with mint tea, and extra water for the heat.  I had tapioca pudding for desert.  The soup was  good, it was like creame of broccoli, except it was rice, carrots and peas.  The peas did not rehydrate well after 20 minutes, but were soft enough to just be pleasantly chewy.   I already managed to burn myself on the camp stove.  Did you know those adaptor hoses for propane tanks just ignore the valve position?  no? neither did I.  I turned the tank valve off and lit the burner to burn off the end of the propane in the hose, and it kept burning for two minutes before I realized it wasn't getting any weaker.  As a result, the grate was hot and when I lifted it up to put the hose away, I burned the back of my hand.  nice red welt there now.  I'll have to see if it gets bad  its usually best to leave these alone unless it actually opens up or blisters.  I have my first aid kit anyhow, might have to put a bandage on it to keep friction off.  anyhow, if this is the only injury I get during this trip I will be very happy (well, excluding my left arm which the black flies have turned into some sort of strange disease patient.)  The sun is starting to lower.  it has a halo of white around it but the sky appears completely clear.  I'm not sure what this bodes, but it is getting cooler rather fast, which is very fine with me.  Once I finish my tea, I'll get my teeth brushed, read a bit and then turn in.  I figure I want to get out of here by 7am at the latest to get to Pukaskwa.  I'm also low on camp soap, so hopefully I can swing by Canadian tire or something to get some more.  Else it's just dawn or sunlight.  I remember noting that it was low last time, but I forgot to do anything about it.  I just assumed it had lots, because the stuff last forever.  It seems forever is a somewhat imperminant amount of time.