Heading North "THE BLOG"

Post by **wolfe** » Tue Feb 24, 2009 12:38 pm

It's very interesting to read about the day to day activities as well as the preparation / amount of supplies necessary to sustain your rustic lifestyle.

Do you keep a journal while you're there, McQ (in add'n to the "blog")? It would be a very cool thing to pass on to your family members in years to come.

W.

Post by **McQ** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 9:35 am

Day 13 - Positively balmy this morning -12, light snow falling and very light winds. All the outside chores are done, cabin floors swept and mopped, furniture wiped down - man I'm becoming a neat freak.

Moving into tomorrow I'll get the same thaw you folks are experiencing down south, the difference for me will be another day mopping up the roof melt. This old cabin wasn't really built for wintering, not much insulation and too much air leakage through the eaves - oh well, I'll just keep on mopping, after all the extra water provides for the toilet flusk.

Planning ahead, tonights dinner will be venison burgers, salad with blue cheese dressing and I'm so looking forward to it.

Wolfe - no journal, just the memory banks that Grampa can tap to make for a great story time with the grand-kids.

Post by **wolfe** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 9:50 am

Enjoy the relatively mild weather. It must feel like a great reprieve for you from the wind and bitter cold with storms the past week. (We've got bright sunshine & blue skies here for a little while before the next system rolls in tonight.)

McQ, you should keep a journal. Just a few little dated blurbs a day and a pencil sketch or two. It would be great to read back on and share.

Happy moppin', Mr. Clean.

You can spend next winter here, if you agree to do my house cleaning.

W.

Post by **McQ** » Thu Feb 26, 2009 11:09 am

Day 14 - The balmy temps continue -3 this morning but a major snow storm is moving in and may delay my return to the city. 6" fell overnight and a further 15 -20" is forecast over the next 24 hours. The chores are done, brought in extra wood too, if the winds blow hard it can be difficult to navigate even short distances.

I expect Ronnie this afternoon but whatever happens down below weather wise will affect the timing - I hope he has no problems because with what is threatening tonight and tomorrow I'd like to get out this afternoon.

It's been an interesting and challenging two weeks for this old dude, thanks to all who followed the BLOG - I'll post a summary once home.

Post by **wolfe** » Thu Feb 26, 2009 12:13 pm

It's been fun and interesting following your adventure, McQ.

Safe travels home -- good luck beating the storm.

W.

Thu Feb 26, 2009 12:33 pm

As said before, I really enjoyed your updates. Hope you get out as planned, but one thing about camp life/routine...if you don't leave as planned, you know you can be warm and self sufficient until it is safe to venture home!

Good Luck.

Post by **McQ** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 7:27 am

Back home - sitting in my office, sipping a cup of brewed coffee and getting ready to head over to my daughters place to babysit her 2 dogs. Never ever any rest for this old dude!!! LOL

The trip out was interesting, I was on the edge of the incoming snow storm for about 100 kms. The combination of light snow on top of the icy road made for a couple of "Nascar" moments. The truck was sideways on most turns and once you experience these roads you'll know the turns are many and some are real tight.

The two weeks in camp were interesting but as Wolfe stated, it was good for my conditioning. Reserecting unused city muscles in this old 65 year frame is a good thing.

I'll go in again in a couple of weeks for a few days, Rosie made a side trip to visit family and will need a ride home. The sled is supposed to be repaired, will bring it back up too and just maybe I'll get my ice moment for a few Gouin Walleye.

Ron & Rosie will be at the Carp show once again this year, so if you're there drop in at their booth and say Hi ! In the meantime you can get a look at my winter habitat here http://nemio.com

ps: this is Ronnie's outlook for the day http://www.weatheroffice.gc.ca/city/pag ... ric_e.html

Post by **DropShotr** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 7:41 am

Excellent, excellent, excellent.........

The only thing missing was Les Stroud.

Thanks so much for sharing.

DropShot'r

Post by **Joey Rat** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 9:12 am

Welcome home Bill but why did you bring the cold weather back with you?

Having driven those roads in dry summer conditions I can't imagine it in icy conditions. Especially with some of those 30' deep ditches. Oh well east everything wouldn't be covered in a half inch of dust.

I've enjoyed following your adventure/ordeal, enjoy a little well earned comfort for a few days.

Post by **Joisey Joe** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 8:40 pm

I can just picture McQ with a long beard(possibly white) stepping into his office to brew coffee and thinking back on his adventure. All that's missing is "WILSON, WILSON!

Post by **wolfe** » Sun Mar 01, 2009 9:00 pm

Welcome home, McQ. Glad you survived the treacherous roads -- sounds hair-raising!

Is Boomer happy to be back among more "civilized" foxes that he has a better chance of catching up to?

Enjoyed your daily accounts very much. Thanks for the interesting northern blog!

W.

Post by **cprince** » Sun Mar 01, 2009 9:10 pm

McQ wrote:Back home - sitting in my office, sipping a cup of brewed coffee and getting ready to head over to my daughters place to babysit her 2 dogs. Never ever any rest for this old dude!!! LOL

The trip out was interesting, I was on the edge of the incoming snow storm for about 100 kms. The combination of light snow on top of the icy road made for a couple of "Nascar" moments. The truck was sideways on most turns and once you experience these roads you'll know the turns are many and some are real tight.

The two weeks in camp were interesting but as Wolfe stated, it was good for my conditioning. Reserecting unused city muscles in this old 65 year frame is a good thing.

I'll go in again in a couple of weeks for a few days, Rosie made a side trip to visit family and will need a ride home. The sled is supposed to be repaired, will bring it back up too and just maybe I'll get my ice moment for a few Gouin Walleye.

Ron & Rosie will be at the Carp show once again this year, so if you're there drop in at their booth and say Hi ! In the meantime you can get a look at my winter habitat here http://nemio.com

ps: this is Ronnie's outlook for the day http://www.weatheroffice.gc.ca/city/pag ... ric_e.html

Could a car make it safely through in the summer, or is it a 4x4 only type road?

Craig

Post by **McQ** » Mon Mar 02, 2009 8:11 am

Craig - many cars use the road throughout the year, you just need to practice a bit of caution. The road itself is built to handle logging trucks, so for the most part it is wide & smooth. Weather can change the surface of course but that is no different than local roads. Heavy rain in combination with trailers will cause washboard conditions on corners but that is quickly looked after with a fleet of graders over the whole length that service 20 km stretches. The final run in to Nemio is a 19 km 30 - 40 kph sightseeing tour.

Wolfe - Boomer is still in camp, after all I just borrow him from Ron & Rosie - miss him big time already!!!

Joe - can't stand facial hair much longer than 3 days - what I've observed so far is salt/pepper, maybe if it was white I'd let it grow - LOL. Wilson EH!!!!!

Post by **Joisey Joe** » Mon Mar 02, 2009 9:38 pm

Was hopin ud get my "Castaway" ref, Tom Hanks looked plenty bad with a beard too, LOL. Mine is more salt than pepper now, re-thinking my playoff beard this year! Welcome back! Joe.

Fish-Hawk.Net

Heading North "THE BLOG"

Up north, the blog.