May 19, 2009 -- At Leech Lake

Well, my intention was to post to this blog from the day I arrived at Leech Lake this spring -- May 19 -- but circumstances forced to delay my entries until now.

Let me start by recounting the events of Tuesday, May 19.

I left San Jose airport on time (unusual these days) and arrived in the airport in Minneapolis/St. Paul early. I had a nice lunch, relaxed for a bit, and then caught the flight to Bemidji. I arrived just before 4 p.m. I put gas in the truck (which my friend Tom Malay had left at the airport a few days earlier) and then drove to Corner Sports to pick up my boat.

My boat was ready and waiting for me, so I hooked the trailer to the hitch on my truck and drove into Bemidji to get groceries. After getting enough groceries for a week or so, I was on my way to Leech Lake.

It was a welcome sight to drive east on Hwy. 2 from Bemidji to Cass Lake. I made my way through Cass Lake toward Sucker Bay Road. I turned onto Sucker Bay Road and headed south toward W. Shores Rd. and home. But just after the railroad tracks on Sucker Bay Road the unthinkable happened.

I hit a large dip in the road and the ensuing bump jarred the boat trailer off the hitch dropping the tongue of the trailer, with the boat sitting on it, onto the road itself. I heard a very loud "bang" and looked in my rear view mirror to see my boat on the trailer swerving back and forth behind my truck. Sparks were flying as the safety changes were doing their best to hold the trailer in place.

While praying that nothing worse happened, I slowly applied pressure to the brakes and gently steered the truck and flaying trailer to the side of the road. Once stopped, I got out to assess the damage. One of the safety chains had been ground completely through and was broken. The other chain, while worn, had held and kept something worse from happening.

I was able to get the front, movable trailer wheel up enough so I could reattach the trailer to the truck. I then drove very slowly to the cabin where I positioned the boat at the top of the boat ramp at the cabin in preparation for putting the boat in the water the next day.

At last I made it home to unload the groceries and call back to California to let my family know I had arrived at the lake, and of my harrowing experience with the boat/trailer.

As the sun set it started to get cold; I think the temperature dropped in to the high 30s, so I went to turn the furnace on. But once again fate stepped in and said "no." The furnace would not turn on, so I put on an extra layer of clothing and settled in for the evening.

There was no fishing on my first day at the lake. And even though I had a scary experience with the boat trailer coming unhitched, there was no damage to the boat, the truck or to me, and I was once again at Leech Lake, so all was well. I'd have to wait to see what adventures May 20 would bring.