October 23: Portage key

I have been feasting on my can goods to try to make the portages lighter, since I am sure to hit a town at least once a week, and assuming I can resolve my banking situation I can buy a week's worth of food in each.  What I do is grab cans from the bottom of the bag: stuff I don't like as much or has lost its label.  Cook up a couple cans and if by the third I haven't hit my regimen of carbs and protein, make some mac and cheese, adding tuna if necessary.

Today's marked portage was at the end of Cass Lake, a recreational lake, and its Knutson's Dam a recreational dam.  It turned out to be open and safe to shoot, saving me a 300 yard portage!  This inspired a code for my portage page, OOO, for Open, 0 foot drop, and 0 issues.

What's a portage page?  There are a lot of portages and to keep my spirits up I made a list of them in the back of my notebook, writing little codes next to each one; the final key becoming as follows:

• xT: x number of Trips
• xE: x number of Eggs
• xP: x number of People seen
• SG: Slid canoe on Grass
• DF: saw a Dead Fish
• OOO: Open 0 foot drop 0 issues
• S: Scouted ahead
• BP: lifted boat with Bungeed Paddles
• FLH: Felt Like Hell
• FC: Found Crack
• GP: Gouged Pavement?
• RR: Rest Room
• RN: ReNamed?
• xH: x # people Helped

Day 124 ended: a little spot of sand half covered in snail shells on the shore of Winnibigoshish, a mile north of the river.

I am betting strongly on no significant rain or wind tonight.  All my stuff is close together very close to the shore, with the intent that I can get going very early in the morning.  I hope this bet pays off.