Around the City With Canada Part I

Canadian gales rip through my ears, I stand captivated, squinting to focus on the endless horizon before me. The boat cuts through the water like a warm knife through butter. A boat passes by, I wave back. I am at peace in Canada's cottage country.
 
Port Lauren Canada, where finding cell reception will take you on a journey to match Odysseus, and to get Wi-Fi one must travel to Jake's Place, the only restaurant for miles around. Follow along the river westward and that's where you'll find me, sitting on a dock watching the sunset over a beautiful horizon.
 
It is summertime here in Port Loring Canada, which only means one thing cottaging, a classic Canadian pastime during the summer months we're friends and family rent or own a cottage in the distant Canadian wilderness. It is quite common to see activity such as tubing, wake boarding, skiing, fishing, kayaking, and cruising on the lakes. There are a select few families who spend their entire summer in Port Loring. Teenagers take on summer jobs at Jake's place, the local shops, and tornadoes; a small lodging facility that serves as gas station, boat dock, resort, and airport via airboat.

One of the many vibrant yet mute boat houses located on the riverbanks near Port Loring. Can you spot the cottager?

My adventure begins on an unmanned boat running half a mile from the cottage where I will be staying at.  My lifelong friend Adam Gifford invited me to stay at his family's cottage for a week of fishing and boating. He's asked me a dozen times, fortune would normally have me indisposed but when I found myself up in Chicago on business I finally jumped on his offer.
 
The Gifford cottage is located on an island in the middle of the lake where the only means of access is via boat. Adam, along with his older cousin John, a large gentleman with an even larger mouth. Slowly back the boat into the water, Adam hops onto the single engine of the white and blue boat, turns the key and… nothing. We soon discover that the battery has died, leaving us the time tested procedural solution; jump it. Adam suggest that since the boat is partially submerged, that we make use of their second boat that is docked nearby as the power source for jumping. John stubbornly disagrees, saying he will jump it with his truck instead. John pulls his truck to the water's edge, tosses the jumper cables to Adam and hops into his truck.
 
The truck's tires are licked by the water as waves hit the shore. John reeves the engine while Adam turns the key to the boat and with a clunk and a pow it kicks to life! Heather, John's fiancé, pushes the boat out as Adam steady’s it forward and takes control. As the boat drifts forward the engine unexpectedly guzzles out… we now find ourselves in a race to catch an adrift Adam. Adam tosses the rope towards Heather, but falls just short of her reach. Adam shouted, “If you can’t grab that rope, we are up shits creek!” Without a glimpse of hesitation, Heather heroically jumps into the water, wading waist deep she snags the rope and pulls the boat back to the dock. It was an acclamation of moments with this as the cherry on top, where I realized that Heather is one hell of a woman. "Gladiators!", screamed Heather as she towed the boat safely back to shore.

The unmanned dock we deployed our boat on. The tire tracks dug deep as the truck fought to escape the grounds grasp. Our boat (pictured left) floats waiting to be jumped. The barge on the right is used to move large objects to the cottages that are on the islands.

The sun sets here in the Canadian wilderness are unlike anything I have seen. I tried my best to capture one of them.

Not knowing much about boats, I stood to the side while Heather’s teenage daughter Lexi and her friend Taylor wondered the area with their phones held up high is a fruitless attempt to find cell service. I did help however I could, yet it seemed I would have been a hindrance in the ill conceived plan. The battery jumping process continued for some time until Adam stopped, exclaiming, "The battery has gone to shit. I have a better plan." Adam’s plan is to jump the boat with the second boat... the original plan. Just as the sun begins to set, the roaring gargle of the second boat engine advances. The small red boat slows as it approaches the dock. In minutes, Adam successfully started the first boats battery, allowing us to pack the boats with our gear and continue our journey.
 
The sun hits a small island of trees cascading them in a vibrant display of color as we zip on by the boat. I entered this trip with a strong idea of Canada's beauty, but seeing it in person that first day on the lake left me bewitched; this place is unlike any other.

Moving forward I leaped onto the dock and tied down both boats. My intuition was more ambitious than my experience, I didn’t know the proper way to tie down a boat. Luckily with Adam's expert guidance, he taught me a magnificently simple knot that has no name but works like a charm. The looming fear of the boats drifting away crossed my mind, I glanced up to see the half-built cottage nestled into the hillside. The day's journey was rough, but what day isn't.

Stay tuned for Part II.