Joined
·
483 Posts
It's the middle of the month and I have been laid off for a week. Since we no longer put up hay as we no longer have any cattle I am sort of stuck with nothing I feel like doing. I just finished giving my nearly new Mercury X100 a beautiful cleaning and wax job and it wasn't even dinner (lunch to you city people) time. Mine was aqua color with the rear black out delete.
![]()
As I was putting the wax away the mail man stopped at the box, I walked out and got all he left.
As I walked to the house I shufflesd thru the stuff and found I had recieved a vacation check from my place of employment Enterprize Motor Works a speciality company making limos and other types of customs for High rollers and rebuilding buy backs in the latter years.
As I walked in the door Mom said that dinner was ready and I should call my dad in to eat, He was sitting under the cherry tree in the shade listening to the Tigers loose to some one or other. Even back then the Red Wings had been in more play offs and had more champonship teams than the Tigers and Lions put together.
At the dinner table talk turned to my vacation check. I said we should do some thing beside sit home. I had been thinking of taking a fall vacation to Canada to hunt moose and had a bunch of lit about Canada fishing and hunting.
I say why don't we go up there and fish some and look over the country for moose hunting. It was decided we would leave that evening after it had cooled down some, dad and I would take turns driving. Dads car had the trailer hitch so we hooked the boat up to it loaded our old tent in the trunk with clothing, for us. I put a bunch of camp fire cooking stuff in the boat with the fishing gear.
My two youngest 14 & 11 sisters were going along with dad mom and myself.
We got to the Big Mac Bridge just at dark so we saw it lit up in all her glory. After a rest stop on the north side of the bridge We continued up I 75 to the International Bridge at Soo Saint Merie Michigan, Not nearly as inpressive as the 5 mile long Mighity Mac, Crossed over into Soo Saint Merie Canada going thru customs was a brezze. We had talked about the route we were going to take to Chaplo (s/p) where we had decided to start our adventure. We took Hy 17 east to Thessilon where we caught hy 129 north.
It soon became my turn to drive as dad had driven the whole way so far. So after the turn we switched for the next 6 hours I drove on the beginning a black top road then switched to gravel very nicely maintained. Soon I was driving beside a moon lit river with rest stops every so many miles. After about 6 hours we left the river to drive thru thick woods (bush to Canadians) there were many signs along the road for Public boat launching sites & camp grounds. Finally we reached the black top road on the out skirts of Chaplo (s/p). Wasn't long after that we came to the famous horse shoe bridge up the ramp on one side make a right turn at the top cross 3 or 4 sets of RR tracks then make another right going down a ramp to ground level again. We found a diner so we could have breakfast. We asked about a boat launch and a camp site. We were given directions to a place on the river run by the Pellows family. Great people who set us up with the fishing licences we would need and told us of the free camping areas on the chain of lakes as well as the river. We launched the boat headding down river to the first rapids where we were told was probably the best camp site. By
accounts of other camper telling the Pellows how much they liked it. We got there and the site was open so we unloaded the boat and sent dad and mom back to get the rest of the gear. We had switched the cooking stuff for the tent so I set it up while they were gone. I had to stop my sisers from fishing as they kept catching some nice sized pike and they needed me to unhook the fish for them. We had a great time for 3 days, a rain storm came the third night. When morning came it was still raining. Mom being the rest less sort could not just lay in the sleeping bag and read or some thing. she had to go around to all three rooms and push up on the sag where the tent saged from standing water. Soon she had it dripping all over in the tent getting every thing wet. Thanfully there came a brief brighting of the sky but with many dark clouds comeing our way. It was decided to strike camp and head back to town and the car. What took 2 trips to take to camp I packed into the gboat for just one trip up river. took a long time to get that 65 HP mecury pushing the 15 ft Saftey Mate boat up on plane. We soon reacked town so I throttled down only to see this huge back wash headed for the rear of the boat I quicky throttles up and just avoided what could have been big trouble. did circle passes slowing down more and more each time. Finally I pulled into Pellows dock. We backed Dads car with the trailer down the ramp and loaded the boat. the ramp was to wet and slick for dads car so Mister Pellow used his old Bronco with 4x4 to pull the boat out of the water for us.
We headed for home with a cooler full of our legal limit of fish taking the route so we would go thru WA WA. We didn't like that route so in the many trips we took after that we always took 129 if we were going to fish in that area rather than farther west.
By 1971 we had a pick up truck and a slide in 11' camper. We always tried to go to Chaplo (s/p) for at least one day of fishing. the town put in a new boat launch that wasn't as steep as Pellows so we mostly used that . BY 1973 we had refined our fishing boats to a 12 foot star Craft and a 11 foot one the 12 footer used a 9.9 Mercury and the 11footer used a 6HP mercury. My sisters never went again as they started going and spernding a week with cousins Swimming in the Tabacco River near Clare.
We stopped going in 1982 wghen my company closed it's doors and moved to Mass.
Al
As I was putting the wax away the mail man stopped at the box, I walked out and got all he left.
As I walked to the house I shufflesd thru the stuff and found I had recieved a vacation check from my place of employment Enterprize Motor Works a speciality company making limos and other types of customs for High rollers and rebuilding buy backs in the latter years.
As I walked in the door Mom said that dinner was ready and I should call my dad in to eat, He was sitting under the cherry tree in the shade listening to the Tigers loose to some one or other. Even back then the Red Wings had been in more play offs and had more champonship teams than the Tigers and Lions put together.
At the dinner table talk turned to my vacation check. I said we should do some thing beside sit home. I had been thinking of taking a fall vacation to Canada to hunt moose and had a bunch of lit about Canada fishing and hunting.
I say why don't we go up there and fish some and look over the country for moose hunting. It was decided we would leave that evening after it had cooled down some, dad and I would take turns driving. Dads car had the trailer hitch so we hooked the boat up to it loaded our old tent in the trunk with clothing, for us. I put a bunch of camp fire cooking stuff in the boat with the fishing gear.
My two youngest 14 & 11 sisters were going along with dad mom and myself.
We got to the Big Mac Bridge just at dark so we saw it lit up in all her glory. After a rest stop on the north side of the bridge We continued up I 75 to the International Bridge at Soo Saint Merie Michigan, Not nearly as inpressive as the 5 mile long Mighity Mac, Crossed over into Soo Saint Merie Canada going thru customs was a brezze. We had talked about the route we were going to take to Chaplo (s/p) where we had decided to start our adventure. We took Hy 17 east to Thessilon where we caught hy 129 north.
It soon became my turn to drive as dad had driven the whole way so far. So after the turn we switched for the next 6 hours I drove on the beginning a black top road then switched to gravel very nicely maintained. Soon I was driving beside a moon lit river with rest stops every so many miles. After about 6 hours we left the river to drive thru thick woods (bush to Canadians) there were many signs along the road for Public boat launching sites & camp grounds. Finally we reached the black top road on the out skirts of Chaplo (s/p). Wasn't long after that we came to the famous horse shoe bridge up the ramp on one side make a right turn at the top cross 3 or 4 sets of RR tracks then make another right going down a ramp to ground level again. We found a diner so we could have breakfast. We asked about a boat launch and a camp site. We were given directions to a place on the river run by the Pellows family. Great people who set us up with the fishing licences we would need and told us of the free camping areas on the chain of lakes as well as the river. We launched the boat headding down river to the first rapids where we were told was probably the best camp site. By
accounts of other camper telling the Pellows how much they liked it. We got there and the site was open so we unloaded the boat and sent dad and mom back to get the rest of the gear. We had switched the cooking stuff for the tent so I set it up while they were gone. I had to stop my sisers from fishing as they kept catching some nice sized pike and they needed me to unhook the fish for them. We had a great time for 3 days, a rain storm came the third night. When morning came it was still raining. Mom being the rest less sort could not just lay in the sleeping bag and read or some thing. she had to go around to all three rooms and push up on the sag where the tent saged from standing water. Soon she had it dripping all over in the tent getting every thing wet. Thanfully there came a brief brighting of the sky but with many dark clouds comeing our way. It was decided to strike camp and head back to town and the car. What took 2 trips to take to camp I packed into the gboat for just one trip up river. took a long time to get that 65 HP mecury pushing the 15 ft Saftey Mate boat up on plane. We soon reacked town so I throttled down only to see this huge back wash headed for the rear of the boat I quicky throttles up and just avoided what could have been big trouble. did circle passes slowing down more and more each time. Finally I pulled into Pellows dock. We backed Dads car with the trailer down the ramp and loaded the boat. the ramp was to wet and slick for dads car so Mister Pellow used his old Bronco with 4x4 to pull the boat out of the water for us.
We headed for home with a cooler full of our legal limit of fish taking the route so we would go thru WA WA. We didn't like that route so in the many trips we took after that we always took 129 if we were going to fish in that area rather than farther west.
By 1971 we had a pick up truck and a slide in 11' camper. We always tried to go to Chaplo (s/p) for at least one day of fishing. the town put in a new boat launch that wasn't as steep as Pellows so we mostly used that . BY 1973 we had refined our fishing boats to a 12 foot star Craft and a 11 foot one the 12 footer used a 9.9 Mercury and the 11footer used a 6HP mercury. My sisters never went again as they started going and spernding a week with cousins Swimming in the Tabacco River near Clare.
We stopped going in 1982 wghen my company closed it's doors and moved to Mass.
Al
