The
Mill’s Family arrived on Monday afternoon July 1, 2013. Kelly Wagner had been
planning their trip to Rainy Lake Houseboats all winter. Wendy Reiners from Rainy Lake Houseboats helped
with every detail. Kelly opted to reserve a Lady of the Lake, a Gold Rush Jacuzzi,
and a Minnitaki to accommodate the Mill's family of twenty.
Once
the houseboats were loaded Captain Andy Dougherty led them on a Rainy Lake and Voyageurs National Park route through Brule Narrows and beyond. Rachel Helleloid went up the lake ahead
of the houseboats to find a nice mooring location for the three houseboats.
Rachel found a nice sand beach in Hitchcock Bay. Andy and Rachel helped the
Mills moor the houseboats in an arrangement that allowed the Mills to move from
houseboat to houseboat effortlessly.
Kelly
arranged to have two guides join the group on Tuesday and Wednesday and three
guides on Thursday. John Balaski, Kevin Erickson, and Billy Dougherty guided
the group. Three family members went with each guide on Tuesday morning, and
three new members in the afternoon, ditto on Wednesday. The guides cooked shore
lunch each day for six of the fishermen. While the guides had six people fishing
the rest of the Mills went fishing in the sixteen foot Lund skiffs or swam, hot
tubbed or made great use of the water slides.
The weather
was spectacular for house boating, eight seven degrees, and blue skies. The
fishermen would have liked to have a little breeze for fishing that did not
happen on Tuesday and Wednesday. We fished in current areas to catch walleyes
for shore lunch. Tracy tag teamed a 18 lbs. northern pike the first morning.
The northern pike was doing the same as us, catching a few walleyes for lunch!
During
the afternoon we fished for smallmouth bass and northern pike. Jesse had a
dandy bass hit her Skitter Prop. Unfortunately after several jumps the smallie
won the battle breaking her line after a jump and a dive under the boat.
Wednesday
was a carbon copy of Tuesday weather wise. More walleye fishing, another shore lunch,
more water slides, hot tubs and just plain enjoying a family reunion in one of
America’s prettiest settings.
Kelly
had planned a fabulous day for Independence Day. More fishing with the guides,
a family shore lunch for twenty on the houseboats. The guides filleted fished
for lunch, the gals cooked the O’Brien potatoes, heated the baked beans, and
with all the other condiments lunch was ready.
Lunch was true Americana every one wearing red white and blue to
celebrate July 4
th and our independence!
I'll share this with you!
After
lunch it was back to fishing, it was still hot and sunny but there was a nice
breeze blowing. Kelly, Tracy and Jim Mills were in my boat for the last
afternoon. We were going to troll Ratlin Rogues for pike, walleyes or bass.
Kelly’s dad Jim was seated next to me, he gave a little wink, I looked and he
had wound a little line around his finger and proceeded to take a little nap!
He would feel the fish strike with the line on his finger. You could tell that
this remarkable family reunion was winding down, they would soon be enjoying
there last night with the remarkable sunsets seen each evening from their
mooring site.
Kelly was hoping for a
Christmas card photo with a fish she caught, that happened.
We
went back to the houseboat, a little bit sadly I must say. We are very
fortunate to spend time with many wonderful guests; this was a bit more
touching than normal. The Mills were ready for a great family picture. They
arranged the family on the “Lady of the Lake” and had their reunion sweatshirts
and hats on. The last picture was the
family waving good bye. Jon, Kevin, and
I turned our boats west and headed back to Rainy Lake Houseboats, and I would
be lying if I did not say I had a little tear in my eye.
Friday
morning my nephews Andy and Lucas went back up to the Mills houseboats and
helped them untie, and Andy led them back to RLHB.
