Today’s word: DISEQUILIBRIUM. And today’s post will be a little out of the ordinary: I’ll need to tell the following morning in addition to the day. But first, another setback I forgot to include with the other downers yesterday:

The marine first aid kit was one of the first things I purchased for this journey. It has proven to be a wise purchase. Shootman used several bandages (that’s plasters for you Brits) and I used a few along with some ointment on my blisters. At the Aitkin campground, right after setting up my tent, I stepped on a tent stake! Just like that Jimmy Buffet song! (Feet bare to my pant leg; stepped on tent peg; cut my foot ‘fore I cruised into Aitkin. But there’s beer at the brew pub, and some tasty non-freeze dried grub, some memorable experience soon I’ll be makin’.) Funnily enough, Margaritaville is the text tone I use for Chad.,

Anyway, it’s not a horrible wound, but having antiseptic wipes and bandages is important to keep me in this game. Sore foot is fine – infected foot from this river signals doom. It was meant to be as another Aitkin slap in the face.

So, today’s the day our quest resumes to the tavern! Russ, the keeper of the house, is expecting us as we sent a messenger ahead (Facebook messenger that is). But first, we have to venture back to the still clay colored waters at Aitkin. Side note: Chad tells me there’s a country singer named Clay Aitkin; I wonder if he’s slow and annoying like the clay colored river at Aitkin? I wonder if he got his name from this Minnesota landmark? I wonder if he’ll feature in today’s Riverquest playlist song?

Anyway, like yesterday the going was slow. We also seemed to have trouble just getting going. We were up with coffee ready before sunrise, but somehow we’re moving in slow motion. Chad, who is a strong rival in the regular department, was not moving things along. I reminded him of Yoda’s sage wisdom from The Empire Strikes Back: “Poo, or poo not; there is no try.” Finally, though up before dawn, we weren’t in the water until after 8am. We had 26 miles to travel on another warm sunny day; at yesterday’s pace, we wouldn’t arrive until nearly 5pm, which was fine, but we expected better of ourselves on departure. Aitkin seemed to have us in its grasp and refused to release us.

When we got underway, there was still no current but our fin repairs and sealing the front engine room seemed to make an improvement. And fueled by last night’s brew pub dinner, we were in high spirits.

After 16 miles of stagnant brown Clay Aitkin water, we were rejoined by the flood diversion channel. Suddenly – perceptible flow! It wasn’t gushing, but we had movement. We cursed the diversion channel – how did it seem to have more water than the actual Mississippi? Who’s idea was this? Wouldn’t Aitkin be more popular as a modern day Atlantis? We made pretty good time and docked our ships next to the boat ramp at the highway 6 crossing. We packed only our necessary camp supplies on our backs and marched triumphantly to the tavern.

At the tavern, we were greeted with curious smiles. I was surprised to see a complete lack of dwarves, nobody carrying obvious weapons of any kind, and not a single wizard replete with staff and pointy had. But, we sat at the bar and did have two large glasses of their finest ale. Though we had beer in the Aitkin brew pub, that felt like drowning our sorrows; this felt like a celebration. We achieved today’s quest and felt great.

We were introduced to tavern owner Russ. After we finished our ales, he walked us to the back and into the basement where he and his wife live. After a shower, he showed us the camp location on the back property where we had level ground and access to electrical outlets.

After making camp, we returned to the bar where we had two of the best 1/2 pound burgers ever, with a side of tator tots! (Feeding Chad’s potato fix.) We had a few more ales, and a night of modest revelry: Chad beat me at cribbage. We talked with locals about fishing. I gave out a few blog addresses to interested staff. And we resupplied our diminishing jerky inventory from Mike, a Bridge Tavern regular and noted jerky chef. we turned into our tents just after 9, feeling clean, full and refreshed. We had fully shaken the dull ache of Aitkin and were ready for a good rest and big things tomorrow.

We again woke before dawn and broke down our tents in the dark. We left our coffee and cookware with the boats, so our plan was to boil water and bust out the French press while we loaded everything up. When we arrived at our craft, we were shocked to find the water level was noticeably lower since we parked 12 hours ago. Did we lose an inch? Maybe 2?

Then our shock turned to horror when we recognized 3 of our bags were missing. These contained all of our cooking gear, some miscellaneous equipment, and most of our food. There would be no coffee this morning, instead we would have a large dose of consternation. We worried a little about leaving bags (especially food) for fear of pilfering animals; I felt we were still in an area In Minnesota where we wouldn’t have to be fearful of pilfering humans. It was obvious the culprit was on foot, and likely alone, as the large bag taken could be worn as a backpack and the two others were about what someone would be able to carry. I’m saddened that we live in a society where people steal from one another, but there are far greater problems than this.

We immediately put our heads together to see what we could do. Maybe the thief stashed the bags in the woods nearby to be picked up later? A robust search proved useless. We then followed what looked likely to be tracks of the culprit leading south down the riverbank; the trail seemed like it might be fruitful, but then it was difficult to tell where they left the bank and went up through the woods. We followed a possible stairway up to a camper, but there was no vehicle or sign of people, and glances in nearby yards of homes in the area didn’t prove successful.

As we returned to the boats, we did a mental inventory of what was lost: All of our freeze dried food. Chad’s camp stove. Cutting board and spatula. My camp stove, pots and pans. All of my plates and utensils. Chad’s cigars (we were going to have a final camp celebratory stogie). All of our nylon parachord and some zip ties. My jump rope and elastic band for shoulder exercises. A 5 pound bag of Jolly Ranchers (in case this diabetic needs a little sugar fix). And, my precious French press! My French precious! And… Chad’s wallet with $80 cash. 😧

We had to walk back up to the bridge to get even the slightest mobile phone reception. Chad texted Heidi and canceled his credit cards. I informed Christin the posted to the Mississippi Angels Facebook group – we would be in need of some help. We had 28 miles to go to Brainerd where we hoped we could replace our necessities. The day just got more challenging with this mental burden on top of the physical challenge. But, as I said in Mr. Potato Chad’s introduction: we’re both problem solvers and generally optimists, we only lost money and stuff, things will be fine.

Just so you know this incident doesn’t have us down, here’s a peppy little classic for today’s musical offering: Steve Miller Band’s Take the Money and Run.