Just wanted to share some of the beauty of the morning with you. These were taken about 12 kms west of Vermillion Bay on Monday I believe.

This morning (Aug 1) I was exhausted, my feet ached and my body still thought it was in bed! At 6 am it was hot and muggy, so much so that I began to pray that God would take the humid dank away! We stopped for bfast after 9kms and had a nap and then made some french toast for myself. While I slept a storm broke the back of the humidity and I stepped out into a fresher world. I was extremely grateful but still tired - last night was a little late and it was stifling hot. The generator ran out of gas and I was too lazy to get up and go out to fill it. As Paul reminds me, God is teaching me patience. Adrian Rogers says that patience is the number one necessary character trait if you want to attain maturity in your Christian walk. So when Paul reminds me of the opportunity to learn/practice patience I try to settle into the situation with some sense of availability and contentment.

So finally, after walking toward Kenora for what seemed to be a very very long time, we arrived here around 3 pm. I still had 3 kms to do to finish my day but went further and did 28 something today.

TWO more days and we will be at the Manitoba border!

Diane was excited to find out that there is a big celebration here tonight to commemorate 100 years of Scouting in Canada. That is pretty cool. The event is being held under a beautiful open sided tent on the waterfront and she is determined to go. Because I was so tired today I might pass up the opportunity? But I hate to leave Diane by herself to experience this occasion.

Kenora is one of THE MOST BEAUTIFUL lakeside towns I have visited. It is bustling with visitors this week because of a number of conventions all taking place here on the same weekend. They have trimmed, and plucked, and fluffed until the town has the appearance of a newly groomed teenager. Kenora's history is fun too. Originally called "Rat Portage" the name had to be changed when a flour company wanted to move to town but felt the name would be a deterant to their corporate image. They didn't want to PRINT the word RAT anywhere on their product. So the town came up with KE (from a neighbouring town of Keewatin), NO (from another neighbouring town of Norman), and RA (from the original name Rat's A?? - humm). Now these were not city rats it was named by the natives because of the large number of Muskrats that populated the area.

The lake which Kenora is on, Lake-of-the-Woods, has so many islands that it has more shoreline than all of Lake Superior. We were told in the information centre that navigation on the lake is very dangerous as it is sooo easy to get lost. "It is a very serious problem." said she.

When she asked if we would be staying in Kenora for the night we said yes and then she wanted to help us to find a campsite. Diane skillfully avoided telling her that we had reservations at the Walmart parking lot. We stayed there last night too and noticed the large signs that stated the City by-law that there is no overnight parking allowed. When we left at 5:30 am there were 7 other RVs spending the night. In Perry Sound the Walmart even allowed us to plug in.

I wanted to say how much your comments bless me. Your words are precious drops of encouragement to me. Keep praying for my stamina.

Paul is coming on Friday (he's going to meet me at the Manitoba border), and after walking on Saturday we have scheduled two days off. So we will be in a hotel room for Sat, Sun, and Mon nights. Today as I walked I really felt the need for a real bed and a hot bath and a couple of days off. Looking forward to that.

Well, my friends and all God bless you in your walk today and may you know God's presence, his promise, and his peace. (hey, that might preach eh?) ha ha

Lovin' you lots and lots, denise