Today was a day we will never forget!  It started on the wide open Great Plains where a lake like no other resides in a location few in this world ever see - Devils Lake, North Dakota.  However, the residents of this great State know all too well that Devils Lake is a world class fishery simply stocked full of hungry, cooperative fish.  Walleye, White Bass, and Northern Pike are the key fish of the lake, and there must be millions.  In fact, we again set our record for most fish caught in a single outing at 50.  15 Walleye, 34 White Bass, and 1 Northern Pike.  Mark Bry of Bry’s Guide Service didn’t think much of us catching 50 as this is very common on this lake.  Had it not been for the 25 mph sustained winds with gusts to 40 mph he thought we could have even had a chance at 100 – in a four hour fishing outing.  WOW – get out your map and figure a way to get here – summer or winter.  You won’t be disappointed.  We decided to keep our limit of Walleye as they are about the best table fare around – so we are stocked for dinners for a while.

We departed Devils Lake around 1PM and charted our course for Lake Vermillion. Minnesota.   However, just before we took off I check our oil.  You see last night, two hours before we made Devils Lake, I noticed we had some oil on the engine manifold that I couldn’t determine the origin.  Since we had not checked the oil in a while I wasn’t sure how much oil we had lost due to normal use versus a possible oil leak. In any event I added a quart and a half then.  Upon checking the oil today I noticed we were quite low.  I added a quart and it still was low.  I added a second quart and were good.  30 miles down the road the engine was squealing and the oil lights came on.  We pulled over, popped the hood and saw oil everywhere.  We were done – or at least we were moving on to Plan B.  I called road side assistance and they dispatched a tow truck from 100 miles away in Rugby, ND.  Unfortunately we weren’t exactly sure what Plan B was.  We decided that the RV was not part of our journey anymore and that we would need a rental car.  We began calling every Rental Car dealer in Grand Forks, ND 40 miles to our east.  After an hour the best we could manage was a 1 way rental from Grand Forks to Duluth, MN.  That would at least buy us one day as Duluth was in our path.  We made the reservation.  Then we began the painstaking effort of choosing which items in the RV we would need.  Over the next two hours we totally reorganized everything in the RV into “take” and “leave behind” piles.  Three hours into the wait our tow truck finally arrived.  Unfortunately the tow truck was half the size of our RV.  The dispatcher had fouled up.  We were going to be stuck here for a long time.  Then Brad, the tow truck driver, asked what was wrong.  I explained everything to him and he asked if I would start the engine so he could take a look.  Brad popped off some air intake manifolds so we could get a better look and there it was - the oil filter canister was seeping oil, oil was dripping onto one of the main belts and spraying oil everywhere.  After 10 minutes of hunting for the right “giant” channel locks we had the oil filter off and reseated.  No more leak.  I asked Brad his thoughts on the squeal.  He said he was nearly 100% convinced it was the oil spray on the belts causing the noises and that if we degreased the engine that would go away. 

We thanked Brad profusely and sent him on his way with a big tip, and two steelhead steaks for his family.

The Lord had sent us an angel today.  Upon writing this journal we are 150 miles into our drive to Lake Vermillion and nearly squeak free.   We won’t arrive at our destination tonight until well after midnight but we are relieved and rejuvenated.

Today marked our 31^st straight day of rain-free fishing.  

    

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