Day 9: Slinking away in the morning mist

Today started a little rough.  I think we were starting to feel the effects of a lot of lake paddling.  My hands hurt when I made a fist and every muscle in my shoulders and back was sore.  Despite all this we managed to do 28 miles to Pokegama Dam Rec Area.  We arrived around 5:30 as the park office was closing.  We quickly asked if any sites were open as it looked pretty busy.  There was one and the ranger said to grab it and fill out a site ticket and leave the money, $26, in the drop box.  $26!?  To camp?!  We decided we would grab the ticket and fill it out and put it on our site post then wait and see if we actually had to pay.  As we saw it we were just using this area to sleep and would be out of there by 6:30 the next morning.  All the other "campers" there were in big gaudy motor homes using a million kilowatts of energy a minute.  Long story short, we giggled as we hauled our gear back into the water and floated downstream the next day with $26 still in our pockets.  Don't tell on us!
Update on the poison ivy.  It still isn't better.  I'm hoping the sun will dry it out or burn it off.  That happens right?
Lastly, we met a cool guy named Jim at this site.  His camper was one of the few that I could tolerate.  He and his wife, Jeanette, were on a trip from Colorado to the Black Hills region, up into Canada, through this part of Minnesota, then East along the coast.  They are retirees and have also hiked a 500 mile trail in Spain.  They were doing a lot with their retirement.  Jeanette said, "He plans the trips and I just follow."  I could tell that wasn't completely true.  Hopefully I'll be able to do trips like this when I retire.