Last week I was heading up North to volunteer my guide services for Take a Kid Fishing. This is the first year of the event on Lake Vermilion and was headed by Ed at Vermilion Dam Lodge. I was on the phone with my step mom when a deer appears right on the bridge on I35 just before Cloquet. I see the deer and think to myself, "Stay there you S.O.B." Naturally, it decides to jump in front of me and take out my new F150.

Somehow, I hit the deer doing 70 mph and the airbag doesn't go off. The damages didn't keep me from driving the rest of the way to the cabin but it definately wasn't the way I wanted to start my trip. The following day a 10 year old named Brendon got teamed up with me for the event and saved my trip. In the brief time period when he wasn't asking me questions or telling stories, Brendon caught a mess of nice fish. I let him keep the mangled spinnerbait that his nice pike destroyed as a souvenir.

The truck will be fixed within a week but hopefully that young man will remember his day for a lifetime.