My daughter Sara Jane, her husband Trey, their two kids - Packy 10 and Melanie 7, and their two dogs were coming to the house on Friday afternoon. The kids wanted to spend the night on the boat in the driveway Friday night with their parents (and the dogs). If things went well, we'd take the boat to the lake on Saturday.
The crew had a ball on Friday night. It was decided we'd all take the boat to the lake for a cruise on Saturday, maybe staying aboard out on the water Saturday night.
The first challenge was to shop for the food we'd need for the trip. Guess who decided what we'd need to have aboard, then did the shopping and put things up in Big Duck? Not me!
With all the supplies stashed, it was time to think about getting the boat to the lake. Who would tow the boat to the lake? Not me! Trey not only took care of attaching the boat, but used his truck, not my van.
Trey's truck only has room for 5 people. It was decided that two adults, two kids and a dog would ride in the truck. Who would get the rest of the crew to the lake? Not me! Sara Jane would drive her car, taking Suzy and two dogs.
So far, I had contributed nothing to the adventure. Trey and Sara Jane did all the organizing and work. Not only that, but Trey got Suzy out of her chair and into the car for the trip to the lake.
When we all arrived at the lake, Trey got the boat ready for the water, backed Big Duck down the ramp and tied her up to the dock. Then he wheeled Suzy to the boat and carried her aboard.
Then out on the lake we went, but it wasn't long before the kids got hungry for lunch.
Who fixed lunch? Not me!
Who cleaned up after lunch? Not me!
We plied Lake Hartwell from the ramp down to the dam, then up to a bridge at Clemson that was too low to let us through.
It was getting late in the day and Sara Jane's thoughts turned to her Parakeet at home who had laid an egg a day before. Being them mom that she is, and expecting more eggs, she wanted to be home for the event. We went back to the ramp. Sara Jane took her two dogs and headed home to check on her bird. She was rewarded by a second egg.
It was then decided that while Sara Jane was tending to her bird, the rest of us would spend the night aboard at anchor. It was dark by the time we decided on a cove to anchor in so we kind of fumbled our way up until were tucked in, then who dropped the hook? Not me! We quickly snored each other to sleep for a very peaceful night.
The kids were hungry even before they got up. Guess who fixed breakfast? Not me! Trey cooked bacon and pancakes for all of us and cleaned up the galley afterwards.
About this time, we got to thinking about Sara Jane at home with her birds - she has three. We convinced her to come back to the boat. We would all hang out for a spell.
Sara Jane would be a while getting to the boat so we decided to check out every boat in all the Portman Marina covered slips. Here's the track of us checking out the piers with covered slips...Trey doing all the navigating and piloting.
Trey drove the boat to the dock where we would wait for Sara Jane. The kids played around on the dock while Merlin went for a swim.
Eventually the kids settled on the aft deck, each taking a Klondike bar from the nearby freezer.
When Sara Jane returned to the boat, we thought we'd just burn some gas and maybe find a spot to beach the boat so the kids could go ashore; it was a little chilly for swimming. We found a nice little beach and ran Big Duck up into the sand. Sara Jane and the kids jumped off the bow and waded to the beach.
They found the beach scattered with trash which they organized into piles, then the kids stuffed it in a big trash bag which we took it aboard.
The kids got wet going and coming from shore, eventually they wanted to go swimming - which they did.
But now, Melanie said she wanted to jump into the lake from the roof. None of us, especially her older brother, thought she would go through with the jump but we encouraged her anyway.
Guess what? Much to our amazement (especially her brother), she did jump.
Then her brother had to jump too.
Once this jumping off the generator cover got started it was hard to call a stop to it. But we didn't want to run out of daylight not only getting the boat back on the trailer, but towing her home and putting her up in the boatport in the back yard.
So guess who: Drove the boat to the dock and tied her up - Backed the trailer down the ramp - Pulled the boat out - Secured the boat to the trailer - Towed the boat home - Unloaded the boat - Backed the boat past a tree, then around the house, then up the hill past another tree into the boat port?
Not Me! Trey, Sara Jane and the Grand-kids took care of everything.
All in all, it was a little tiring for us old folks, but a glorious weekend with the family on Big Duck just the same. And speaking of family...
Trey and family have all checked out as captain and crew on Big Duck. Would anyone hesitate to send them out on Big Duck without us old tired folks? NOT ME!
