Weekend At The Lake

Pauline and Brent drove over Friday afternoon and we went out for pizza and then grocery shopping. We bought lunch meat and stuff to eat on the boat. Julie and Kyle had been staying with us so they were really excited and glad to see their Mom and Dad.
Saturday morning we had a light breakfast and then it was time to get everyone ready for boating. Sunscreen on everybody, hats, sun glasses, t-shirts, towels, coolers and a half hour later we were ready to go.... to the pole barn. Then pull the truck and boat out of the pole barn and transfer all the stuff to the truck. "Load up", finally on the road... to the gas station. Nearly every pump was being used. I filled the boat with gas while Brent put the plug in and put a bag of ice in the cooler. Now, to the lake, a short 20 minute drive and we're at Dale Hollow Lake State Park. Wow, so were a LOT of other people. We had to wait in line to take our turn on the boat ramp. The 4th of July is the busiest day of the year on the 5 lane wide dock. We launched the boat and I drove the truck and trailer up the hill, past the secondary parking lot, past a hundred cars parked along the side of the road to the new parking lot that will probably hold 500 vehicles and their trailers. Linda followed me in the Traverse and took us back down to the ramp area. After parking the car, we walked to the courtesy dock and Brent picked us up in the boat. He idled the boat out of the cove that held the marina and we were under way at about 10:30 AM. The lake was busy, but not over crowded. We soon stopped and cooled off in the water for a hour. We headed to a section of the lake that was not as popular to avoid the rough water caused by other boats. East Port is a marina that is on the East end of Dale Hollow where the water is almost like a river. We stopped a few times and took dips to cool off, we also ate our 'hoageys' during one of those stops. We picked up a brochure from East Port around 2 PM and then started the trip back towards the state park. We pulled over where there were 25-30 boats watching people jump into the water from 40 foot high cliffs. While we were there, we were approached by the TWRA and asked to show our life jackets and fire extinguisher. We were legal! We pulled out and maintained our course back past Sunset Dock and to the large part of the lake. The ride had been nice and smooth until we started meeting more boats. We took our last swim break around 5:30 PM. We were pulling the boat out of the water about 7 PM as fishermen were putting their bass boats in the water. I towed the boat back to the farm and put it in the pole barn. We went to the house just before dark.
Sunday morning, we figured out we had used up our food supply for boat sandwiches and needed a new plan. After breakfast, we were slower to get ready, in fact we decided to wait until 10:30 to leave the house. We went through the same things, except we called and ordered take out sandwiches at Subway to eat on the boat. I stopped at the gas station and filled the boat with gas while Brent picked up the food. We drove to the lake and it seemed there were more vehicles than the day before. I guess it was because it was later in the day. We launched the boat and did the parking thing again. It was hotter launching the boat in the middle of the day. As soon as we left the marina we hit the water to cool down. We went to our favorite cove and anchored for a long time. We took a short ride looking at a lot of the camp sites that people had setup. The lake was buzzing with boat traffic as many of the people probably had to head for home. We stopped and played in the water until 7:30 PM. The lake was noticeably empty as we ran the boat wide open back to the State Park Marina. After loading the boat on the trailer and putting on the road cover, we headed for the farm. It was dark by the time I backed the boat in the pole barn and we were all tired. Julie was sound asleep and never woke up until the next morning. Kyle went to sleep pretty quick and so did the rest of us.

4th of July Car Show

At 5:30 AM, I went outside and hooked the trailer to the pickup truck, then loaded the Mule on the trailer. I went back inside and gathered up several things I needed to take to the car show. When Brent woke up, he followed me as I drove the truck to town and unloaded the Mule. I rode back to the farm with Brent in his Traverse. After a few minutes at the farm putting things in the trunk of the 1956 Chevy, I drove it to town and parked the car inside the walking track where the Independence Celebration Car Show was going to be held. Club members had already assembled the tent and tables were setup. We began placing our registration paperwork on the tables and putting out various other items such as door prizes and 50/50 tickets. As I was circulating around the early arrivals I was hearing talk of rain coming our way.

Linda arrived in the 1965 Mustang Convertible with the top down. I told her to put the top up. About a half hour later it was beginning to sprinkle rain. Ten minutes later, Linda and I were sitting in the Mustang and it was pouring down rain with thunder crashing and lightening flashes and the wind was about to blow the tents down. The wind let up, but the rain continued for around 45 minutes, then slowly stopped.
  
All the paperwork and door prizes were soaked. We dried the stuff and began registering cars for the show. I was really surprised that people were still driving in to the car show and I'm sure it held down the attendance. About a half hour after the rain stopped the sun popped through and it was a nice day at the park. We set the trophies out and the band began playing music. Linda and Carol took the votes of the vehicle owners and tabulated the results.
   
When the band was done, we had a kid draw the numbered tickets as I announced the door prize winners and club members gave them the stuff. Our 56 Chevy was awarded a "Top Twenty" trophy, so I announced Stacey Norris as the owner of the car and she received the trophy.
  
The group that called themselves “M&M” from Monticello was awarded the Club Participation Trophy that was donated by DC Auto Service. M&M brought 7 vehicles to the car show. The Best of Show Trophy, donated by First Place Trophies of Albany, was then presented to Mike Burton for his yellow Chevy Nova.
   
We drew the winning ticket for the 50/50 drawing and presented the winner the money, then the car show was over and everyone began leaving. The Cruisers cleaned up a little and took the tents down as we were loading the Mule and preparing to leave too. At 4 PM the car show was over and we were on the way back to the farm. I cooked skinless chicken breasts covered with BBQ sauce and sliced potatoes wrapped in tin foil on the grill for supper. Pauline, Brent and their kids went home about 7 PM.

Friendly Business

Linda and I were mowing about 11:30 AM when a black HHR pulled into the driveway. I drove the tractor to the house and it was Diane and Gery Scott. Gery was a lifetime friend of mine. Diane and Linda had known each other since about the 70s when Gery and I played softball together on the Daleville Merchants team. A couple of months ago, I asked Gery to do some carpenter work on my Mom's house in Daleville. He used rough sawed cedar to refinish the walls in the bathroom and had also fixed the sub floor around the toilet flange. We had seen the work that was almost finished the last time we were in IN and Gery said he would get the receipts together and drop them by when he was down here. We settled up on the materials and labor, then I paid him some extra. He questioned the extra money and I told him I did that because I appreciated him taking care of everything without me being up there and I might need something else done. We also talked about their upcoming family reunion. After about an hour, they were on their way back to Star Point near Dale Hollow Lake.
 
Stacey, Linda and I went to lunch and then bought groceries. Later, Linda and I finished mowing

NASCAR @ KY Speedway

Linda left for IN at 5 AM, so Stacey and I were by ourselves. We ate egg sandwiches for breakfast and then dressed. We gathered up our things we were taking to the NASCAR race at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta KY and put them in the pickup truck. Just before 10 AM we left the farm and picked up Jason at 10:15 AM. After talking with Stephannie for a few minutes I drove us to Smith's Grove and stopped at Brent's house. We moved our things to his Traverse and headed to Louisville. Our next stop was at KingFish Restaurant on the banks of the Ohio River for lunch. We ordered and ate, then stepped out by the river and took a picture. It was 1 PM when we left the restaurant and headed towards Sparta, which was 59 miles away. We were driving along at 70 mph when traffic came to a complete stop on I-71. After about 20 minutes of just barely moving, I opened up my PC and started my GPS software. I found an alternative route to Sparta, we just had to creep along for a mile or so until we reached the next exit. We took the state road and cut out 16 miles of traffic that was barely moving. As we entered Sparta, we ran into more stopped traffic on SR 35. This was the highway that should have taken us to the race track. We turned towards the track and again, traffic was barely moving.
   
At 5 PM and having only moved about a half mile, we decided to park along the side of the road like hundreds of others had done and walk the mile and a half to the race track because we didn't want to be setting in the traffic when the race started. The walk was grueling and I had our crew stop 4 or 5 times and take breaks. I didn't know about Jason's physical conditioning, but mine wasn't that good anyway. I needed to stop even if Jason didn't. Finally we made it to the race track's grounds, took a tram around to our entrance and stood outside a moment to get our bearings and figure out which gate was going to be the easiest to pass through. The lines were thousands of people long at the main gate. We went to a side gate and walked right through. We asked about how to get to our seats and were pointed to an elevator to take to the top.
   
We rode up, then walked down to the 37th row in the Ohio section. We found our seats as Governor Steve Beshear said, "Start your engines!" As far as I was concerned, that was perfect timing.
 
The cars made a couple warm up laps, then a pace lap as we took pictures and everyone yelled and hollered. The Pace Car pulled off the track and the green flag waved. At lap 30, NASCAR had a competition Yellow Flag to let the teams evaluate the condition of the tires and all the cars pulled into the pits, changed tires, filled their tanks and went back to racing a couple of laps later. Brent and I watched and at 51 laps, the traffic was still blocked on the highway where we had parked.
  
   
   
   
Movie of Last 3 Laps 
Traffic was still backed up at 100 laps, and also halfway through the race at lap 134. Actually, thousands of people never made it into the track. Several KY State Police cars headed down the road and cleared the road about 50 laps before the end of the race so that people leaving the track would be able to get to I-71 and get out of town. The race was a clean race with only 5-6 cautions and Kyle Busch beating Jimmy Johnson in the last 2 laps. They shot off a bunch of fireworks after the finish and then we walked down the steps to the exit. We walked off the race track grounds and back to the highway, where I asked a pickup truck driver if we could hitch hike in the bed of their truck back to the interstate. They allowed us to ride with them up the hill to the overpass, then we hopped out and walked about a mile back to the Traverse. We didn't have to take any breaks this time as it was dark and all down hill. We loaded into the Traverse and took the back roads out of town and then entered I-71 about 14 miles closer to Louisville. Brent drove us back to his house where we then took the pickup truck back towards Burkesville. I dropped off Jason at exactly 3 AM and after he went inside, we drove on back to the farm. Stacey and I carried our stuff inside and went directly to bed.

The race track was a nice facility, the parking and traffic was the worst I've ever encountered at any event in my life. The articles on the internet seem to agree with me, something MUST be done before another NASCAR race is attempted at Kentucky Speedway!

"A Bad Day On The Lake"

Linda and Stacey had picked up Pico and Poco Friday evening and brought the dogs to the farm while Brent ran a swim meet in Louisville. Pauline, Julie and Kyle had went with him and were visiting P's family and taking in the zoo during the weekend. They came back from Louisville to the farm on Sunday afternoon. We played with the kids and listened to their stories about the trip till bed time.
Monday morning began with Pauline fixing breakfast of sausage and eggs with biscuits while we prepared for a day on the boat. Kids were lathered up with sunscreen and dressed in swim trunks after breakfast. Linda had towels gathered up and had saved iced for the coolers, so we had plenty of extra time and were ready to go by 9:15 AM. We towed the boat to town, filled up with gas, put the plug in and headed to the lake. I backed the boat down the ramp and we uncovered it, then transferred our things into the boat. Everyone loaded in the boat and I backed the trailer into the water. I put the truck in park and walked into the water to unhook the boat from the trailer. Brent stopped me. He said the boat's batteries were dead. Both of the batteries were discharged and the motor wouldn't start. Crap! I stood there a minute and looked around, the first person I saw was a woman walking to the courtesy dock, so I asked, "Do you have any jumper cables?" She asked her husband... they did. We used a long rope and pulled the boat to the courtesy dock where they hooked up the cables to their boat and we jump started our boat. We thanked them several times as they pulled away. I parked the truck and walked back down to the boat, we were under way out of the idle zone. Brent ran the boat for about a half hour to charge the battery and enjoy the smooth water of Dale Hollow Lake on a weekday. We pulled into the cove where we were supposed to meet Lana and Frank Dial and Bonnie and Donnie Cox. He shut the boat off and tried restarting it to check the battery. It started fine. We began swimming and then had lunch.
   
Around noon, Bonnie and Donnie arrived in their boat with their daughter, Julie and her husband, JR and granddaughter Callie. They joined us in the water as more people from Anderson started arriving. Susan and Danny Rockhill were there too, but the stories they were telling weren't sounding good for Lana and Frank. I guess their boat was giving them problems and they were riding with Dave Wilcox in his boat. Around 2 PM, JR was watching the sky and took a look at the color radar on his phone. He reported that a rain shower was headed our way and would be there in a few minutes. We all broke up the party, swam to our respective boats and headed for Star Point to take cover in the rental slips. JR's forecast had been right on as it sprinkled rain on us as we sped across the lake and pulled under the covered slips. We tied the boat to the slip and began talking and joking with a bunch of other people from IN that came over to check out Pauline & Brent's new Sea Ray while the rain was coming down.
 
Dave Wilcox brought Lana and Frank back to the dock when he came in for shelter, so we walked around the dock and began 'trouble shooting' Frank's boat problem. Donnie turned the wrenches as we stood around watching and offering our ideas. He removed the gas line at the carb and had Frank run the starter to try to pump some gas into a plastic bottle. This would let us see if the fuel pump was working and check the filter to see if it was clogged. There was some stuff in the filter, but the problem we found was water in the gas that was pumped into the bottle. About a third of the liquid in the bottle was water. Donnie sent JR for a bottle of stuff to cause the water to mix with the gas. They pumped out a couple bottles of gas and water, then put the line back in place. Frank pumped the accelerator lever in the boat and hit the key. It started and continued to run. All this had taken about a half hour and during that time the rain shower was over. Brent and I returned to the boat, untied and backed it out of the slip. We made plans to meet again on Tuesday and drove out of the dock. With a questionable battery charge, we headed back towards the State Park where we had put the boat in the water. The lake was nearly empty of boat traffic, so I asked Pauline to take the wheel for the first time. She drove the boat a little past the dock and stopped out in the middle of the lake. If the boat wouldn't restart, we wouldn't have far to be towed into the dock. The clouds broke up and the sunshine returned and we swam till nearly 6 PM. The boat started without a probem and we put it on the trailer and in the barn when we returned to the farm. We also hooked up the battery charger to charge the batteries.
   
Brent and I agreed, "A bad day on the lake, beats a good day working!"
We went to Columbia to eat Mexican food for dinner, then stopped and bought groceries to take on the boat again tomorrow.

A Better Day

Day two began with breakfast, sun block, ice, towels and a quick pit stop for gas, then to the lake. The boat started with no problems and we were out of the idle zone shortly after 10 AM. We cruised for a little bit then headed to the area where we were to meet several other boats. We were planning on going on and riding a little longer but spotted Lana and Frank in their boat. We pulled alongside and surprised them. It was good to see his boat was doing fine. We both boated to the cove and anchored the boats and dove into the water. Several other boats and pontoons joined the group around 11 AM. We ate lunch meat sandwiches as more people stopped. At one point there were a dozen boats and at least forty people swimming and talking with each other. Julie and several kids were jumping into the water from one pontoon boat. It was just like the country song "Redneck Yacht Club" and Stacey loved it. Pauline was in a raft with Kyle for a while, then I took Kyle and we tossed the floating sponge ball to several people to keep him busy. Brent was keeping track of Julie while he was swimming around the boats. Stacey and Linda were in a group of a dozen or more women. About 2:30 PM the party began breaking up and boats were leaving the cove. Our littlest crew needed a nap, so we headed towards the dam area. I wanted to check at Mitchell Creek near Livingston to see if the restaurant was open for lunch later in the week. We cruised into the dock and I pulled the boat up to the front of the restaurant, Brent stepped on the dock and went inside. When he returned to the boat he said they didn't have a short order cook, they had chicken wings, pizza and ice cream. We left the dock and headed back to Pusley Creek. Both the kids were sleeping by then, so we eased the boat into the back of Pusley and quietly anchored, then went swimming until they woke. Julie wanted to swim some more, so she began jumping out of the boat and climbing in, but not as quickly as earlier in the day. She was winding down. Kyle stayed in the boat this time. We rode back to the State Park Dock and pulled the boat out around 5 PM. After parking the boat in the pole barn, we went to the house, let the dogs out while we showered and changed clothes. Near 6:30 PM we took the Traverse to Albany and ate at Major's Pizza, then went to Star Point a little late for the cook out. Most of the people that were in the cove earlier in the day were also at the cookout along with a few additions. We mingled, sipped drinks and laughed at the stories everyone was telling for a couple of hours before leaving about 9:30 PM.

Good Day 3

We ate breakfast a little earlier and headed to the lake at 9:30 AM. Brent and I traded jobs for the day. He drove the truck and trailer to the lake and my job was backing the boat off the trailer. We had been talking about what our 'jobs' were as we had been driving to the lake the previous days, so things went fairly smooth. We idled out of the dock area and then drove to Ashburn Creek and met Lana & Frank Dial and Cindy and Bruce Beck. Everyone went swimming until other boats began making runs past where we were anchored.
   
Ashburn Creek is a popular place for people to ski, tube and play on their water toys, we knew that and decided to get out of their way. We rode over to Sunset Dock for lunch, went inside, waited for a large table and then ordered. Pauline and Stacey took Julie and Kyle to look through the marina's store next door while the food was being prepared as the rest of us sat and talked until the waitress brought the food.
   
After lunch, Kyle and Julie slept as we drove the boat on the return trip. We pulled into a cove across the lake from Star Point and everyone was ready to get into the water again.
   
We played in the water for a long time as it was a real good place to stop. We could see boats racing up and down the lake, but none of their wakes were hitting our boats. Another plus for that cove is that there was shade on the water.
   
Brent and I had talked about getting Julie started on a knee board, so as the wind died down just before sunset, we rode to Pusley Creek and began the training. Brent played out two ski ropes and pulled two knee boards out of the ski well for them to use. I stopped the boat's motor when they were ready to jump in, Brent showed Julie to toss the board in the water, then jump in and climb on it. I had worked with Julie the day before on paddling to the rope and holding on. When they were both ready, I started the motor, took the slack out of the rope and when Julie yelled "Ready", I slowly started the boat moving. I picked up a little speed as I heard Brent telling Julie what she needed to do. A minute or so later, Brent told Julie to let go of the rope and the her first ride was over. They went once more, then Julie climbed into the boat. Brent took a ski run and then we joined the Dial's and Beck's where they had anchored. After telling everyone good bye when they left, we ate PB&J sandwiches on the boat before taking a slow ride back to the dock right at sunset.
   
Brent and I continued our job trade off, he walked up the dock and retrieved the truck and trailer, backed it in the water and I drove the boat on the trailer. After covering the boat, Brent drove the truck and boat back to the farm. We both learned some new things about the jobs we each do. It was a good day!

Friday On The Lake

We took a break from the lake on Thursday. We intended to skip going to the lake on Thursday and the weather cooperated by being cloudy and cooler. It even rained a little.
Friday morning we ate a light breakfast and then off to the lake again. The plan was to get there early and leave early when the weekend crowd began arriving. There were parking spots in the dock area after we launched the boat. I think we rode out of the idle zone about 9:30 AM. A short time later we stopped in the Pusley Creek area and anchored. The lake was still calm with only a few boats passing by the cove where we anchored. We just enjoyed a lazy and relaxing time of playing around in the water. Around 2:30 in the afternoon, we pulled up anchor and took a ride, looking around at all the boats that were out on the lake. I remarked that we had already saw more boats this day than the three previous days we had been on the lake put together. We eventually rode past Wolf River Dock to the area where people jump off the cliffs into the water. We anchored there for a little while, then Brent swam to the bank, climbed the rocks, and jumped into the water from about 35-40 feet above. He came back to the boat and we headed back to the State Park Dock. The weekend crowd was taking over the lake, so we put the boat on the trailer, pulled it out of the water and headed for the farm. After backing the boat in the pole barn and uncovering it, we went to the house. Pauline and Linda were working on dinner. They had a turkey breast cooking in the slow cooker while we had been at the lake, so with some mashed potatoes and fresh sweet corn, we had a great tasting dinner.

Freshly Cut

Julie, Kyle, Pauline, Brent and their dogs went home Saturday morning after nearly a week of staying with us at the farm. The house seemed empty after they left. Linda and I tried to get caught up on mowing, but I emptied the 300 gallon tank of diesel fuel while filling the Mule and then had to park the tractor before running it out.
Monday morning, I called and ordered more diesel fuel and farm gas from Newcomb Oil Company in Columbia. We checked out the hay fields and noticed that all of them had been cut, raked and rolled while we had been going to the lake last week.
  
  

Cruising To Country Cafe

We left home a little after 5 PM and drove our 56 Chevy towards Columbia, then turned right on the Cumberland Parkway and exited at the 49 mile marker. We went North on SR 55 and turned East on SR 80. After passing through Russell Springs and going a few more miles East on SR 80, we turned South on SR 76 and headed towards Alligator Boat Dock. A few miles down SR 76 on the left was the Country Cafe. They are having a cruise-in every Tuesday evening. It begins at 5 PM and is over at 8 PM ( I think it is EST). There are no door prizes, but they are playing music and enjoying each other's company. I parked the 56 Chevy, then Stacey, Linda and I went inside the restaurant for supper. Linda and I had cat fish suppers with Cajun fries and cole slaw. Stacey had the Tuesday Night Special of spaghetti, cottage cheese and Texas Toast. Everything we ate was excellent.

When we finished eating, I went outside and took pictures of the cars that were parked in the lot.
   
   
   
   
   
   
We rolled out of the parking lot and headed back towards Burkesville. It was a nice ride as the sun was vanishing below the horizon and the air temperature was cooling down.

Highway Crew Returns

The highway relocation crew returned to work on the ditch today. They had a small track hoe and a skid steer down in the hole where the culvert tile was located. Water rushing down the rock before going into the tile had piled up the rock and cut a trench at the top. The guys were using the equipment to move in larger rocks and form a trough with the rock for the water to flow through.
   
I guess I won't know how they did until we have a hard rain, which maybe a while in coming. Newcomb Oil did bring me a load of diesel and gasoline. I don't know how much it cost me yet, I guess they will send me a bill in the mail.

Car Club Meeting

Stacey, Linda and I took the 65 Mustang to the Cruisers' monthly meeting for July at the Hot Rod BBQ..

President Dave Neff called the meeting to order as the waitress was taking our food orders. A little bit of club business was done before she returned with the food.
  
After the meal had been finished and the club picked up the tab, we conducted the rest of the meeting. Several members are meeting on the Square in Burkesville on Saturday at 8 AM to cruise to Columbia. The meeting was adjourned at 7 PM. We talked a little while outside the building, then hopped in the Mustang and rode back to the farm.

Car Show In Columbia

The Cumberland River Cruisers had went by earlier on their way to the show in Columbia, and Stacey and Linda were going to Campbellsville to shop, so I decided to go to Columbia for the car show too.
 
I fixed a cooler with some drinks and headed on up the road, pulled in the lot and parked besides the rest of the Cruisers.

The temperature was above 90 degrees and they were sitting under a canopy. A little later, we all were huddled together under the canopy to stay out of the rain.
 
It rained for about 30 minutes, then the club running the car show began handing out trophies. I received a trophy for our 1956 Chevy. Several other Cruisers received trophies too.
 
The show was over and I drove home through several rain showers, pulled the 56 into the pole barn and dried it off as the rain continued outside. Linda and Stacey returned from Campbellsville and then Stacey went with Jason to Bowling Green.