Lake Trip

Linda had called the day before and rented a pontoon boat for Angie and Imon, so we were going to the lake early. We did get up early, ate breakfast and headed to the lake after much preparation. We stopped and filled the tank on the boat, got ice and drove off without paying... unintentionally. We were in the street at the stoplight when the owner of the station came running after us. I told him I thought Linda had paid. We pulled back into the station, went inside, paid and apoligized several times. They said they understood and we apoligized again and headed on to the lake. WOW, what a start!. Pauline and Brent were riding with Imon to make sure they new where to go to rent the boat and how to find us on the lake. Corey, Cassie and Kenny were riding with us to even out the load. We 'put in' at the State Park while Imon and Brent went to Sulphur Creek to get the pontoon rented. We made a short run to the spot where we were to meet and saw some friends of ours in their boat. It was Sussie and Gary Mader. After a little chat they headed to the dam and we had time to take a little dip to see how the water felt. Back in the boat after about 10 minutes and we met up with the pontoon. That didn't take as long as I thought it would, so we headed west to Pulsey Creek. I told Brent where we were going and that we would go ahead and 'reserve' a cove. We found one near the end of the fingerlet and the pontoon arrived about 5 minutes later. We anchored and said we were 'home' for the day. The pontoon seemed ok, it ran ok and Angie and Imon seemed happy with the whole setup. Everyone got in the water and was having fun. After the initial excitement wore off, I threw out a couple ski ropes and took Corey and Brent for rides on the kneeboards. It was Corey's first time, but he got up on his first try, and rode it around the lake with Brent showing him a few tricks. We pulled back to the pontoon and hooked up to our anchor. Angie, Corey, Cassie and Kenny wanted to tube, so Brent and I filled up the tubes with the pump that runs off the boat battery. We tossed the tubes in and the riders got in the boat with Angie and Corey being in the tubes first. I took off and after they seemed ok, I started doing 'S' curves down the part of the lake we were on, Kenny and Cassie were in the boat laughing and having fun just watching me bang the tubes together and whipping them over the boat wake. Angie and Corey had enough, so it was Cassie and Kenny's turn. I did the same thing for them with Angie and Corey setting in the boat laughing and hollering about them getting beat around in the tubes. On one whip it tossed Cassie out of the tube and I think she got a little bit of rope burn. They had enough so we pulled back to the spot where the pontoon was anchored. Time to let them get some energy back. We had sliced a ham the night before and had a cooler full of it and stuff to go on the ham sandwiches, they started eating and drinking and jumping in the lake and just having a bunch of fun cutting up. The girls had mats to float on and the guys had fun hasseling the girls. We had told Sussie and Gary where we were going, so they stopped by on their way back from their 'dam run'. Gary had a couple with them and we swam and talked to all of them for about a half hour. They took off saying they needed to get back to the cabin because they had run out of beer and their dogs were needing let out. They told us it was about 20 minutes after 1 PM. Hmm, the time was going by quickly. A couple more kneeboard runs were the next thing on the list. Our boat was running weird when I tried to pull them, but we managed to get it going and they were slicing up the lake with the kneeboards while Angie and Cassie were taking pictures. Brent showed Corey that he could stand up on the board and also do '360s' on it. This seemed to help Corey and he became a little more adventurous behind the boat. After 3 or 4 runs around 'our' part of the lake we pulled back to the pontoon and relaxed a while. Snacks were being ate all day and a little beer and plenty of pop were consumed. Around 5 Angie and Imon said they had enough, so we pulled up anchor and waited on Brent to get the pontoon going. Once everyone was underway we headed back to the State Park dock to take our boat out. They were headed to Sulphur Creek to turn in the pontoon. We loaded our boat on the trailer, put the cover on and drove for home. Going home the weather looked nasty, with lightning being seen ahead of us. It looked like we got off the lake just in time. We put the boat in the shed and went inside, changed clothes and wondered where the pontoon crew was at. About a half hour later they came in, and Brent said the pontoon had quit running on them just outside of Sulphur Creek. He said it took about 15 minutes and then it restarted and they drove it back to the dock. Linda fixed us a bunch of hamburgers, which always taste better after a day on the lake. A little later there were games being played and pool being shot, but we all quit to enjoy some home made Hot Fudge Cake, like we used to get at Frisch's in Anderson. It pretty much hit the spot with everyone. I went to bed about 10:30, wore out, with video games still being played.