My friend Dave recently bought a 20′ Sea Ray. On top of that, the EAA air show is in progress down in Oshkosh. Woohoo!
This morning Michelle and I took time out to play with the girls. Nowhere special, nothing special, just time at home. Shaelin demonstrated, again, that she has almost no fear; Michelle laid on her back, put her feet up, and pushed Shaelin up into the air as far as she could. The child lets go! Unbelievable. I should get a picture, or better yet some video. At any rate, while we were playing, Dave called to confirm that we were still on. The weather was almost perfect and we agreed to meet at noon down at his slip.
After the expected preparation, we got the boat out into the river. Right off the bat Dave took out his map of the lower Fox River valley and Lake Winnebago. He pointed out the channel we were in – really rather narrow – and the “islands” we were passing. It turns out they were artificial islands created by the engineers who dredged the channel some 80-100 years ago. This is practical in two ways, as not only was there no need to haul the material away, but it forms a more or less natural channel marker.
A few minutes spent in the channel were all we needed in order to get into a bit more open water. We picked up Tom, someone Dave knows, from his boat out on Little Lake Butte des Morts so that we had a spotter. I slipped on the wet-suit, life jacket, and goggles and headed out for a bit of tubing. Some anecdotal advice: sitting on the tube is generally easier but requires a bit more care as it seems easier to get airborne. Laying down on one’s stomach makes it easier to navigate the wake and waves, but is harder to hang on. (Before I forget, by the way, I have to admit that I put on the wet-suit backwards. First time and all. Nice of Dave to tell me and correct it before we started.)
Tom and Dave both went out (Tom on both the tube and skis, Dave only on skis). All told we killed about an hour or so. One thing that was really nice about the whole thing was the water temperature. It was quite comfortable, and I contemplated dumping the tube a few times when I was on it. Dave thought the water might be warmer than the air at that point, actually.
After tubing we headed up through the Menasha lock into Lake Winnebago. It took quite a while simply because that entire stretch is limited to no wake. However, there’s a few things to see, including down town Menasha (including Naut’s Landing, yum), the Menasha marina, and a pair of drawbridges. After we got past the bridges Dave handed the steering wheel to me and gave me a few pointers. I had a great time out on the lake because I’d never driven an inboard before. The main worry was the reefs, some of which were surprisingly shallow, but by and large you’re in 18-20 feet of water most of the time. Certainly enough to trim the propeller up a bit and push the throttle forward! I didn’t feel entirely comfortable with pushing it to the limit because there was a bit of choppy water here and there, but still, we made it up to 42 mph without much problem at all.
After driving south for a while we decided to stop and watch the airplanes at the EAA air show. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many aircraft in the air at the same time, ever, and that includes some, er, “interesting” congestion around Chicago and the first flights rolling into the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport. We kicked back and watched the planes for a while. Most of them appeared to be WWII vintage fighters and maybe a few bombers, but whatever they were, they were pretty interesting. There were a couple of stunt fliers, too, that we picked out by watching the smoke trails.
On the trip back I was happy to let Dave drive. The mildly choppy water on the way down was a little less mild on the way back and we slammed down hard a couple of times. It’s a little unnerving when it’s someone else’s boat. Besides, Dave knows the places to aim for when driving back (a matter of efficiency more than anything). We stopped to fill up at the Menasha marina on the way back, and got a little sideways coming out of the Menasha lock – that was a bit scary, hope we didn’t damage anything – but otherwise the trip back was pretty unremarkable.
So, that was my afternoon. We were out on the boat for nearly five and a half hours. It seemed like a lot less. Hopefully next time we can get a few more folks to go…
It was dinner time when I got home (mmmm, bratwurst). After dinner we took a nice walk around the block, and suddenly it was bedtime. Once again Shaelin pushed the amazement button, as she walked nearly the entire distance. The only reason she was put in the stroller for a bit towards the end is because we were on a busy street and she decided to get a bit rebellious.
Well, it’s late, and I’m out of words.