we took it in a couple weeks ago and they said it would be ready in three to five days, but they didn’t call and finally kevin called yesterday morning and IT WAS READY! we were so happy, and drove right over to pick it up. i looked at the work order and it seemed like the guy working on the motor really knew what he was doing, plus they didn’t charge us a ridiculous price. we took it to EAST SIDE MARINE, and i highly recommend them.
we took it over to the boat launch but the boat just wouldn’t budge off the trailer. kevin kept putting the van in reverse and ROARING backwards and SLAMMING on the brake in order to loosen the boat, but it just wouldn’t work. i was sitting at the wheel of the boat and it was mighty exciting and mollie was next to me, whining a lot. we finally gave up and took it over to the sailboat launch ramp because kevin said it was steeper.
a guy was there in a CWLP truck, just hanging out, and he helped guide the trailer back, and after more effort on kevin’s part, the boat was IN THE WATER. i drove it away and the motor roared nicely.
i got back to the dock and things were good. we put the top on the boat, and then i spent a couple hours cleaning it and applying lots of armour all. i stood on the armour-alled seat to clean the back platform and realized that the bottoms of my feet were slippery with their armour all coating.
i thought kevin mentioned something about the boat being full of gas. when i was done cleaning i came up to the house and kept calling him, and he was asleep on the couch. all the boat work must have been very tiring for him because he almost never naps. he went back to sleep, i went over to talk to amy and jim, mom showed up, and mom and i went out on the boat.
we clipped along, a perfect day, the boat was running well. we got over to the lincoln green golf course and the boat started to slow…and then it died. i felt that we were out of gas, from the way it slowly came to a stop.
we checked the gas tank, and sure enough, empty. but then, we realized we were getting closer and closer to the rocks. i started to panic – if the motor crashed into the rocks, surely it would break. we just finally got it fixed! we grabbed the oars and started pushing against the rocks, but every time i’d push the back away, mom would push and the back would get closer to the rocks. i kept saying WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO? and got more and more panicky.
we tried paddling, but we didn’t make any progress. at some point i called kevin but of course he didn’t answer because he was asleep. i knew that amy would pick up her phone since we’d just talked to her, and sure enough, she answered. “did the boat break down and you’re stuck?” she answered. YES YOU HAVE TO GO WAKE UP KEVIN! i yelled.
she went over and woke him up, as mom and i continued to frantically push at the rocks. kevin, groggy, talked to me. “where are you?” he asked. i thought i told him we were at lincoln greens, but later he said that all he heard was WE’RE ON THE ROCKS! and lots of shrieking.
i threw the phone down on the seat because i had to push some more plus i was deathly afraid i was going to drop it in the water. i told mom that maybe i should jump in and pull the boat away. mom pointed out that there was lots of poison ivy in amongst the bank of trees that we suddenly got lodged in.
we lifted up the back platform to look at the gas tank again, and somehow both of us let go and i got hit in the head with the platform. no time to yell, though, because we HAD TO DO SOMETHING. i told kevin there was gas in the second tank, and he told me i had to attach the gas line to the motor. i climbed over the seat and did that, and furiously pumped the ball so that the gas would flow…but it wasn’t working.
meanwhile, we started to drift away from the rocks. mollie was with us, and at one point she had gotten close to the front and i was afraid she was going to leap ashore, wanting to get away from her crazed mom.
but as we drifted away, i thought, maybe we can just drift home. kevin said we’d have to pour the gas from one tank into the other. unfortunately, the funnel was back at the dock. this could be very very messy and we would soon be covered in gasoline.
mom waved at a passing boat, and they waved back. but then, while were despairing, the people CAME BACK. joe and jody, they were driving an older speed boat and asked us what was wrong and i gave a too-lengthy explanation. he said they’d been there before, and they would tow us home YEA!!!
he threw me their rope, and then he came aboard and tied it on for me because of course i suck at knot-tying. mollie half-heartedly barked at him but he didn’t mind.
he climbed back on his boat and they slowly towed us home.
whew.
kevin greeted us at the dock, and tied us up.
later he told me he’d never said anything about the engine being full, as a matter of fact, he’d thought about needing to get some gas before we went out today.
we both sat around for a while, me exhausted from being in a blind panic, him with low blood sugar. he finally got up to go to his tomb ceremony, and he headed out the door, but then he came back in. he couldn’t find his white uniform gloves. so we dashed around for about 15 minutes looking for them, i finally found them, and he headed off.
mom and i drove to the ceremony a little later and the place was more packed with cars than i’d ever seen.
suddenly there was kevin in his car in front of us – he couldn’t find any parking, plus he got there so late that they were already starting.
so, no tomb ceremony. instead we went right out to dinner.
it was delicious.
so far today is more calm. we’re going out in the boat this afternoon, as part of randy’s ongoing birthday week celebration. kevin has already got gas for the boat, plus he’s going along so there will be no need for me to HAVE A PANIC FIT.
ok then again,
still wednesday morning grace.