allisonandrews
Senior Cook
We had a very educational camping/boating trip this weekend, and I though I could be kind and share some of our lessons learned.
1. When the wind picks up and the sky begins to grey, put up your awning. Luckily, we did this and got to witness the aftereffects of the "lesson learned". The guy ended up on top of his camper with a sledge hammer trying to get the poles to fold up so he could leave. (The only thing new on our camper is our awning, so we take it up often and don't take chances of the wind getting it.)
2. Sometimes, when you are out in the boat and there is another boat headed straight towards you, there might be a reason. Hence, try to see who is in the boat before you begin cussing them out for coming too close. Yes, our friends we bought the boat from bought a brand new boat and found us on the lake. They were trying to catch up to us as we were trying to allude them. Finally recognized them and everthing made sense. We just muttered a few choice words about their driving skills before the recognition.
3. Secure your lifejackets. We bought two new additional life jackets for this weekend. Hubby crammed them under a back seat. Our good life jackets made the ride safely, but the two new ones blew out on the way - never even got used.
4. Alcohol plus pants plus a boat with a really deep hull plus night time equals a less than graceful dismount. Our boat is fairly easy to get out of. We can beach it pretty far up and the water is normally around shin to calf deep. Well, one night we went for a ride in a friends boat pretty late at night. We had been drinking, so our coordination was not the best (the three riders in the group - not the friend that was driving the boat). Well, about 11:15pm or so, we decide to go back, so they pull the boat up into our cove. Well, I have forgotten that we are farther out so that the water is now deeper and it is a much further drop down. Also, I am wearing pants that were wet earlier and now are just sticky. As I tried to slide off the front of the boat, my pants caught and I slid sideways and basically just fell on my back in the water. So, I was soaked head to toe. Our friend with us laughed at me, so I grabbed him around the neck and threw him in the water. Then my husband laughed at him, so he went after my husband and tackled him. We were all soaking wet and had sand all over us.
5. When someone tells you that you can touch somewhere, don't always believe them. My husband hopped off in what he though was waist deep water and went under a foot or two. He popped right back up holding his hat. He took two steps and was in waist deep water. Apparently there are some holes/dropoffs in that lake.
6. Take the key out of the boat or at least remember to tun it off. We went to pick up the boat on Monday and David had left the key turned on and the battery was dead.
7. Make sure your toe rope does not get hooked around your swim ladder. Ours did and ripped off the last two boards. Hubby spent all day yesterday fixing that one.
There were lots of other adventures and we had a blast, but there were lots of silly mistakes. We even had a brisket that wasn't half bad. It was wrapped in foil and cooked over a campfire for a few hours.
1. When the wind picks up and the sky begins to grey, put up your awning. Luckily, we did this and got to witness the aftereffects of the "lesson learned". The guy ended up on top of his camper with a sledge hammer trying to get the poles to fold up so he could leave. (The only thing new on our camper is our awning, so we take it up often and don't take chances of the wind getting it.)
2. Sometimes, when you are out in the boat and there is another boat headed straight towards you, there might be a reason. Hence, try to see who is in the boat before you begin cussing them out for coming too close. Yes, our friends we bought the boat from bought a brand new boat and found us on the lake. They were trying to catch up to us as we were trying to allude them. Finally recognized them and everthing made sense. We just muttered a few choice words about their driving skills before the recognition.
3. Secure your lifejackets. We bought two new additional life jackets for this weekend. Hubby crammed them under a back seat. Our good life jackets made the ride safely, but the two new ones blew out on the way - never even got used.
4. Alcohol plus pants plus a boat with a really deep hull plus night time equals a less than graceful dismount. Our boat is fairly easy to get out of. We can beach it pretty far up and the water is normally around shin to calf deep. Well, one night we went for a ride in a friends boat pretty late at night. We had been drinking, so our coordination was not the best (the three riders in the group - not the friend that was driving the boat). Well, about 11:15pm or so, we decide to go back, so they pull the boat up into our cove. Well, I have forgotten that we are farther out so that the water is now deeper and it is a much further drop down. Also, I am wearing pants that were wet earlier and now are just sticky. As I tried to slide off the front of the boat, my pants caught and I slid sideways and basically just fell on my back in the water. So, I was soaked head to toe. Our friend with us laughed at me, so I grabbed him around the neck and threw him in the water. Then my husband laughed at him, so he went after my husband and tackled him. We were all soaking wet and had sand all over us.
5. When someone tells you that you can touch somewhere, don't always believe them. My husband hopped off in what he though was waist deep water and went under a foot or two. He popped right back up holding his hat. He took two steps and was in waist deep water. Apparently there are some holes/dropoffs in that lake.
6. Take the key out of the boat or at least remember to tun it off. We went to pick up the boat on Monday and David had left the key turned on and the battery was dead.
7. Make sure your toe rope does not get hooked around your swim ladder. Ours did and ripped off the last two boards. Hubby spent all day yesterday fixing that one.
There were lots of other adventures and we had a blast, but there were lots of silly mistakes. We even had a brisket that wasn't half bad. It was wrapped in foil and cooked over a campfire for a few hours.