Well, the golf was done and we were off to a cruise on the muddy Muskingum River aboard the Lorena Stern Wheeler. I know that seems like a strange way to arrange the parts of the name, but that was the way someone titled the boat when it got it's license from the Coast Guard and that is the proper way to address the boat.
What a beautiful afternoon for a cruise. I spent a lot of time as a young man on the Muskingum, running a ski boat up and down those waters. I also took my dad's pontoon boat out quite a bit when he and I would go fishing. In fact, Dave B. (when he was the 1SG) and I took a bunch of soldiers in our reserve unit down about 30 miles of the river in canoes one summer weekend, hunting down terrorists wanting to take over southern Ohio via the Muskingum.
When we were about 30 minutes out of port, when the Captain asked us us if we wanted to take a turn at the wheel. Every time I took some
one with me when I went flying, I always let them fly the plane once we were off the ground and on our way, so I thought this would be way cool. What a blast.
Right away I thought back to the heyday of stern wheelers and who would be piloting boats up and down this river in the days of Twain and the like. The Lorena had a whole wall of pictures of stern wheelers from long ago. Some of them were destroyed by the ice in the winter -- crushed by ice flows, and some were destroyed by flooding. However, many of them were blown up by explosions of their boilers. Not much worry of that on this boat, but just the same, it was fun being in control of a 60-ton stern wheeler. Not many people can say that happened in their life.
By the way, Dave (blue shirt-right) was really in his element. He was in the Navy before he enlisted in the Army, but I doubt he ever got anywhere close to driving his boat (ship) in the Navy. Notice the ear to ear smile he has on his face.
So, reader, as you can tell, we had a great time on this road trip. I discovered two people on the boat who worked with my dad and they talked very highly of him. That certainly made my day. We got to play golf at two pretty nice courses, ate at a pretty fair eatery, and got to renew friendships on a leisurely cruise on a river boat. All in all, I would say this was a keeper.
“Go often to the house of a friend; for weeds soon choke up the unused path.”
Hooah
1 comment:
As a participant of the road trip, I concur...it was a GREAT time and I can't wait to start making plans for next year! Both courses were great to play on, I had a very good steak for dinner and a wonderful time on the Riverboat. I hadn't had a chance to talk with ole 1SG Dave B for nearly 20 years and meeting Bob D was a real pleasure. It was amazing how the conversations flowed after all these years. We all have a few wrinkles, a few more gray hairs, a couple more lbs around the middle but the camaraderie was still there. By the way, if Bob D or Dave B is reading this, I promise I'll hit the ball past the ladies tee next year!!!
Mike, you have done another fabulous job on your blog! Keep it up!
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