At the Cabin Part Two: The Craziest Boat Ride Ever

The first night at the cabin Auntie Dot had the excellent idea of going on a sunset boat ride around the perimeter of the lake.  We left Baby Katherine with Uncle Don, and convinced Dr. Peds to fire up the pontoon, and then we gathered all of the other kidlets, their sweatshirts and lifejackets and started loading the boat.

First of all, I need to tell you about the pontoon at the cabin.  The pontoon is wonderful, and probably nearing the end of its very useful, long life.  It’s a trooper, that pontoon, and still somehow manages to run even though it kind of looks like it’s falling apart.  Seats are missing. The seats that are left are so wobbly it they feel like a carnival ride.  The paint is chipped and gone in some places.  Things are dented.  The pontoon is loved, and used, and I like it just fine.  It turns out that the pontoon also has leaky pontoons, which causes the back of the boat to sink down into the water and the front of the boat to pop out of the water, even though pontoons really aren’t supposed to do that.  Plus, all the water in the pontoons means that the boat travels very, very slow at its maximum speed.

We loaded all the people onto the pontoon and several of the patio chairs to sit on since there aren’t many seats left.  By this time Mr. Trouble on Feet was screaming.  He was terrified and wailing.  He didn’t want to be left behind on shore.  He didn’t want to get on the boat because it was scary.  It turns out that although he really likes watching motorized boats out on the lake, he does not like them up close and personal.  He was clinging to me like a hungry leach.  I swear his appendages had suction cups.

Dr. Peds sat down in the drivers seat, only to realize that there was no key.  Someone went to fetch the key and came back.  The ropes holding the pontoon to the dock were loosened, and then we realized that the engine was not starting.  We drifted farther and farther from the dock and the motor was just grinding.  Dot threw a rope to Don who missed it because he was holding the baby, and we kept drifting.

Eventually the engine started, and we started creeping across the water at a snail’s pace.  The motor was making Mr. Trouble on Feet even more terrified, and he was screaming even louder than before.  Meanwhile, the other grown ups were trying to keep that bouncy Cousin Alex in check so he wouldn’t fall overboard because the door latch to the railing of the pontoon had broken and wouldn’t close.

We got about a quarter around the lake, when the beautiful sun set for good, and Dr. Peds went to turn on the boat lights, which didn’t work.  He made the mistake of mentioning that he hoped we wouldn’t get a ticket, an idea that sparked great anxiety from YaYa.

By this time Grandma Kathy was thinking, “What else could go wrong, and what was I thinking when I agreed to board this crazy boat?”  And then she and I got the giggles.

Eventually, at a sluggish speed, we got back to the shore, but when we approached the dock, it was a little bit tricky to get turned around just right, and then even trickier to get things tied back up, and we were all laughing pretty hard about the craziest boat ride ever.