A full day on the Fourth

The fourth is history!  We swam and boated all day.  I’m not sure where we went, but we were out all day long.  The shore line is all houses, with parties in almost every place.

This is an old lake, that is completely inhabited on every foot of shore line.  There is no wilderness anywhere.  Only the very back swampy ends of coves are woods.

At least half the boat population was out on the lake all at once.  The traffic on the lake is mostly speed boats, and the water gets quite rough, so we bounced a lot.  The bigger boats make large wakes, and the water comes over the bow and runs down the center of the floor.  But we had fun!

This evening we barbecued pork chops and bratwurst, along with the salads.  You know, potato, macaroni, lettuce and so on.  Then it was off to the fireworks.

The Lodge of the Four Seasons is a resort at the 14 mile mark from the dam.  They have had fireworks out over the water for as many years as I can remember.  All the guests flock to the shoreline and out on a big party boat to watch the fireworks.  Its a ritual every big holiday.  Especially the fourth of July.

Tonight we went to the cove across the back side of the resort. This is close enough to see the fireworks, and there were hundreds of boats waiting.  All milling around  and drifting.  Some were anchored, but there were enough boats that you could have walked from boat to boat. 

It was a hazy steamy evening, as it had rained hard only an hour before.  Folks were shooting off fireworks on shore and the smoke was creating a smog drifting over the water.  As it got dark, the show began, but so did the sprinkles.

As the big booms from the shells rattled the water, we also heard mother nature thunder in answer to the man made noise.  The rain increased.  As the grand finale was beginning to climb into the sky, the wind came up and the rain was blinding. 

Hundreds of boats started their engines and headed at once for home.  We were out in front, as we had left before the show ended.  We were soaked completely thru our clothes. Boats were going in all directions in the rainy darkness.

We headed out down the center of the main channel of the river, as we had about 3 miles to go before entering our own cove.  Water ran from the sides of the bimini top  in the torrent.  The kids and the gals were huddled on the floor under some towels trying to stay dry.

So what was to be a demonstration of fireworks in celebration of our nation’s independence, became a demonstration of our earth’s awesome power of wind, rain, lightening and thunder.  A real grand finale.

Retired Rod