No More Boating For Us-- Part 3: Our First Boat in 1985

Only one problem remaining with getting a boat.  In order to go boating one must know hoe to tie knots.  I have never been good at knots-- ever.  I never got past Tenderfoot in Boy Scouts because to be Second Class, you had to pass a knots test.  That just never happened.

The owner of the Puppet Bar, Joe Gates, with great difficulty, taught me how to tie one knot which would suffice to tie the boat up at docks.  After about a month of practice I "mastered" it.  Now, we can get a boat.  I STILL know how to tie that knot.  Thanks, Joe.

And, get a boat we did.  It was used.1979 Imperial and we bought it in 1985.  I forget how much we paid for it.  It was a 17-foot gold flake on top and white modified tri-hull and did we ever use it and have a good time on it that year.  We went out every day, even on the weekends when the Chain of Lakes is really crowded.  That is, we went out during the summer when I wasn't deejaying, and I did that a lot.

We paid for it with deejay money (as we did for the lot where we're at now and to have the basement finished with our Margaritaville bar.

Had I not started deejaying, I doubt that we would ever have had a boat.

Anyway, that was the first boat.

--RoadDog

No More Boating for Us-- Part 2: Best Two Days In A Boater's Life

Continued from July 26, 2019.

They say that the two best days of a boater's life are the day he buys his first boat and the day they sell their boat.  Well, it should be said the day they sell their last boat.  In between, the first and last boat, when they sell, they buy another boat.

But, you get to the point where it is not as much fun as it was at first.  That is what happened to us.  When we got our first boat in 1985, we were out in it just about every day for the rest of the summer.  Being teachers, we had the summer off so got to enjoy it seven days a week and believe me, we did.  Even with all the boats out on the water on the weekends, though I was often deejaying then.

My parents never had a boat, nor did Liz's, so we were new to the game in 1985.  Even though we lived in Round Lake Beach, just a few miles from the Chain of Lakes (and had been since 1975) we never partied out on the lakes at all.

But, when I started deejaying, I got regular jobs at Neptune's Cove on Fox Lake and the Puppet Bar (Eagle Point Park) on Pistakee Lake.  Both are on the Chain of Lakes.  I saw all the boaters coming in and having such a good time, well, I got to thinking maybe I should get me a boat.

--RoadBoat

No More Boating for Us-- Part 1: Woe Is My Boat

This past week, Liz and I entered a new era.  We no longer have a boat.  That is after 33 years and three boats, two of which we bought new.

There were several reasons for this.  One is that we are just getting kinda old.  Climbing in and out of the boat (an open bow 19-footer) seems to be getting a bit harder.  Plus, bad boating weather with cold springs, flooding and way too hot on occasions has eaten into boating time in a big way.  Also, we didn't get the boat into the water until July the past seven years.

We found out about a local boat/car detailing place which sells boats on commission and take car of the whole selling of the boat, including making sure it is in good shape and going out on test runs.  This made the whole selling of the boat much easier.

We sold the 2003 Bayliner which we bought for $13,000 back then.  We had 15 years of great times on it.  We don't count last year as we never had it in the water, between a late start as usual and repairs.

A-Boating We Won't Be Doing Anymore.  --RoadShipless

TRIVIA TEASER:  What kind of an animal was Baby in the 1938 screwball comedy film "Bringing Up baby"?   Answer below.

Leopard