The Boat...Chapter 7

The Boat…Chapter 7

Why was I busting my back side, not to mention the rest of my body, to get the boat ENTIRLY out of the water.  It was already out far enough, and snug as a bug, as they say, upon the rocks, that I could bail the water out of the boat…at least enough to make it floatable again.  I know, I know, some of you have been wondering why I had thought of that already.

Anyway, I started splashing the water out of the boat and it was working beautifully.  Within minutes I had most of the water out and was ready to head for the dock.  Of course, I wasn’t sure how I was going to get from my present location to the loading dock, which was within eye sight about a quarter of a mile away.  I couldn’t use the Mercury motor, because it was not working.  I couldn’t use the trolling motor because I no longer had a battery.  I did have one paddle with me (it’s wood, so it floated), but with a fairly stiff breeze blowing towards me, I could only imagine how long that would have taken, especially being as tired as I was.  The only option I could see was to hold the boat and WALK it to the dock staying as close to the shore as possible so I could touch the bottom.

I gathered up all that I had left and loaded it in the boat.  It was still afloat, yippee!  I started the trek around the edge of the lake.  I had no sooner got started when I heard an approaching boat.  I stopped, looked around behind me and putting down the lake was a small fishing boat with a couple of anglers inside.  I waited for them to see me and felt some relief in knowing that they could at least tow me the rest of the way to the dock.  They spotted me and I waved in their direction.  They waved back and kept on chugging along.  I waved again, with a little more SOS in my waving attitude, and they waved back, again…but kept on motoring past me as if nothing was out of sorts.  I just shook my head and kept on walking…or stumbling over the jagged, slippery rocks to be more precise. 

A couple of times along the way, the bottom disappeared and I had to swim as I dragged the boat, but at least it was only for 30-40 yards this time.  Finally, I was only a few yards from the boat ramp.  I tied the boat to the dock and dragged myself out of the water.  I practically crawled up the ramp and headed for my truck.  As I approached the top of the ramp, the road worker who was working on the dock spotted me.

“How come you’re all wet?”  He asked.

I just stared at him as a million smart aleck answers formed on my lips.

“Could you just tell me what time it is?”  I asked.

“Sure, it’s a little after three.”

Holy cow, I thought.  I have been at this for 5 hours. 

I got the truck, loaded the boat on the trailer and headed for home. 

Sarah is not going to believe this one.