As soon as I get them available I'll post some pics of the weekend my son Jonathan and I had - it was one of those father/son encounters that he'll likely remember when he's middle aged like me and his Daddy is either in Florida, a nursing home, or Heaven...
Mom went away with the girls, so on Friday Junior and I loaded up the Glastron with provisions, lashed his bicycle in the cockpit for the first time sans training wheels, and headed off on an overnight camping trip to Norrie Park. Its a great place for smaller boats to overnight because (1) its cheap at $1 per foot, and (2) they have good, clean restrooms and showers. Plus its quiet and pleasant there. We barbecued in the park overlooking the River, did some fishing, and on Saturday morning he tried his bike. Talk about scary moments - I realized I hadn't the foggiest clue how to teach him to ride the thing!!!
After a bunch of spills, he finally went about 20 feet and then crashed. Well he got up with the biggest smile on his face because he knew now that he could do it with practice. So he went 30 feet the next time, then 40, then 50, then finally was doing loops in the parking lot. Then he said to me, "Dad, can we stay another night?" so I had to do some thinking - we had taken the cuddy cabin and I had only planned for one night out so all the rest of the food was back in Eddyville on the big boat. So we improvised - a ride to Mariner's in Highland for a late lunch, and while we were there I ordered an extra portion and asked them to bag it for me. A rather expensive doggy bag I know, but it did the trick. Junior enjoyed watching those enormous carp they have down there competing with the ducks and geese for all the table scraps from the restaurant. Then we headed back to Norrie for more bike riding, and a late dinner overlooking the river thanks to the doggie bag and my Coleman stove...
Saturday night we caught and released some nice big catfish, then went for a nighttime stroll on the dock before turning in for some bedtime reading - Junior was reading a book on, of all things, the Titanic so he was asking me a lot of questions...
Sunday morning we did more bike riding, then as it was getting cloudy we slipped the lines and headed back to the Rondout, an uneventful 1 hour trip dock to dock. We were tied up for about 1/2 hour back at home when a huge thunderstorm swept by, so we thanked the good Lord for our fortuitous timing in getting back when we did...
I've never seen my son so happy as he was on this little trip. The whole weekend cost about $200 including food, fuel and docking, which is a bargain in boating terms. And Jonathan learned how to ride his bike, and improved his skills at being a good crewmember during docking and other maneuvers. Plus he caught some nice fish to brag about. Yep, sometimes things actually go RIGHT when you own a boat
!!!
Mom went away with the girls, so on Friday Junior and I loaded up the Glastron with provisions, lashed his bicycle in the cockpit for the first time sans training wheels, and headed off on an overnight camping trip to Norrie Park. Its a great place for smaller boats to overnight because (1) its cheap at $1 per foot, and (2) they have good, clean restrooms and showers. Plus its quiet and pleasant there. We barbecued in the park overlooking the River, did some fishing, and on Saturday morning he tried his bike. Talk about scary moments - I realized I hadn't the foggiest clue how to teach him to ride the thing!!!
After a bunch of spills, he finally went about 20 feet and then crashed. Well he got up with the biggest smile on his face because he knew now that he could do it with practice. So he went 30 feet the next time, then 40, then 50, then finally was doing loops in the parking lot. Then he said to me, "Dad, can we stay another night?" so I had to do some thinking - we had taken the cuddy cabin and I had only planned for one night out so all the rest of the food was back in Eddyville on the big boat. So we improvised - a ride to Mariner's in Highland for a late lunch, and while we were there I ordered an extra portion and asked them to bag it for me. A rather expensive doggy bag I know, but it did the trick. Junior enjoyed watching those enormous carp they have down there competing with the ducks and geese for all the table scraps from the restaurant. Then we headed back to Norrie for more bike riding, and a late dinner overlooking the river thanks to the doggie bag and my Coleman stove...
Saturday night we caught and released some nice big catfish, then went for a nighttime stroll on the dock before turning in for some bedtime reading - Junior was reading a book on, of all things, the Titanic so he was asking me a lot of questions...
Sunday morning we did more bike riding, then as it was getting cloudy we slipped the lines and headed back to the Rondout, an uneventful 1 hour trip dock to dock. We were tied up for about 1/2 hour back at home when a huge thunderstorm swept by, so we thanked the good Lord for our fortuitous timing in getting back when we did...
I've never seen my son so happy as he was on this little trip. The whole weekend cost about $200 including food, fuel and docking, which is a bargain in boating terms. And Jonathan learned how to ride his bike, and improved his skills at being a good crewmember during docking and other maneuvers. Plus he caught some nice fish to brag about. Yep, sometimes things actually go RIGHT when you own a boat
!!!