We took the boat up to the lake yesterday.  Ha Ha, it really couldn't have gone any worse!  I shouldn't say that ...there's lots of worse things that could have happened!  We were actually quite blessed now that I think about it.

Anyway, this is how it went..

Kelley has been anxious to get the boat out of the back yard so he could get it all cleaned up back there and move the wood.  We thought Friday would be good because KC could go that day.  We have had a really cold week with rain, wind and snow.  Oh Utah!  Really???

It was supposed to be warming up by Friday though so we thought it would be okay.

Kelley asked Dave if he'd like to go too so Friday morning we got everything we thought we'd need on the boat loaded up, and Kelley pulled the boat out.  This is a process in itself because it just barely fits under the maple tree and through the gate.  When he pulled forward a bit though, he realized that one of the trailer lights wasn't working. (There was an incident last fall when Dan ran into the boat...it also made a hole in the boat which Kelley and Lynn welded last fall  Ha!  There's always an adventure with Dan!)  Anyway, they fiddled with it but couldn't get it to work so we decided to go for it anyway.  That might have been the first sign that we shouldn't go.

 When we got up to the lake, it was snowing.  Haaaa!  It was not terribly cold though... Dave and I were talking about it and decided it's not too bad if the wind isn't blowing and it wasn't so we got ready to launch the boat.  Kelley went into the marina to get the new paperwork for this year and they said the boat wasn't registered so we had to take care of that first...oh my goodness.  Kelley tried to wrangle with the insurance guy to show proof we were insured, then with Cody, who wasn't working that day, so Kelley would have had to give credit card into to some kid he didn't even know, then Dan who was in St. George and all the while, his phone kept cutting out because we barely have service up there.  We finally got through to Dan and he said he'd take care of it so we put the boat on the water. Whew!
We fished over at east portal for quite a while without even getting a nibble.  It was fun anyway though.  Dave is a hoot and we had a good time just visiting with him.  As you can see, he was trying to counter act all the Utah attire with his BYU clothes.  Ha! 

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 I had on at least 5 layers and kept pretty warm till the wind started to blow....

We decided to try a new spot, but when KC tried to move the boat, the steering was kind of loose.  He had to turn the steering wheel a lot to make it turn.  It was still quite doable though so he drove to a new spot and we stopped and fished for awhile again.  

The wind was really starting to pick up now so I was hiding in the cabin.  Golly I'm grateful for that cabin!  I am definitely a fair weather fisherman!  The guys were thinking that we should just cut our losses and head back too...the wind was really rocking the boat and we weren't even getting a bite.

So KC started the boat up and headed for the dock.  He was really struggling with the steering though...he was turning the steering wheel like crazy, but the engine would barely turn.

As we got closer, we started looking for our dock number...D2.  This was a new slip because they said our old wasn't available and this one was a little cheaper.  We couldn't see any marking on the docks so KC Pulled up to the outer dock as good as he could and Kelley got off the boat so he could find out where our slip was.  In the mean time, the wind was blowing us away and the steering had gone completely out.  I felt so bad for KC!  He was doing all he could to keep us close to the dock.  The engine was turned to one side which made it so we could only go to the right.  He said for me to see if I could move the engine manually so I went back there and tried my best but it wouldn't budge.  We were getting pretty worried at this point...I don't know what we would have done if we had floated out to the middle of the lake again.  I was praying so hard to not let that happen but the wind and the waves were taking us away.  All the sudden this guy come down the dock and yells "do you need some help?"  We were like "Yes!  we don't have any steering!"  He had us throw a rope to him, and he pulled us in to the dock.   At this point we didn't care where our slip was, we were just happy to not be floating off into oblivion. 

Kelley came up the dock then and said our slip was clear at the front but there was no way we would be able to get the boat up there without any steering, so we decided to tie it off good there on the end and then come back with some steering fluid the next day.  As we were walking up to the marina to tell them what was going on, a guy that worked there asked us which slip was ours.  We told him D2.  He said "what boat is yours?"  We showed him and he said "are you sure it's D2? because there's no way that boat will fit in that slip."

He showed us what slip it was and it was for a very small boat.  Ha!  Not way funny though because they had told us all the other slips were full!  Kelley and Dave went into the marina to talk to them about the situation and they said we could have that end spot where the boat was parked...for a price. They've really jacked the prices up this year, which I guess they can because what else are you going to do?   

 So anyway, that's what happened.  Not a great start to the fishing season!  I was apologizing to Dave cause it was such a sucky day and he was like "oh I had a great time!  It was exciting and I just like hanging out with you guys!"  He is such a good guy!  We're truly blessed to have him and Earline for our friends! 

Looking back, I think I'll count my blessings of that day though because it surely could have gone much worse!