Home after Floating

The sky wasn’t as clear as the morning before but it cleared off quickly while out on my run. Instead of detouring towards the cabins or golf course, I ran the road out to the main park entrance. Again I spotted several deer along my run. I noticed that most of the park deer allow humans much closer than what one might normally expect. I ran about two miles out before turning around. The road was full of ups and downs matching the hilly terrain. On the run back in I happened upon a mother deer and her fawn. The fawn resembled Bambi, and was full of the telling spots. She was very cute. Back at the lodge our room was once again completely dark with the curtains drawn closed. I quietly went about rebrushing my teeth and grabbed my water bottle. I asked Jacob if he wanted to join me on a walk about the grounds. He didn’t. Instead, he chose to snuggle in bed with Mindy. I left camera on yet another adventure.

Out past the outdoor pool I found a large bonfire pit, tennis & volleyball courts, and another hiking trail heading off into the woods. I decided to take it. I didn’t go too far at all. However, I found a beautiful off shoot that ended on a huge protruding rock. There I sat over looking the lake all the while sunshine dappled the trees and under growth. It was a spectacular view. I chose to meditate form that spot and did for about ten solid minutes. I couldn’t believe how peaceful it was. I felt blessed to have such a view this morning. I made my way back to the room there after.

Finally, everyone was up by the time that I returned. I took a shower while everyone else readied. We left for breakfast around 8:45am. There was no breakfast buffet today. We each ordered entrees from the menu. To our dismay, the kids weren’t on their best behavior during our meal. They had to be corrected a couple of times. After our breakfast, which wasn’t nearly as good as the previous day’s, we set out on another hike despite Bella’s insistence against it. We took Big Buck trail, which is the same trail I ventured earlier in that morning. We all sat on the big rock hanging over the hill peering onto the lake through the heavy tree growth. It was totally cool. Bella seemed to enjoy today’s hike more than the prior day’s. Today she pointed out several spider webs seemingly without any fear. We hiked for just about 30 minutes. We had a bit of a time crunch. We needed to be checked out of our room by noon. It was about 11am upon our return to the room. We organized our gear still unsure of the day’s activities beyond checking out of the room. Mindy, Jacob, and I preferred boating all afternoon but Bella wanted to spend time at the outdoor pool. Mindy had promised her as much and wasn’t inclined to deny her request, although she did try reasoning with her, but to no avail.

In the end, we chose middle ground. After loading the Trooper, Mindy would take Bella to the pool while Jacob and I handled the checkout process and headed to the boat dock to ready the boat and fish. Actually, Jacob fished while I prepped the boat. Mindy and Bella swam for the twenty minutes it took to ready the boat for a day on the lake. Mindy called my cell about the same time that Jacob bored with fishing the unproductive waters. We drove to the lodge entrance where the two of them were just exiting – perfect timing!

We loaded into the boat and set out for what we hoped would be another happy day on the lake. Bella, once again, tubed out of the no-wake zone. Mindy skied right off the bat and until she took a pretty good tumble. She got in a couple good runs. Jacob opted against trying again. Instead, we decided to head to the north lake swim area. We hung there for about two hours all the while the kids played and we sunned. Around 2:30pm we pulled anchor and headed back to the dock to call it a trip. We got the boat out without nay trouble and had her road ready by 3:30pm. I was a smidge discouraged to find that the boat slipped back about 2 inches on the trailer as we pulled out, but that happens frequently, especially on steep docks. I fastened the trailer straps loosely in hopes of making a quick stop on a down hill. I tried unsuccessfully a few times as we exited the park. I stopped and tightened the trailer straps before exiting the park. The boat still sat about an inch from the desired rest. I figured that it wouldn’t be too huge a deal. Homeward!

We didn’t get too far before I realized that the boat was bouncing on the trailer making the Trooper bounce as well. It was concerning enough that after about twenty miles on the freeway I decided to exit and try tying it down more snuggly to the trailer. I found that even though my efforts to stop abruptly and bring the boat forward weren’t completely successful, it had moved forward enough to produce slack in the winch strap. I tightened that about a quarter crank and that held the boat tighter. Still, not wanting to risk having a major issue, I got some rope out of the boat and tied it through the winch hook and the trailer. Homeward … again.

That made a huge difference. I could no relax as we drove the final 80 miles home. It was a fast drive and an easy one. We didn’t hit any major traffic tie ups. However, 30 miles east of Columbus the traffic heading east began backing up and came to almost a complete stand still 5 miles outside of I-270. Yikes!!!! We arrived home between 530 & 6pm. We quickly unloaded our gear eager to get beyond the pain of unpacking. By 8pm we had everything unpacked, laundry started, and the watering done. Mindy and I sat on the deck sipping our favorite drinks leading up to Red, White, & Boom. Mindy went to bed just as it started. I stayed up ‘til 11pm.