Effie Loves to go Boating~~Cooper Hates (Floating) Boat Docks...

Yesterday was one of our first gorgeous days here. We hit temps in the 80's hooray!  Art and I wanted to go do something fun and exciting.  We have ordered an inflatable kayak and so we wanted to see what the dogs would think of the water.  We went over to the marina and rented a pontoon boat. The water was so choppy due to the heavy winds, so we rocked and rolled.  At first the dogs were a little freaked out. They hid under my coat and then slowly they decided hey this is fun, well Effie did, Cooper finally just feel asleep. It wasn't long Effie was doing this.....  ( don't worry we have life jackets on order for them the ones with the handle so we can grab them)

The wind was still cool on the water for a while. She just stood up and wanted to see out I guess.  It was just adorable. I must have taken 20 pictures of her doing this. And most of them look the same :))))

                       Then the sun warmed things up alot and off came the sweater.

I couldn't believe she wasn't scared. Effie is the timid one, always unsure of things, scared to get far from your side.  So this really surprised me.  This is one of my favorites.....

Looks like she is watching the water swish out of the motor.  Or Art said she might be praying as there were a few times when the boat really rocked. :)   Here is what Cooper did while Effie was enjoying the scenery......

He was enjoying the sun rays.  It didn't take him long though in that black coat to get warm and move.

We pulled the boat into a cove to get out of the wind and dropped the anchor and ate our lunch I had packed of sandwiches and chips. It was so peaceful and serene.....ahhhh

This particular cove is Allen's Creek.  There were a few boats in there fishing. The water was so calm compared to the middle of the lake and warmer too.  I expected to see a deer come wondering down and take a drink.

We rented the boat for 4 hours and it went so fast. I could have spent 4 more out there. There is just something so relaxing about being on the water. We have been reading and studying up on the inflatable kayaks by Sea Eagle and we finally took the plunge and ordered it yesterday. It would be mainly for places like the above picture. There were people kayaking out in the middle and they were bobbling more that anything. It didn't look all that fun to me.

After we ate lunch we drove over to the boat ramp at Hardin Ridge to dock and go to the restroom.  They have a floating dock and there was no way Cooper was walking on it.  Art had to carry him. Effie jumped off onto it walked up pottied, and then ran back down and jumped on the boat herself.  She was ready for more sailing. I think she could have gone 4 more hours too.

After we turned the boat back in we drove around the campground that is in the State Recreational Area called Paynetown.  We were driving and then came to this road block...

"Cleo, would you hurry and pick out a site before we get run over by a car."

"Now Calvin, stopped that crooked neck posture it will not make me go any faster."

"Oh Cal, I think this is the spot. Close to the lake, no people around, plenty of green grass to eat."

"Cleo!!! Read the sign."  "OH no we have to start all over."  " Don't think I like that fire grate either, gives me the creeps."

Art suggested we take the dogs for a ride in the truck down to the boat ramp and get some sun set pictures. What with the Mini Cooper and the golf cart it doesn't get driven much.
The sun was so pretty and the more it went down the prettier the sky became.

                                        And then my favorite one of all tonight.....

Isn't it amazing how the sky just gets so dramatic as the sun sets. 

We were not the only ones watching the sun go down this family of geese were floating on the water near us and they had 2 little ones... And hopefully there was one sitting somewhere on a nest and that one wasn't a loner.  That is sad.  

 

Boy was she keeping an eye on us.

         Love this one's splash landing.  So graceful I would probably end butt up!

That is all tonight from Hardin Ridge. Hope you enjoyed our little boat adventure and Cooper has asked no one please make fun of him. Effie is doing enough of that!  :)

I Hope This Never Happens to YOU!!!

Hello, we're back! And so happy about that.  The RV is well and was an easy fix...how wonderful.  The problem was the elbow into the grey holding tank was at a bad angle and not glued, so when the tank was full the water ran out, which is what happened to us. That is where all that water came from.  Modern Trailer Sales in Anderson, IN is where we bought the unit. We had heard their service department was very good, and it was! We told them when we arrived this and asked them not to "let us down" and they did not. They did a wonderful job. They pulled our unit into the bay the minute we arrived and worked on it all day until every job and every concern we had was attended to.  We thanked them when we left on doing such a speedy job and they said they knew this was our home now and wanted to get us back in it as soon as possible. The only trying part of the day was killing 4 hours, walking through Walmart. I was looking for a blue vest to put on and see if they would employ me for that time we were there :)  I can tell you where everything is in the Anderson Walmart now!  I am not a shopper but we wanted to stay in the area as we didn't want to use any more diesel fuel than we already had.  I called Keystone while we were there and expressed our concerns about being in the unit only 4 weeks and now this problem. I also said it cost us $100 in diesel to bring it to the dealer to be fixed and that if it happened again in the 'very near' future we would like to be compensated for fuel and she said that would be an option for us. That was nice to know. I told them all the good things we loved about the RV and I could hear her typing the whole time I was talking. :)
I would have blogged sooner but we were having internet issues and now they are resolvd so I'm back!

OK, now on to the title of the blog today. This entry is going to be different than my usual wildlife photos. I thought you might be interested in seeing what happened to a camper here in the park on the Sunday night before we left. We were all gathered at the office having a pitch in dinner. A lady came walking up to the door and was crying and said they needed help as her husband had the camper stuck in the gate house drive. Hmmm.... he was stuck all right.  I wanted to tell you the pictures were all taken by Iphones and not cameras so the quality will not be as good. 

Can you see the problem????

If you said it didn't fit, you were right.

 

See the sign that says Keep Right...he didn't.  We were told he did not want to go to the right (where golf cart is)  because of the speed bumps. They cause the items in the shelves to be jostled.  I think he has more problems than dishes being out of place now. 

This was taken on top of the roof and as you can see he broke the beam that measures 10 x 10 and moved the entire building on its foundation.  He tried to back out before help arrived and that caused more damage to trailer and gate house.

You can see the roof how it buckled, and the steel plate that was holding the big beam in place was bent in the middle.  The speed limit was 25mph.  You can determine yourself if you think the magnitude of the damage was done under that speed limit.  Hmmm????

In the first picture you can see the yellow cone that hangs down to remind people of the height. And you can see the sign in this one also. It was asked why they didn't make this taller when they built it but apparently it was constructed in the 70's when RV's were not this tall.

We talked that the trailer probably suffered major structural damage. Wondering if they will total it?

I guess he was frustrated with the Forest Service for not putting a warning sign on this side of the gate house also.  Again....hmmmm!  He came in the front entrance and had to go to the outside lane of the gate house to keep from having "This" happen. The beams didn't magically raise several inches in the few days he was here.

We all make mistakes and dumb ones at that. At least I know we have. We all started telling stories about the dumb things we have done while waiting on the wrecker to come and pull him out. It turned out to be quite funny. Found out even the "pros" have made some blunders of their own.  I won't mention any names here of course ;)

Here we are parked in the barn lot (which was quiet to sleep in. NOT ). We stayed at the house to spend time with Hannah before we came back. I always thought this place was quiet and peaceful until trying to sleep with the animals. The turkeys and geese partied until wee hours of the morning. :)  In my next blog I'll share the wild life photos I captured in the pond and bushes. 

It looks like a used RV sales lot.  That is Hannah and Dan's trailer they just bought.

I want to wish Kevin a Happy 70th Birthday.  He is the Assistant Manager here at the park.  They surprised him with cake at our safety meeting yesterday.

Happy Birthday Kevin....cute hat!  :))))

See you should never stick your tongue out at the photographer....they can get even.

That's about it from soggy, rainy Hardin Ridge.  Hope everyone has been healthy and happy while we've been away, I hope to catch up on some blogs now. 

     So from Hardin Ridge in Hoosier National Forest best wishes everyone.