Kalamazoo River Cruise
July 27, 2002
| The weather forecast was
awful! Thunderstorms, windy, hot & humid. Enough to keep most
sane old iron lovers in the friendly confines of their air conditioned
abodes (which nobody could blame them for). However, since it wasn't
raining or threatening badly (other than a very overcast and hazy sky) a
few couples ventured to the ramp. Unfortunately a couple of nature's
obstacles prevented us from going far. The river was very low and
the marshy "trail" to the river proper was virtually impossible to
traverse. Skip Finch, in the bow of my blue barge, managed to
somehow get us into the channel; I got my trusty Oliver running and we
circled a bit as Rog Dykehouse and wife tried to get their larger boat to
float enough to get out. No luck. We suggested to Rog that he
could go up the river to the "good" ramp and we would meet him there.
Just then the heavens opened up and there was quick consent among the four
of us aboard the blue barge that we get back on shore.
We got loaded and all decided, since we were prepared for picnicing, that we head for the Mt. Baldhead pavilion area across the river from the main part of Saugatuck. They have a large pavilion there which offers protection from the rain. Some 15 minutes later, the caravan arrived at Mt. Baldy. Hadn't rained a drop there, although it was still very overcast. Since it was dry, we grabbed a table on a deck overlooking the river action and spent a couple delightful hours eating and gabbing. After eating, the ladies wandered over to the Saugatuck Museum, located 100 yards or so away, and the boys continued telling lies and half-truths. Even though there wasn't much boating, we all thought it was a fun day. We look forward to doing it again next year - at a better ramp; with better weather; and better advance notice. -Dick Gorz A few pictures taken from the picnic deck. Click on the thumbnails for a full size picture:
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