Boating the Muskingum River 2010
We’ve observed the first snowflakes of the season here in our part of the country, and our boat is safely stored away. Now our thoughts can reflect back to some of the experiences we shared with our friends this past summer. The atmosphere this summer was somewhat different, perhaps even subdued. The spontaneous fun that we’ve always enjoyed was somewhat lackluster, maybe due to the effects the economy and the job market has had on us all. Many of our friends have lost their jobs; others seemed concerned about their futures. This is not to say that we didn’t have some fun times, but the pall of uncertainty did seem to have its effect.
The rising cost of the gasoline required to operate our boats was also a defining factor, and we did a lot more floating than running at speed, but that sometimes turned out to be a good thing. We often rafted our boats off together and allowed the current to take us slowly down the river while we kicked back and listened to music or had some wonderful conversations with our friends. The sometimes quiet peaceful times often seemed to have a calming effect allowing us an escape from our worries for a while.
My daughter gifted me with an iPod for Christmas two years ago that we now use as the source for music on our boat. This has proved to be the best solution for us as of yet to have and enjoy our favorite artist without incurring all the hassle of finding a place to store all our cds safely away. We have many that are older and would be difficult or impossible to replace if they were lost or somehow damaged. My husband spent a lot of time pulling our favorites cuts off our cds and downloading several songs we did not own from the iTunes library. There was a considerable amount of muttering while he was attempting to navigate iTunes website, but he did a wonderful job. We love to push full random play and wonder what song we will hear next, we have everything from old vintage rock to country and even some of the newer music so it is always different. It is great to look at each other and smile when one of our favorites plays, and say together “good song”.
We’re still very happy with our boat, all the hard work building it has proven out well worth the effort. I would not trade her for one of the fancier, much more expensive houseboats that we’ve had the pleasure to see and board. I’m just so grateful we decided to pay for everything as the work progressed on her, and we’re are not hampered with a burdensome boat payment that may have taken the pleasure of using and enjoying her completely out of our budget. Especially after all the curves the economy seems to have thrown our way.
Some may feel that our boat may be a little too plain, but it is very efficient and it is “comfortable”. Our floating “home away from home” is easy to clean and maintain, and everything we need stows away neatly. We’ve added a few new touches to it every year that adds to both our enjoyment and comfort. I’m planning to make some new cushions for it over the winter. The cushions in the breakfast nook and the built in sofa need better foam so we’ll sleep more comfortably. The fabric that I initially made the cushions from is fading from the sun and is beginning to look a little shabby. I will order denser foam and marine vinyl to make the new set. That should hopefully solve that problem for quite awhile.
Those of you that have read our other posts know that we spend a good bit of time parked on a sandbar in our favorite pool in the river. This year several of our friends decided to spend the night parked on the sand bar overnight with us, we had a lot of fun dancing to the music, sharing our food and drinks and resources all gathered around a bon fire. Fortunately our friends also share our determination to leave the area clean and leaving no indication that anyone had even been there other than the indentation marks from the pontoons and a few footprints in the sand. There is an unspoken rule that we all abide by to protect the river and the resources that we all share.
This year due to the generosity of our friends, we had the privilege of building and adding a dock on their riverfront property. My husband built the dock, which is beautiful and sturdy enough to have a good-sized party on. Read more about how he built the dock here .
Overall, we had a good boating season we also made the trip downriver to attend the Sternwheeler Festival in Marietta, Ohio and had a great time. We had beautiful weather and enjoyed the fantastic fireworks display that was set off from one of the highway bridges. Boating down the Muskingum River through all the historical locks, enjoying the beautiful scenery, with the company of our friends down the river added and made another page in our book of enjoyable memories. We’re already anxiously looking forward to the upcoming year sharing and making more pleasant memories with all our river friends.
Here's to meeting up and sharing some space on the water sometime.
From,
PontoonHouseboatOdyssey
Posted by blog.houseboatodyssey1.com at 11/28/2010 4:31 PM 
Categories: Building Materials, boat recreation, Boating, Muskingum River, Pontoon Houseboat (s):Pontoon Houseboat, boating recreation, Boating Activities, Houseboat (s), Article, Boats, Entertaining
Tags: Muskingum River boating houseboat pontoon Ipod
Categories: Building Materials, boat recreation, Boating, Muskingum River, Pontoon Houseboat (s):Pontoon Houseboat, boating recreation, Boating Activities, Houseboat (s), Article, Boats, Entertaining
Tags: Muskingum River boating houseboat pontoon Ipod
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