Our boat "Wild Bunch."
Boat 'n Memories 1964
A few years after we moved into our new home on Red Dog road, Carl Wasley hit us up with a great deal...Why not buy his beautiful mahogany Century speed boat from him by just taking over the payments. Why not? How else are you going to have a great time learning why not. I thought we took more photos of our adventures water skiing with friends, but this is all I could find. They're terrible compared to what we can take today. The name of the boat was "Wild Bunch," although it probably fit Carl more than us. As you can see from the July, 1964 photo (right), our youngest child (Kirk) was only a year old.
We rented a boat birth at Englebright Dam (in Penn Valley) where we did most of our boating. Had to keep the wood boat in the water so it wouldn't dry out. (Until we discovered we could fill the hull with water a whole lot cheaper). We geared up with life vests for everyone, rope and water ski's, packed lunch's, soft drinks, water and we were off to the lake every chance we got. Every now and then we'd goof and had to be towed by somebody who might wind up circling the wagon that was to big to tow. It had a big engine and the wood hull made it heavier than most boats. One time little Kirk (who was still in diapers) got hold of the key and threw it overboard. This time we were lucky.
Englebright Dam.
I don't know who took the following photos, but it was impossible to get the right angle.
Mel's brother-in-law Fred Pena's in the water in the photo above. Mel's sister was pretty full figured, and after she went in she couldn't climb back into the boat, we couldn't lift her, so we had to gently pull her to shore in order for her to get in. We had lots of laughs together. I'm in the water on the right. The angle almost makes me seasick looking at it.
One time we were towing Jack Poulter behind us. He couldn't get upright on the skis, and the great swell of water was rolling over the top of him. His eyes were wide open, but he wouldn't let go of the tow handle. Wow! What a display of stamina...skiing underwater. I think we may have been at Collins Lake in Brown's Valley. Some of the Siller brothers (four guys altogether) were all behind us. Mel thought he'd better give the boat a little more throttle. Later, either Chuck or Neil told us they were afraid to let go. We realized that more power isn't proper. Nor are you supposed to ski for a couple of hours at a time. I could hardly move the rest of the week.
To make a short story shorter...we eventually convinced somebody else what a good deal they would get by taking the boat over from us. It was fun while it lasted...but a luxury we didn't need.
