Super Fun Saturday

This past Saturday morning, Mumi and I were sitting around the house trying to think of something fun to do. Mumi came up with the great suggestion that we head on over to the Loch Raven Fishing Center in Towson, Maryland, rent a boat and go out on the reservoir for a while. We had done this once before last year, and it was a lot of fun. Since the weather was just about perfect for a day on the water, I agreed and off we went.

The last time we went to Loch Raven, we rented a row boat. That was a mistake. The Loch Raven Reservoir is a pretty big body of water to be rowing around in. We didn't make it too far from the boat house last year before we were too tuckered out to go very much further. This year, we wised up and rented a motor boat. Even though, the rental boats are small with tiny 30lb. thrust electric trolling motors, it still beats rowing around in circles for three hours and getting nowhere.

Of course, I had to shyly admit to the creepy redneck boat house guy that I was too stupid to know how to operate an electric boat motor. Grinning slyly, he assured me that I could get a free lesson from one of the boys down at the shore when we got to our boat. Turns out, that the motors are very easy to operate. Just twist the shaft to the right to go forward and twist the shaft to the left to go in reverse. I'm great at anything having to do with shafts, and I already knew enough about steering a boat to get by. So, after ramming the boat next to us while turning around, we headed intrepidly, but very slowly, out into the reservoir. Like I said earlier, these rental boats do not have very powerful motors. We're not talking about speed boats here. I would estimate that when we hit top speed, we must have been going at least 7 miles an hour. It certainly beats rowing though.

We cruised along the reservoir just looking at nature and enjoying the warm sunny breeze. We had the digital camera with us, so we snapped a lot of pictures of the water, the trees, the rocks and other pretty things. There were a few other boats out, but not so many that we felt crowded or anything like that. Most of the boats were so far away that we really couldn't see the people on board and they couldn't see us. I navigated us to some areas that I was familiar with from my hiking experiences at the reservoir. There a lot of great trails that run along the shore that are just perfect for hiking or mountain biking.

We even managed to find a rather secluded spot behind an island near the shore and we did what all good monkeys do. We did a little naughty, naked monkey sunbathing. Yep, the shorts came off and we laid out on the boat in all our glory catching some rays. It felt awesome! The sun beating down on our bare flesh, the breeze blowing over our warmed bodies. Wow, what a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon. (Yeah, before you ask, there is also photographic evidence of this part of the trip. Wouldn't you like to see it?)

Of course, I have this problem. Well, most people my age wouldn't call it a problem at all, but it does cause me embarrassment from time to time. You see, I am very easily excited. It doesn't take much at all to get my flag waving. So, of course, as soon as my shorts came off, the flagpole went up, if you know what I mean. So, if anyone happened to be hiking on the trails near the shore or if anyone on any of the other boats had binoculars, I'm sure they were amused, or possibly horrified, when they gazed over our way hoping to see some pretty nature things and instead caught a glimpse of the hairy, naked man with the big 'ole boner laying on top of his boat right out in the middle of the reservoir. Oh well. That'll teach them to be nosy, huh?


We had such a great time boating on the reservoir. If any of you are ever searching for a way to pass a nice sunny day, get yourselves to the Loch Raven Reservoir, rent yourselves a motor boat and get out there on the water and get naked! Well, you don't have to do the naked part, but just get out there and enjoy a day on the water. It's a great way to spend the day.