Jeezus drives jeezus drives jeezus drives. Okay, not sure where that came from. I guess I am still high even after driving all the way home from Houghton Lake and spending the last hour unpacking and scrabbling up some sort of dinner. Um, “high” means high on life and an absolutely gorgeous weekend with my beloved fun-loving in-laws. I didn’t have anything stronger than coffee before starting the drive home. I even had water at the tiki bar this afternoon. I promise. I am having a ‘hattan now.

Anyway, I drove a powerboat today! That exclamation point doesn’t tell it all. It doesn’t tell about how, when I was a beach urchin on the moominbeach, I never drove a motorboat. I could row like a champ and I was a great canoe paddler — if you put me in the front with a strong steerer in the back. My family never had a powerboat in those days. Grandroobly had a sailboat, the Sacré Bleu. My poor little pea-brain always spelled that title as the “Soccery Blue”, I didn’t realize it was an old sorta French sorta curse back in those days. The old coot once won a sailing race on our beach. All that’s left of that exciting day is my vague little kid-type memories and a winner’s plaque on the wall in the moomincabin. Anyway. Powerboats. Mostly in my family, the boyz do those. Us girlz just sit around and look pretty.* Once when we were about 12, Uber Kayak Woman and I tried to take a small motorboat out. It was Duke’s motor, I think. That was her dad. I am not sure if it was the motor that he bought Radical Betty on their first wedding anniversary when the Duke was a young air force pilot stationed down in Biloxi, Mississippi. Anyway, I don’t remember that UKW and I ever got the dern motor going but we didn’t get very far with it and maybe that was a part of a plan that we didn’t know about…

I got off the track there… The Courtois boyz and and girlz grew up going to the beeyootiful Courtois Cabin on Houghton Lake and Grandpa Garth had a whole bunch of boats and snowmobiles and trail bikes and lawnmowers and whatever. What can I say? He was a mechanical engineer and he LOVED motors.

Today. We were in the Lord of Linden’s pontoon boat, heading back to the cabin from the tiki bar (we dropped a monkey off there). The Uncly Uncle was driving and I was sitting in the back under the canopy fiddling around with my phone/camera/secretary thinking about how to capture our trip on video. All of a sudden, the UU jumped up and said, “KW, you drive!” Ulp! He was running around the boat getting his dog Chloe Belle and I panicked for a minute and then I thought, “Okay, just go, KW!” Well. I am accustomed to a 14-foot personal kayak that can turn on a dime. I know how to use a steering wheel because I drive automotive vee-hickles ALL THE TIME! Driving a big pontoon boat across the biggest inland lake in Michigan? Hmmm. It was kinda fun but I kept wondering if the people in the other boats realized who exactly was driving OUR boat. Git outta my way ’cause I don’t know what the heck I’m doing.

Hee hee. The photoooo there is a still from a two second video. After I started driving, I handed my phone to the UU and said, “touch the red button and film me!” He doesn’t have an iPhone and he was like, “what red button, etc.” (It was also *very* bright and hard to see the screen.) I guess the UU has about as much experience with making iPhone videos as I do driving big powerboats and so the video didn’t really turn out. It’s okay. I love you guys. In-laws, that is. I had a fantastic time this weekend and thanks for trusting me to drive that loverly behemoth!

*Er, I do not know why I wrote that. I did everything BUT sit around looking pretty when I was a kid. I was a TROUBLE-MAKER!

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