by Tom Oncken
On October 16, 2018, the Tuesday before our scheduled annual fall wet meet in the Lake LBJ area, there was a monstrous rain storm. The following photo shows what was happening at the Llano River bridge in Kingsland that night.
Things did not improve from that point as water kept rising to an unbelievable height. As can be seen below, the bridge just begins to crumble apart under extreme pressure from the currents.
Then large chunks of the bridge started tumbling down the Llano River along with boats, docks, trees, and debris of all types. Is there any doubt as to why the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) closed all of the lakes and rivers in that general area for an undetermined period of time?
The devastation of the bridge was unbelievable, especially when you realize that we used to drive across that particular bridge in order to take a right turn into the Longhorn Resort before it was sold over a year ago. Unbelievably, the water level was well above the top of the launch ramp area where we used to launch our boats.
Those people who live across the Llano River from Kingsland were only a few minutes from their neighborhood stores in town. They are now having to drive for miles to get to stores in Marble Falls and/or Llano rather than driving twice that distance to get back to their usual Kingsland stores by traveling the long way around.
Texas Chapter officers were hopeful that we could reschedule the meet for later in the year, but we had no way of knowing what to expect from the weather or the debris in the water. We changed our prior meet date from the weekend of October 19th through 21st to November 30th through December 2nd with the hopes that we may get lucky. What were the chances of good weather during the first weekend in December? We were not really certain that the LCRA would reopen the lakes and rivers by then; however, our luck improved and the areas were reopened the week before our newly scheduled dates.
Louis Rothermel and I had decided early in the year that we were going to the fall meet, and as a result, we set out early on Friday to attend the rescheduled event. My son, Mike, and his three children, Emma, Tommy, and Charlie, decided to caravan with us, so they followed us up to the Heart of Texas Lake Resort.
I have to admit; there were some stumbling blocks as we made our way to Burnet, Texas. First of all, the weather which had been predicted to be decent was looking suspicious with some clouds overhead and a few misty sprinkles striking the windshield as we traveled down the highway. Then we got stuck in a traffic jam on I-10 near Sealy as the contractors thought it would be a good idea to squeeze two feeder lanes and three major highway lanes into a single lane crossing over the Brazos River. An hour later, we actually got back up to speed and it appeared that the rest of our trip would go well. That did not happen because there was some type of severe accident between La Grange and Smithville and our side of the highway was closed entirely. If not for the superior mapping ability of my son’s cell phone, we probably would have remained at the end of a line of parked cars for several hours as we watched an emergency helicopter land at the collision sight ahead of us. Mike and his family took the lead driving down a secluded single-lane country road and after winding down an unbelievably long and very brushy backroad path, we actually came out just before Smithville. That only cost us another hour, but we may have been delayed longer back at the site of the collision had we decided not to attempt the trip around it.
Of course, we had to stop at our usual barbecue restaurant in Spicewood and we filled up on the cuisine provided by Opie’s Bar-B-Q. We had a feast of pork ribs, beef brisket, sausage, and even some chicken for the kids. We also bought a few side orders including Opie’s legendary “butter beans”. The kids slept the rest of the way to the camp and we finally arrived at around 7:00PM. Considering that we left Houston a little after 11:00AM, it appears that our usual five hour trip took us almost eight hours this time.
We noticed something unusual happening as we got closer to the resort. The clouds appeared to be breaking up around the Marble Falls area and were pretty much gone by the time we got to the Heart of Texas Lake Resort. There was a brisk wind, but it was not overly cold. It was amazing when you consider that this was the last day of November.
As is customary, some of our members are early birds and they arrived on Thursday, but most of the participants arrived throughout the day on Friday and even a few came early on Saturday morning. After spending a few hours visiting with others at the camp, we decided to retire early. We joined a few others on Saturday morning for breakfast at the “Crazy Gals” diner in Kingsland. It was obvious that the area was recovering the flash floods in October as you could see evidence of damage remaining from the high waters all over the town. Regardless, it was now time for us to start having some fun.
If you have followed my stories over this past year, you are aware that none of our meets over the entire year have been without some form of bad weather. It was either unexpectedly cold or just nasty, overcast, and wet at one time or another, but someone up above decided to give us a break this time. It was cool enough for a jacket on Saturday morning, but it warmed up to short-sleeve weather by noon. Further, there was not a cloud in the sky on Saturday or Sunday. The sky was as blue as I have ever seen it. All I can say is that it was about time that we got a break in 2018.
The one notable improvement at the Heart of Texas Lake Resort compared to the Longhorn site is the boat ramp. The ramp is very easy to get to, it is a straight shot to the water, and it is not even close to being as steep as the other ramp we used at the Longhorn Resort.
Adam Finn spent a good portion of his day in his 1958 Rexcraft 15’ aluminum boat powered by a 1959 Johnson 35HP outboard. In the above photo, Adam was taking Clinton Russell, Brenden Macaluso, and Steve Seale on a tour of the river. Steve Seale of Jasper is also the proud owner of one of Albert Snell’s boats. His boat is a 15’ wooden 1996 Z-Craft powered by a 1986 Mercury 3 cylinder 50HP and both are in like-new condition. Dan, Misty, Luke, and Matthew Peoples spent a good deal of their time cruising around in their Lone Star boat powered by an Evinrude Lark 35HP outboard.
Unlike last year, Louis Rothermel had a much easier time starting up his trusty 1943 Evinrude Storm Boat Motor 50HP. He spent a lot of time taking various folks for a ride in his wooden 1985 Stauter-Built boat which was originally built in Alabama specifically for this outboard motor. Chip and Marilyn Rathbun brought a very nice 15’ Goodyear Sea Nymph aluminum boat being powered by a 1953 Johnson 25HP that looked almost new. Nice work Chip!
As is customary, “Smoking Joe” McCauley was seen racing around in his Glastron boat powered by a 70HP Johnson 3 cylinder outboard. We know that Joe is a fanatic when it comes to the optimal pitch for a prop, but we also suspect that he has a special “hot cam” in his motors like Louis does. Glenn, Lee, and Caroline Seureau arrived once again with their 13’ Riviera Fowler duck boat powered by a 1977 Johnson 7.5HP twin. This year the motor actually ran well on the water. Bruce and Mary Miller were seen running a great 1973 Sea Ray 17’ powered by a very nice Mercury 115HP outboard. We were happy to see Mary join us and hope she had fun.
The 70 degree perfect weather lasted the entire afternoon and it started getting dark way too quickly for most of us. The good news was that “Chef Meatball” Murray and his helper, Carolyn Holton, arrived and began setting things up for a great Saturday night feast. Meatball delivered his barbecue pits earlier in the day and went to a local meat market to buy some great ribeye steaks. The “Chef” outdid himself as usual, as the seasoning was perfect and the steaks were very tender. I must apologize because I failed to take note of everyone who assisted Meatball in the meal, but several of our fantastic lady helpers prepared baked potatoes in their cabin ovens and prepared salad for the group as well. Suffice it to say, that anyone who did not take the trip to Burnet missed one of the finest meals with the most fantastic group of people you can imagine. Our gain was absolutely your loss for not coming.
For some, Sunday was a repeat of Saturday as the beautiful weather continued. Some left early and some stayed late. Regardless, you need to think about attending this meet later this year. You missed one of the best meets that we had in 2018.
Follow this link to see all of the pictures captured and shared from this great weekend of fun: http://www.texaschapteraomci.com/gallery/2018-fall-wet-meet-at-heart-of-texas-lake-resort/