October 14-16 2016
by Tom Oncken
By all accounts, we had another successful and enjoyable meet on Lake LBJ this past October. The weather turned out to be especially agreeable, much more so than we had seen at all other meets during 2016. Some members arrived on Thursday to get a head-start on the festivities.
Cornelia Kueffner and Marilyn Rathbun started things off right on Friday morning by providing a fine breakfast. Then, Adam Finn in his Alumacraft boat, Chip Rathbun in his Corson boat, and Joe McCauley with Jerry Lindamood in Joe’s Power Cat boat (all powered by Johnson outboards) took a trip up to Ink’s Lake Dam via the Colorado River.
Many of us arrived later throughout the day on Friday, April 14th, and broke up into groups later in the evening to enjoy a meal at our favorite restaurants. Louis Rothermel had invited me and Jerry Ball to accompany him to the meet. To assure our successful arrival to the meet, Louis decided to rent a pickup to pull his Stauter boat powered by its 1943 Stormboat Motor. Of course, we had to make our usual pit stop at Opie’s Bar-B-Q in Spicewood, Texas. The food was excellent as always; however, we were a bit disappointed that they had run out of the fantastic butter beans that they usually serve, and substituted pinto beans instead. Pinto beans were good, but we really craved butter beans. Maybe next year.
In my opinion, the stars of this meet were the kids that participated. John Plato brought his grandson, Jack Toole, along with the Mini-Most boat that the two of them had built together. With only a very few embellishments, this is essentially the same boat that John Plato and Alan Bischof have children build each year in the Kids-Build-A-Boat exhibit at the Houston area boat shows. Jack ran his boat quite a bit; however, he was very generous and allowed other kids to take a run or two in his boat. It takes a special kid to do that.
After an untimely death in the family last year, we were very excited to see Johnathan Kremp and his little sister, Sarah Ann Kremp, come to this meet. Their mother, Nina Kremp, along with grandparents Stan and Donna Kremp, brought the children as an honor to the memory of their father. I know that John would have been thrilled to see the two of them having such a great time riding in boats and later fishing from the docks. If I recall correctly, I believe the fish actually cooperated with them. It was an absolute pleasure watching those two children enjoying themselves so much.
Last, but never least, Addison Smith and her younger sister, Abigail Smith, made an encore appearance at Kingsland. Although my memory is questionable at times, I do not recall “Scott-Atwater Al” and Katie Smith failing to make it to one of these Lake LBJ meets, and they always bring the girls with them. Before you knew it, Addison and Abigail bonded with Sarah Ann and played games together. Johnathan also bonded with Jack and perhaps even got a turn in Jack’s boat. I cannot thank all of the parents enough for bringing their families to the meet. It gives a remarkable dimension to our Texas Chapter meets that I do not think other chapters have. Things like this make our Texas Chapter very special.
Saturday started off with breakfast prepared once again by Cornelia Kueffner and Marilyn Rathbun; however, this time several members chose to visit “Crazy Gals” diner in downtown Kingsland for breakfast. Gentlemen, we need to coordinate with Cornelia at the next meet so that she and Marilyn do not make too much for breakfast. Hopefully, they will forgive us for missing out on this special meal. We promise to do better next time ladies!
After breakfast, it was time for the bigger kids to play in their boats. There was a special moment this year as Jerry Ball got his first ride ever in a wooden outboard motor boat. Further, Jerry had never been in a boat powered by a 50HP World War II Stormboat motor with an open flywheel.
Peter Schultz brought his Alumacraft aluminum boat powered by an Evinrude outboard. This year he actually was able to run all day without incident. In prior years, some of his outboards failed on him. If I recall correctly, those were Mercury outboards. Did I get that right, Peter?
Meatball Murray made an appearance in his newest ride. If you recall last April, Meatball had just purchased a nice 1940 Ford Pickup hot rod. He has added a very nice Ford Mustang to his collection of vehicles. Including his Yellowjacket boat with its 1961 Merc 700 Mercury kicker, Meatball had a pair of sweet rides at this year’s meet.
As you all know, Joe McCauley has a thing for fast boats. It was no surprise when he brought his 1965 Power Cat powered by a 1986 Johnson 75HP outboard. It was easy to see the difference between cruising speed and when Joe pushes the throttle handle down hard. All that is left as he disappears quickly from sight is a large trail of spray.
Saturday evening, Adam and Susie Finn arranged a Bar-B-Q buffet from one of the local restaurants. The cost was $10 per person and nobody went home hungry. For dessert, a special cake was provided in recognition of the 50th anniversary of the Texas Chapter. The atmosphere was perfect as the meal was held in the newly covered picnic area near the docks, and as it got dark, the waterfront view was beautiful.
Almost everyone left on Sunday by the 11:00am checkout time. A few stayed a while longer to take a final run in their boats. It was hard to leave when the weather and the water were in such great condition. We hope for a repeat next April.
Click this link to view the rest of the pictures submitted of the Kingsland Wet Meet: http://www.texaschapteraomci.com/gallery/kingsland-fall-wet-meet-2016/