By Tom Oncken
We had another successful Fall wet meet at the Heart of Texas Lake Resort in Burnet, Texas on the weekend of October 23rd through 25th. There was one notable difference this year which was a change in the ownership of the resort. The new owners allowed our deposits from October 2019 to carry over for this year’s meet even though we had to cancel our meet for April earlier in the year. Our new contact is Wendy Weeks, and although she was somewhat inexperienced with our group, she and her crew went out of their way to make us feel at home as usual.
Attendance was down a little as I only counted 39 individuals in attendance over the weekend. My son, Mike, and his boys, Tommy and Charlie, allowed me to travel with them to the meet. We brought the “Jerry Rig” and borrowed a motor from Tony Robinson with which to cruise around. Of course, on the way up on Friday, we had to visit our usual barbeque restaurant, Opie’s. The atmosphere was a little different due to the virus, but the food was great as always. I believe all others who would normally visit the Mexican food restaurant in Kingsland on Friday night opted to eat in their rooms at the resort instead.
The weather was agreeable to a point. It started out as cold and overcast, but the sun came out on Saturday and warmed things up later in the day. Obviously, the weather did not stop our boaters from playing on the lake all weekend.
We had a number of newer faces in attendance at this Heart of Texas meet. Steve Weatherbee and his wife, Lee Ann, traveled in from Corpus Christi to join us. Steve also invited a couple of his friends, Bozo House and Larry Ford, to come to the meet as well. Steve provided a very nice display of race boats and motors that attracted a lot of attention. Thanks for your efforts, Steve.
A couple of Tony Robinson’s friends were also in attendance. Todd Fisher brought his 1959 DuraCraft boat powered by its 1959 Johnson 35HP outboard and Craig MacDonald brought his 1959 Glastron SureFlite powered by a nice original 1958 Johnson Super Sea Horse 35HP.
Some other newcomers to this Heart of Texas meet included John Plato, who runs our exhibits at the Houston International Boat, Sport & Travel Show as well as hosts the Lake Houston summer wet meet, and Darren Baird who usually assists John with both of those events. Glad you could make it this year gentlemen!
Although some of the usual gathering in cabins did not occur due to coronavirus concerns, we still managed to have our Saturday evening meal at the pavilion between the condo sections. Our chef, Meatball Murray, assisted by Carolyn Holton, prepared some homemade chili for our meal. He also arranged to have some special Mexican food dishes for us including tamales and fresh guacamole. Several of the ladies at the event helped with desserts as well. Cindy Slator provided an excellent cherry pie as usual.
A new event was added to our dinner this year. Dennis Schmitt brought some challenging wood puzzles which he presented at the end of the meal. The puzzles consisted of 5 pieces of wood that were cut into odd shapes. When arranged correctly, the pieces would form a perfect square. Thanks for the extra entertainment, Dennis.
I noticed a number of husband and wife teams at this meet which included Adam and Susan Finn, Greg and Susan Ganz, Joe McCauley and Cornelia Kuffner, David and Belinda Reyna, Tony and Andrea Robinson with Monica and Max, Dave and Becky Samstag, Glenn and Lee Seureau, John and Cindy Slator, Dennis and Sharon Schmitt, and Steve and Lee Ann Wetherbee. We offer special thanks to all of the ladies who took time to be with us at this meet. It would not be the same without all of you there.
We had several people bring motors and parts for sale including John Plato and Dave Samstag. Others in attendance not mentioned earlier included Steve Seale, Harrison Seureau, and Al Smith with his brother James and his sister Sarah. We appreciate everyone’s support during these trying times. Chip and Marilyn Rathbun were not able to attend this year’s meet due to Chip’s back injury and their concerns about the virus as they have been living at their lake house. We missed you guys!! We hope to see you someday soon.
Well, I guess that is enough for now. I hope to see you all again at the Heart of Texas in April 2021.
Please follow this link for all the pictures submitted covering this event: https://www.texaschapteraomci.com/bws-gallery/heart-of-texas-lake-resort-fall-wet-meet/.