Flanders and I went together on buying the boat. Unfortunately, given Flanders distant living location, he wasn't as versed on running the river. He never skipped school to go fishing. So, I knew this river like the back of my hand. I could see shoals, rocks, whatever. One time, Flanders and I went down river. We were hoping for some large-mouth bass. We got nothing. But, we were able to drink some beer while we got nothing, so it was ok. Not having as much experience on the water, Flanders wanted to run the boat.

We headed upstream at essentially full throttle. (Flanders says 3/4 throttle.) As typical, in my controlling way, I sat at the front of the boat, looking for obstacles. I didn't want to be demanding, but I saw what looked like a sandbar barely pushing through the top of the water. We were moving towards it, because up until now, that was the deep side of the river. I saw it, and pointed to it (there was no point in talking over the sound of the motor). Flanders said, "what do you want me to do". My response: Gun it. We hit the sandbar at about 30 mph, and skipped over it. We hit the other side at the same speed, and kept on going without problem.

I loved that boat. We bounced over boulders in the river, and could always recover or fix whatever happened. I miss that life.

River Rat