Lake Chautauqua

The Seitz family owns a wonderful "cottage" on Lake Chautauqua. We had been there once before, but that was quite a few years ago. With Kim laid off and the rest of us holding onto employment by the skin of our teeth, my "wings" group planned a long weekend at the Lake.

Kim, Matt, and I took off on Wednesday night after work. It was a relaxing day and Matt did take the jet ski out for a little jaunt.

On Friday, Brent drove over from Canada where he had been working for the last two weeks and Jim and Danna drove up from Harrisburg.

What an adventure. I'm blaming it all on Danna.

First, Jim and Danna decided to go into town for for coffee and donuts. Her SUV was making a racket and adding oil didn't help. They limped it along to a garage with the hopes that perhaps on Monday the mechanics could take care of it. Then we decided to take the boat out for a spin. Planing along, our speed suddenly dropped. Uh oh, Captain Matt was still at full throttle. I kept my fingers crossed that we'd get the sucker back to the dock.

We should have known better. Really. With our luck, what were we thinking. Matt and I decided to take the jet ski out together. I'm a little hesitant to take it out myself. If there were two and I could be with someone, I wouldn't worry, but by myself, I'm so afraid I'll tip the sucker over and not get it flipped around. Anyway, Matt and I set out to the middle of the lake and hop off to take a little swim. Ahhhh, it was beautiful. Until we tried to get back on. Matt climbed on, and I climbed up behind him but we couldn't keep the sucker balanced. Ok. Try again. I climbed on and Matt climbed up behind me with the same result. We were back in the drink. We tried another time or two and I was drinking the lake. Now Matt's idea was that I would drive the jet ski and he would hold onto the back. Two problems with that. One, Matt was in danger of losing his pants. Two, I didn't have glasses or contacts, so I really had no idea where I was going. Apparently Brent, Kim, Jim, and Danna were howling.

So, Kim and Brent decided they'd show us how it was done. They were a little smarter. They didn't go as far out into the lake as we did to take their swim. We all sat out at the end of the dock prepared with binoculars for a birds eye view and beer as we settled back to watch the show.

I feel vindicated. They couldn't both get on either. Then, they couldn't get the jet ski started and we laughed as they floated further down the coastline. Finally, they were close to a dock and Matt walked down, flipped the switch to the reserve tank, and it started. Yup...out of gas!

We made the mistake of taking Danna home with us. I'm telling you, she's jinxed! Shortly after crossing the state line into Pennsylvania, the GPS quit. We pulled into a rest stop to check the map and someone knocked on the window. "I think you've got a flat." Yup. Thankfully after Brent changed the tire the rest of the trip was uneventful.

We did have a good time while at the Lake, but I gotta say, it was one snafu after another!