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We were told to expect four days of rainy, windy, stormy weather, so when I left my house at 5:30 this morning and it was crisp and clear, I took that as a good sign. The four of us — John, Suzanne, Mom and I — left Santa Rosa at 6:00. David had gone ahead yesterday to a party last night in Redding, and Eric was meeting us halfway up I-5.
It was a smooth, pleasant ride, with surprisingly little traffic for a holiday morning. Maybe it was the hour, or last night's storms. For whatever reason, we had miles of freeway almost to ourselves. We met up with Eric at a rest stop, and I rode the rest of the way to Shasta Lake with him in his truck. By 10:00, we were all here, and ready to settle in for the weekend.
Almost. We had bags and bags of tortilla chips, but no fresh drinking water, so David and I made a run into town for bottled water. Then we were finally ready to pull (and push) the houseboat away from the marina dock.
There were clouds, but they looked non-threatening. Still, the water in the lake was choppy and the wind was brisk, so we took our time looking for a protected cove to tie up in. At first it looked as if we'd made a horrible mistake. For a while we were whipped back and forth by the swirling winds, but by mid afternoon it had calmed almost completely.
Then we started drinking wine. I can't tell you much about the rest of the evening, but I'm pretty sure the dinner conversation sparkled. I believe I was particularly brilliant. At least, since everyone was laughing at me, I think I must have made witty comments on the human condition.
Or maybe I just made a few gross-out jokes. |
