In a previous post, I think I mentioned having chosen to avoid the drunks on Tims Ford and Normandy Lakes this past Memorial Day Weekend. Monday morning, early, I headed out to Woods, putting in at the same spot I used Saturday. All I wanted to accomplish Memorial Day was to earn some Weight Watchers points, and to practice sculling, braces, maybe some wet-exits and self-rescue. The wind was blowing strong from the south, and I paddled against it to the lee of Elder Island, then east along the island and over to the Franklin County shore, thence under the causeway and over to Morris Ferry Dock.
Apparently the USAF has decided not to renew the facility’s lease, which means powerboaters on Woods will have no place on the lake to buy gasoline, the campsites and semi-permanent residents of the RV/Trailer Park will have to relocate to, probably, less pleasant environs, and a funky piece of Americana that’s been in place since the 1950s will be gone. Replaced by? Dunno, maybe officer housing, something concrete and soulless?
By the time I paddled back to the put in, which is where I’d planned to practice my embryonic kayaker skills, around 10:00 a.m. I’d been out maybe two and a half hours. Two older couples had set up their chairs and fishing poles near my car, and I thought it would be rude to splash around in the water and totally ruin their fishing experience. I got the kayak out of the water as quickly and quietly as possible, chatting with them a little; it was time to get home and ready for the day’s family activities.
Christov_Tenn 