FRIDAY.... DAY ONE

I'm not sure if it was waking to the mixed smell of diesel & fresh fish or the umpteen number of drinks I had the night before is what made me feel ill but lightheaded I was. Some of the boys crashed out early the night before & were also early to rise. So because of that, Spence got our boat en route again.

I don't know about everyone but I have to say one of the best things about houseboating is laying around on your floaties in the lake. Nothing quite beats that especially when it is a blazing 35 degrees. That morning I was able to unsuccessfully try wakeboarding. I know what I'm doing wrong & am convinced that next time I will get up. My problem is that I naturally want to use my arms & wasn't using any of my legs. It may explain the searing pain I have in my forearms. So may be that should be on my learned list as well.... DO NOT pull yourself up out of water with only your arms.

After lunch we were able to move the boat on over to the rope swing..... hence #14 from the earlier past but it should also probably be noted that you shouldn't eat "smoorhs" and then try & jump into water... It may just freak you right out and leave you paralyzed on top of the rock. The only problem there is that it's the only way down so 20 minutes later, I was able to swing into the water. No one else had that much of a problem except Joanna. She couldn't leave the boat in the first place. But our few crazy ppl decided to climb as high as possible, do around the worlds & flips off the swing. Every time Scabs swung on the rope, I swear her knees were going to rip across the rock she was that close to the bottom.

That night we parked our butts down at Neilson beach. The gong show to end all gong shows. The only thing that is more crazy then this beach party is Merritt and I really don't know ANYTHING that is more nuts then getting 70 000 country fans together in a field for 3 days & giving them limitless beer.

Let me give you a couple of examples. The UK boat is a couple of british guys that fly to shuswap every year to party on this beach. They bring in Las Vegas Bartenders & host wet t-shirt contests with champagne. Everyone on the boat parties for free. Saturday is the bikini contest & foam party. Another boat caught fire & had to float out to water. A third party boat had too many people on board and the back end starting sinking so they had to kick everyone off. Not to mention one chick is dressed up as a viking walking up and down the beach.

When we first arrived, Paul, Ian & Matt had decided that it was important that we have a good fire pit equipped with seats et al. There is nothing hotter then watching boys chop wood. So Stine, Claire & I parked our asses down & watched the set up ensue. I figure if they keep yelling for us to take off our tops, it's fair game to ask them to keep chopping wood. At least that serves a purpose. Claire managed to get some action shots (pictures to be posted at a later date).

That night my boat decided to do a theme & everyone was dressed in white. Brilliant idea dressing in white at a dirty, rocky beach while your houseboating. I thought it'd be a nice touch to wear my flowered lei with my white ensemble... too bad it now looked like it was my stagette. It didn't really help that Krista kept telling everyone that it was. She was killing herself laughing & pointed out that there was no way I'd meet anyone that evening.... or MAY BE I WOULD????? hey, it's houseboating, boys are durty.



left to right: claire, stine, me, krista

So after being Joanna's wing girl & passing out on the GREAT ESCAPE 5, I found out that my boat had been partying down at the UK boat all evening & it sounds like I missed out on good times. I headed down there not before we see some random dude walking around in a daze w/ no shirt & no shoes, SO we didn't give him any service. A few hours later we find out his gf & boat are on a search mission looking for him.

I trudged on through the rocky beach, bushes, & marshy water to get to the UK boat & meet some REALLY annoying guy who sounded like he didn't get out much. After a few minutes of his incessent chatter, I excused myself & came back to the boat.

Seeing it was probably around 3 in the morning, I decided it was time to sleep.