By Tom Oncken
Feeling a little nostalgic at this point in my Texas Chapter affiliation, it is hard to believe that we had to move on from the Longhorn Resort so many years ago. As you will recall, Longhorn was subsequently bulldozed and repurposed. Something unusual happened after it closed. Some of our very special members found the Heart of Texas Lake Resort near Burnet, Texas located just north of Kingsland on the Colorado River.
This location has turned out to be a great place for our meets. Choice of rooms ranges from large and small condos to some cabins, a lake house, and even a nice campground. Rates are better than they were at Longhorn Resort and there is a game room for kids (of all ages) and a nice pool with a small playground. The launch ramp is much superior as it is easy to get to, is not very steep, and only requires a short distance to back up as compared to our prior location. As a result, we visit the Heart of Texas Lake Resort twice each year routinely, once in the Spring and once in the Fall.
We scheduled our last wet meet at the Heart of Texas Lake Resort from October 18th through the 20th. Unlike the prior year, the weather behaved itself and we did not see any storms destroy the area. The weather while we were there was very good overall. We had lots of sun and decent temperatures. Nobody had a boat sink and some of the children actually got an opportunity to fish and caught a few. Overall, it was one of the most successful trips that we have had in the past few years.
President and First Lady, Adam and Susan Finn, arrived early on Thursday and got things started. I believe a few others also came early on that same day, but my “Old-Timers” is preventing me from remembering for sure who all came. We will just say that the fun started on Thursday and continued through Sunday.
This year, Louis Rothermel was accompanied by his wife, Jane Rothermel. Her last attendance at a meet was back when we used to go to Cypress Springs near Dallas each year. We were glad to see you come back to us Jane! We missed you.
This year I decided to make the trip with my son, Mike, and my grandchildren. Mike had to work on Friday, so I met him at his house after he got off work and we left from there. Since he has moved to League City from Pearland, the trip took a bit longer and we did not get to make our usual stop at Opie’s in Spicewood because they closed before we got that far. Needless to say, we arrived at Heart of Texas after dark, but there were lots of members there to visit with upon arrival. At my last count, 45 individuals were in attendance on this weekend.
I cannot attest to what all occurred on Friday since we arrived so late; however, on Saturday the boats and motors were in constant use and the area remained active all day. Joe McCauley volunteered to take Emma, Tommy, and Charlie Oncken for a ride. “Smoking Joe” showed the kids what a Johnson Stinger powered Glastron can really do. Thanks Joe!
I noticed Jim Lancharic and his grandson, David Ethridge, sitting in Jim’s Starcraft with a couple of engines on the back. David fired up a Mighty Mite Neptune outboard and it ran so fast that he actually struggled to figure out how to stop it. Unfortunately, once stopped it would not start again.
The good news is that the Wizard backup worked beautifully and Jim and David got to spend some time on the water having fun with our other members. Hopefully David will come again next time.
One of the more impressive sights at this meet was Jerry Lindamood’s hand-built Lindy Craft wooden boat. It is an impressive ride and that Mercury Merc 1150 on the back makes the boat fly down the river. I saw more than a few people staring at this rig as it went by the docks.
Al Smith and his brother, James Durda, were scooting around in Al’s Feathercraft which was powered by a McCulloch-Scott 75HP. I would conservatively estimate that they spent several hours running up and down the Colorado river in this boat.
It has become somewhat of a custom to recruit Meatball Murray as our head Chef for our meals on Saturday afternoons at this meet. Meatball prepares a steak like nobody else can and we are so fortunate that he has adopted us.
I would like to offer the usual thanks for all of the ladies who assisted in making salad and desserts for this meal. It just would not be the same without their valuable contribution. Guests were charged $12.50 per person for the meal, and I guarantee that was a bargain.
Those in attendance who were not mentioned elsewhere in this article include the following: Tom DeWoody, Sarah Durda, Greg Ganz, Cornelia Kuffner, Natalie Lancharic, Rocky Lindamood, Jim and Rosalynn Norbeck, Chip and Marilyn Rathbun, Monica Robinson, Dennis and Sharon Schmitt, Glenn and Lee Seureau, John and Cindy Slator, Katie and Levi Smith, Chris Sokol, and Abigail and Victoria Urban-Norbeck. If I overlooked anyone, please forgive me. I offer my personal thanks to all who did attend which makes the meet so successful.
Well, I have done about all of the damage I can on this particular article. I wish to invite everyone back for the meet in April and encourage you all to bring your friends and families because I know they will have a great time. See you then.
To view all of the pictures submitted covering this meet, please click this link: http://www.texaschapteraomci.com/gallery/2019-fall-wet-meet-at-the-heart-of-texas-lake-resort/