Lake Allatoona (Another “Fluffy Adventure” Story!)

For my last posting, I wrote on a spiral tablet, then put it to text as we were rolling south on I-75 through Georgia. I was able to get my story composed and sent (but I don’t think that I’ll attempt that again unless I absolutely have to!

We were given the chance to do a little traveling but with the usual routine of making a last-minute decision. Hey, it had to work when I was hauling fuel in the hurricane emergencies, so last-minute plans can usually be made to come together. The difference with this trip was that I never learned the age or the history of the boat trailer (that I had for four years) and had never taken it any further away from home base than one or two counties. This trip involved straight running 475 miles, with the last hundred being through the middle of downtown Atlanta, Georgia. Now, my wife had made that run with her sister many times, as their eldest brother lives 40 miles north of the “Big-A!” I, on the other hand, had always had to drive the beltway (as “through truckers” getting caught going up the middle of the city without a local drop point in town would face a hefty “lightening of the wallet” of about $350.00)!

The ride north could have been better but could have been a lot worse. We pulled into a northbound rest area south of Macon, Georgia. As part of my usual scenario, I walked around the trailer to check tires and wheel bearings. I had the good sense of putting a good spare tire on the front of the trailer and did notice some weather cracks showing up on the driver’s side tire (that were not showing before we left).

The topper was opened and two tools emerged. The first was a battery-powered impact gun, and the second was an old 4 by 4 (by 1ft) chunk of wood that had been tossed in the truck bed (for such a moment as this)! I went and loosened the lug nuts while the tire was still on the ground, then jammed the chunk of wood (diagonally) under the leaf spring. I then asked Cecelia to give me the closed fist (or STOP sign) when the wood chunk was vertical and the wheel was just an inch off of the ground! Within ten minutes, the wheel was changed, the chunk was “chucked” in the back of the truck bed and we were on our way! Cee kinda marveled at the “Mcguiver” stunt I pulled to get that tire changed. I told her that from 40-plus years of driving all types of trailers, you learn “stuff”!

The end trip to her brother’s place went uneventful (which is always good)! The next day, we checked all of our boating gear. Many of our family members kept asking about us going fishing. We had to tell them that legal issues inhibited us from drowning any worms. (Our licenses /fishing permits didn’t include Georgia). Now, regarding Lake Allatoona, it is a big, beautiful manmade lake, assumedly built in the years that the “TVA” (Tennessee Valley Authority) and the Army Corps of Engineers were getting America back to work by building dams with power stations on them. Their generators were capable of putting out some 82 Megawatts! The “Big Pond” once filled then boasted of some 270 miles of shoreline and took up over 12,000 acres! On those shores were numerous marinas and boats (as small as ours), and sizes all the way up to the big “live-in yachts” that were easily 50 feet long! There are also some 600 campsites to accommodate all of those people who have the need to escape from the rat race of “Hot-lanta.”

We had just missed the big 4th of July patriotic boat parade (of the day before) but were able to see the “dressed up” boat lifts and houses all along the shoreline. (Kind of glad we got there after the fact, as our little boat would have probably been swamped from the wake of much larger craft)! We were able to put in an easy four hours on the water (and after that time, Cecelia was getting a little beat up holding the sides of the boat when the bigger boats went by). We still had some really good days up there visiting family and seeing a new part of our country and its waterways (but again, WE SHOULD HAVE BROUGHT A BIGGER BOAT)! Y’all have a blessed week until the next time!

Steve Goodwin is a recently retired Christian conservative veteran (of the U.S. Army 82nd Airborne Division), who still feels that “duty to country” did not end when the military uniform got hung up. He and his wife Cecelia live on the edge of a beautifully wooded tract of land just south of the bypass, and are involved in not only church activities, but also attend school board meetings and local community action events as well.