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After I left the Air Force I went back to work at the Sears Warehouse in the West Bottoms in Kansas City We were a Plumbing and Heating warehouse but on my floor I found a neat little runabout stashed there... I asked about it and found it was a clearance item at a give away price.. I snapped it up... |
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Soon after that I bought a lot at Lake Lotawana near Kansas City to have a close place to boat and waterski... |
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So at that time a lot of weekends were spent at the lake... My ladyfriend Donna would rather sit on the boat than get behind on the skis, I don't think she ever tried... The foredeck was one color when I bought it, later I did the two tone wood when I added the windshield... |
| And Donna wanted to ride with me every time when I pulled another skier, I thought it would be nicer if she would let the other girls ride now and then... I could only take one passenger with the original 25 HP motor... |
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Here are a couple high school buddies kickin back with their lady friends... This old dock belonged to my neighbor there, later we went in together to build a new one... I supplied the barrels that Donna's dad gave me and the neighbor supplied the wood and assembled it, then I painted it bright red and white striped.. |
| Four people was a full load for this little 12 foot runabout... I could only take one passenger when I pulled the waterskiers... |
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Later I traded up to a larger fiberglass runabout with a 50 HP Mercury on it... And it was a real workhorse... But it wasn't as good looking as the little Yellowjacket... And I don't have a pic of that one either... |
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My how time does fly, here is my kid brother and his first born... Have a snack Dad and then let's go for a cruise... |
| We better take this along, might be out awhile... |
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So here I am getting up on the skis... Got to brag here some... I read how to do it, then got up the first time I tried and stayed up all around the lake...(really) And I got real good at teaching the quick easy way to get up, stand up and stay up... |
| So many times out at the lake and so many waterskiers and hardly any pictures... |
| Showing off a bit here? Well anyway I had strong teeth then... and still do now... |
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About that time I got interested in SCUBA diving, took a course, bought the gear and went diving with the Dive club here and there
in Southern Missouri, in deep springs and old mine pits... But I have no pictures... I had some movie film but it was lost along the way... And when I moved to St. Joseph the SCUBA went by the wayside... I didn't look as good as this friend did in it anyway... though that is MY wet suit... |
| So, I sold the boat and lake lot and SCUBA gear and moved to St. Joseph... Then the canoes came later, you've seen a lot of the yellow one but I had two more aluminum ones, a short wide one, not good for much except maybe pond fishing and a nice long one that made a few more river trips before that hobby waned... |
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