Katelyn, Dad, Jim and Brody all left early this morning from the hotel to drive the 2 boats out to Padre Bay (Gunsight Butte), with a bunch of our gear to set up our camp. (It's about an hour away on boats and about 2 hours away with the houseboat because they have to drive slower.) They set up tents and a shade awning. Katelyn and Brody stayed at the camp with our stuff, while Jim and Dad drove our boat back to the marina to wait around for us to get the houseboat. It was a waiting game all day. The other 3 families got here later on in the afternoon. (The Moore's, Bingham's and Jenell and Owen and their family) Robin and I got bored from waiting all day so we tried to find a visitor's center open to get a map and find out the spots we wanted to go see while we're here on the lake, but none of them were open due to the virus. We ran some other errands and then got some pizza at Dominoes for Jim and Bill to take out to Brody and Katelyn around 6. I thought they were going to take it to them as soon as we got back to the marina with it. But for some reason, I don't know why, they didn't get away until LATE (around 8:30pm) and it was already dark when they left the marina. Bill took Jed, Mary and Luke in our boat, and Jim and Captin Bingham were each on a jet ski. I was really worried that they were leaving in the dark. They stayed to help us load the houseboat when we finally got possession of it at 8pm, but Owen and Ryan Bingham could've helped us load all the heavy stuff. I'm not sure why they thought they needed to wait until it was unsafe to go back to the camp. They were worried about Katelyn and Brody being out there, so they went ahead and left, knowing it was very risky. Katelyn and Brody had been out there ALL day. By the time they got there around 10:30pm that night (they had to go a lot slower because it was dark), Katelyn and Brody had been out there alone for over 10 HOURS!!!! Looking back, it would've been much better to have just left them out there alone and to just go in the morning when it was first light... as Bill was almost to our camp, he ran over a ridge of rocks he couldn't see and ate up our prop! Jim also reported that before that, he could see that Bill was headed right into a sheer cliff and could tell that Bill couldn't see it, so he headed around in front of Bill on the jet ski to steer him away from it. These reports were very disheartening to me as we learned of them. The first thing that went wrong was that Bill and Jim should never have left Brody and Katelyn out at the camp in the first place!!!!! DUH!! They didn't need to watch our stuff! People leave your stuff alone. NOBODY steals tents and awnings! But the second even BIGGER mistake they made was traveling at night when there are so many inlets and rocks and bays they can't see. Getting lost was a real threat much less hitting rocks, etc. I was really sad that our boat prop was ruined-- and I feel wholeheartedly that it was COMPLETE stupidity on Bill's part. Jim should've known better too-- and said something. Me saying something got completely ignored by both of them! What added even more to the stress was that Jamie called me around 10pm saying that Brody had called worried because Jim and Bill hadn't gotten to the camp yet. So we worried that they'd gotten lost, but found out that they just had to go super slow because of the dark. Jamie's worry added to my own and I started to feel a sense of complete helplessness as I thought about the awful situation they were in and all the possibilities of what could be going wrong. It really stressed me and Jamie out. We found their location on our phones and saw that they were really close to the campsite, so it eased our worry. About a 1/2 hour later, Jamie called and told us they'd gotten there. Bill NEVER called me once. I heard all the news through Jim or Jamie. It got really annoying that he didn't communicate with me at all. Jamie told me about the prop. Our boat was DONE. Luckily it was ok enough to get it back to the marina the next day, but it was done. (BTW, it cost almost $700 to get a new prop!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
Robin, me and the rest of the DeGraffenrieds stayed on the houseboat that night after we'd gotten everything loaded. The Bingham's, Moore's and Jamie and kids stayed in the hotel. (Bingham's were at a different hotel.) The A/C on the boat worked really well and Robin and I froze. Jenell and Owen wanted it cold... UGH! At least we know it works!
In hindsight, it would've been much better to come on Monday and get the houseboat loaded, all stay in a hotel Monday night, and then all go out to the camp site together to set it up. It would've taken more time, but no where near as much time as it took to deal with a broken boat at the marina/boat shop. I'm taking a lot of mental notes for the next time we attempt a Lake Powell trip on a houseboat. It's too bad it had to start off the way it did... all this could've been avoided if common sense had been used. AND, I felt horrible as a mother that Katelyn was alone with Brody in an awkward situation for an entire day. (When I spoke with her the next day, she said it was ok, but was really quiet about it... I could tell that was stressful for her. Plus the fact that they were in the heat and sun all day. They DID have snacks and water, but still...) I was very mad about the entire situation. What makes me even more mad is that men don't listen to their wives. If they had just listened, things would've been much different.............. Bill never listens to me and then when things go wrong, he doesn't communicate with me-- I have to hear it from the other guy who tells his wife.
The first 2 pictures below are of Katelyn out at the camp alone with Brody. They were so bored! They hiked the bluff in the background and carved their names in it, they built a really cool sand castle, and basically just sat around all day. All the rest of the pictures are at and around the Wahweap Marina and hauling and loading our stuff onto the dock.
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