I've been trying to find pictures of all the boats we've had over the years and I'm missing a few. I asked Mom to dig through her photos and she found these for me. These are 3 of the first 5 boats we owned. I don't think there are any pics of boats 1 and 2.
This is the Ouachita that we had (Boat #3) The boat was a good one but the motor wasn't. We're at Reelfoot in this photo, around 1992, I'm guessing. That's Paul's '69 GMC that we towed the boat with. We rebuilt the engine in that truck under my parents' carport in the middle of hot summer. I became an official "grease monkey" during that project. That's also our popup camper in the background and my Dad's truck, officially known as "Ole Blue."
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This is our Bass Tracker (Boat #4) It was a great boat and we had a lot of good times in it. Back then, the hulls were riveted and when you got in rougher water, it sounded like it was coming apart. When my Dad died, our hearts just weren't in it anymore and we sold it.
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After a couple of years, we caught the fishing fever again and bought this old Glassmate (Boat #5). It really wasn't the best choice for fishing and Paul knew it from the beginning, but I liked it and being the sweet man he is, he let me have that one. The windshield was nice in cold weather and the dogs liked it, but it was definitely not a crappie boat.
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Over the course of 28+ years, we've had a lot of boats and there were good things about each of them. (Except for the old Cherokee vee bottom, I truly hate that boat.) Our very first one was a 12 ft aluminum boat with no motor that we traded for a load of firewood the winter after we bought our first house. We learned something with each one, we caught fish in each one and we made good memories, too. The boat we have now is probably as close to perfection as we'll ever get and if it weren't for all of those other learning experiences with the other ones along the way, I guess we'd be looking for yet another one!
