Memories of Good Ole Dayz

Since it is the season, one thing I remember about Clear Lake is ice skating on the lake at the foot of main street. As you may recall, as soon as the ice was thick enough, they would drag a warming house onto the lake and clear the snow off an area to skate on. The warming house was always kept toasty warm with a wood stove in the center. It was sort of eerie at times when the ice would crack. It seemed to be a lot colder back then. That did not prevent playing crack-the-whip thereby launching the end person on a sixty mph trip out of the cleared area and into the snow.

One winter, when the snow had been blown off the ice, Tom Gilles and I sail skated to bayside (taking care to avoid the springs). Things went great until we wanted to return which meant we had to skate into the wind. Not to worry! We had to tack our way back. The reaches were long and the tacks many. It took a while (like 2 hours) since the only sail we had was our opened jackets. By the time we got back, it was dark, we were cold, I was hungry and we were both dead beat. We did learn something from the venture though. Thereafter, we spent more time in Floyd's Pool Hall below the corner drug.

In retrospect, I still think it was a cool thing to do (not in the literal sense.) I can't imagine a parent allowing a child to do that these days. That was part of my adventure of growing up. Since I have never really grown up, the adventure continues.
Regards,
Don Stebbins (1959)