Harris Inc.: playing catch up.

*LaKe PoWeLL*

Since I was 7, the Vanchiere family and countless numbers of friends, families, relatives etc. have ventured down to the beloved Lake Powell a few times each summer. It is one of our favorite family getaways and we look forward to it each year. Some of our greatest family memories include our Lake Powell trips. June 11-14th, 2010 was no different... a trip we will definitely not forget. Bare with me people.. this will be a long one. I tend to tell full detail.

Guests of this trip included..

Mike & Rhonda

Jenn and her kids..Gabe, Zoe, Noah

Rachel and her kids.. Tanner, Oaklee, Mason

Mike and Amber.. Jaxon, Belle

Jeff and Chelsey.. Alli

Tracy (Cousin)

Caitlin (Bryce's GF)

Tyler Schade (Tanner's friend)

As you can see it was a full trip..and with only one boat we had to take shifts.

Day One:

We left bright and early on Friday morning with the intentions of making it there by noon.

key word being INTENTION.

My car was following the boat down in case of any problems. Good thing.

About ten miles outside of Price the trailer tire started smoking big time. I called my dad to tell him just as huge tire chunks start flying by my car window. Naturally he pulls over and we get out to take a look at the damage.

Luckily my dad has learned patience through the years when it comes to boating. We got the stuff to change the tire and began cranking the jack to lift the trailer. Me and Tanner begin cranking and the wrench snapped..metal wrench busted. So we sat for a minute trying to think of what to do. Luckily Caitlin's jeep had a working wrench and we were able to get the tire changed. We hobbled into Price, stopped at a tire store and got two tires replaced. Set us back about an hour.

(waiting on the side of the road)

We arrived at Lake Powell an hour later than expected. Some of the other cars were there waiting loading things onto the houseboat. We park all the cars, get the boat into the water, then Me, Caitlin, & Mike wait on the dock to be picked up by the boat.

Dad's driving the houseboat. Jeff Driving the boat.

Comes to the dock at full speed. Boat won't go in neutral, won't go in reverse, will only go fast.

AWESOME.

haha so Jeff is coming at us full speed and here me and Cait are geering up to stop it. Instead he turns really quick and kills the boat. Round two we come up with a plan. He'll come in full speed, kill the boat far away from the dock, and then coast into the dock and we'll catch it.

Bless this dear lady who was trying to be helpful..she catches it and then ties us up, not knowing that we can't reverse and can't go forward on account of a giant boat ahead of us and shallow water.

Once again we come up with a plan.. walk the boat to the end of the dock, shove with all our might hoping it will flip the boat around so we can go forward, and dive into the boat praying we make it in. haha

our plan was successful.

As we venture off to find the houseboat we realize that we won't be able to ski, wakeboard, knee board etc.

But that didn't stop us from some tubing.

(cute little bums :)

Tubing was cut short due to weather. We were faced with quarter sized hail, strong wind, and rain.

That night as we slept it rained randomly throughout the night. but we all still stayed outside.

Day Two:

Saturday

Wake up to nice weather.

Take the kids out tubing.

Finally gets hot enough to get in the water.

Ice starts melting, time to take a trip to the Marina.

Like I said there were too many people, so Me and Caitlin stayed back with the 8 little kids while everyone else went for a quick trip for some ice.

3 hours later the boat arrives back at the houseboat.

Me: "Nice quick trip.."

Jenn: laughing..."You have no idea.. we had quite the experience."

Everyone walks in looking haggard and proceeds to tell us what happened.

First, they decide to do a little touring into the canyons.

stop for a nice swim, and then decide to head to the Marina.

one problem.

boat won't start.

stranded in a random canyon.

After some time my dad fixes some wires and the boat starts.

phew

They head on to the Marina

(keep in mind the boat doesn't do slow too well)

They are trying to tie onto the dock with a boat on one side and two waverunners on the other.

no reverse.

It started lookin bad, my dad was going to have to hit something.

Amber was standing on the back getting ready to catch us on the big boat.

At the last minute he changes his mind and turns into the wave runners,

throwing Amber off the back of the boat into the carp infested, gross Marina water.

SICK.

So, our boat rams into the two waverunners.

Jeff stuck his arms out to soften the blow and thinks he breaks his arm.

Boat continues to go forward.

Wave runner people screaming "come back, come back, hit and run"

EVERYONE starring.

Meanwhile Amber is just swimming in the water.

hahaha

i'm just sad i wasn't there to witness it all.

needless to say that night we had a family meeting.

verdict.

sell the boat.

so long lake powell.

Day Three:

Sunday

Dad and some of the boys take the boat in to see if it is fixable.

A few hours later they come back, dad now knows how to get it in neutral and start manually.

We decide to go touring again.

Somewhere close by.

First boat load to go:

Amber, Mike, Chelsey, Alli, Jaxon, Belle, Amy, Caitlin, Tyler, Tanner

Dad drops us off in this canyon with some tubes, noodles, and various other flotation devices.

we swim for awhile, do some cliff jumping, but the water is freezing and the sky is becoming overcast.

Second boat load never comes.

40 minutes later and boarder line hypothermic the boat drives into the canyon.

All of us were ready to go.

Turns out a huge wind storm came up where we were camped and they had to secure everything.

Now 22 people in one boat wasn't going to fly

(Last year we got a ticket for having too many people in the boat)

so we had two tubes hooked on to the boat.

Tanner, Tyler, Mike and I on one tube.

Tracy on the other.

It was super windy, super choppy, and freezing.

but we were already wet so we figured what the heck.

We get into the main channel and are cruising back to camp.

All the sudden the boat is headed straight on into a huge mountain rock thing.

everyone is slightly panicking.

My dad kills the boat.

steering is completely gone.

Here we are stranded AGAIN this time with a boat full.

won't call the rangers cuz we don't want another ticket.

not a boat in sight cuz of the bad weather.

AWESOME.

Luckily this little fisher looking boat stops for us.

agrees to tow us back to camp,

so we hook up.

I'm sure it was qutie a sight.

small boat towing huge boat with 238954 people pulling 2 tubes.

going 5 miles an hour for 45 minutes.

It was FREEZING!!

Thankfully because of those nice people we made it back to the houseboat safe and sound.

only further confirmed the selling of the boat.

As we get ready for bed it starts to rain and rain and rain and rain.

Some of us still slept outside in the rain. others slept in the houseboat.

Day Four:

Monday

boat out of comission.

supposed to stay until Tuesday.

Decide to leave Monday evening.

The great thing about my family is that even when thing after thing goes wrong we just laugh and make the best of it. We still managed to have a good time despite our set backs.