We bought our boat on a snowy Saturday in October. Although the rivers and lakes weren’t quite frozen, it didn’t seem like the best time to try out our new skiff. Plus, after buying a boat and engine there wasn’t much extra money left over for things like lifejackets, oars, or gas cans. So we put a tarp over it and watched the snow pile up on top of it all winter. When the snow finally melted in the middle of May it was actually quite a pleasant surprise. For about two weeks straight every time I looked out the window I would say to Kyle, “Wow, look, there’s our boat!”
We were pretty excited to get out on the water with the boat, but there were lots of preparations to be done. Gas cans, oars, life jackets, a prop and more had to be purchased. Then, once we had procured all the necessary parts I looked at Kyle and said, “Sweet! This looks great, let’s go out on the lake right now.”
“Umm,” Kyle hesitated, “First, the lake is still frozen. Secondly, don’t you think we should test it out first?
Luckily, a friend and his son who know a lot about small engines were able to take a look at it. I was a tad worried since the engine is nearly as old as I am, but they gave the engine a thumbs up and said that it runs really well. With this seal of approval, we were ready to go, we just needed a day with good weather.
Last week we got just such a day. It was sunny and nearly 70 degrees. The high tide was at a fairly convenient time in the afternoon. So we loaded up the boat and headed to the boat launch. We got the boat in the water and proceeded to cruise up the Wood River. We didn’t go particularly far, but we had amazing views the entire time as we learned how to operate the boat.
Our first boat ride gave us some essential information about our boat- it floats and it goes. We considered our first boating trip a success and are looking forward to many more trips. 
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