Lakes and vintage boats

Moving to the middle of the country, the exact middle, you are the furthest away from an ocean you can get in the US. I’ve checked google maps, and this is correct. So if you like to be by large bodies of water in Oklahoma, your only option is to go to a lake. Fortunately, Oklahoma has lakes, a lot of them.

I wanted my wife to have access to water as we no longer had our drive up the California coast. Truly one of our favorite things about living in the golden state.

So, to solve for the “we don’t live by the ocean anymore” problem, I embarked on a quest to…wait for it…buy a boat. I was really hopeful to make it out of this life without buying a boat.

Looking at people on boats from the shore of a lake is very romantic. Breeze in their hair, soaking up the sun, it does look like a lot of fun. The “Where do you store this thing?” and “How much does this thing cost?” was the real problem. So, like an idiot, I marched off to find one.

I did my research; small boats cost a lot of money. I didn’t have a lot of money. So I searched for used boats. Vintage boats. Those are less money. And they float just as well.

My journey led me to Minnesota and a sweet 1968 Glastron stored in a garage—a real cream puff. The motor with the boat was also 50 years old—it hadn’t run in a long time. No problem, I was sure a mechanic would be easy to find with all those lakes in Oklahoma. Right? Hooked up the boat, and off we went.

Turns out, fixing a 50-year-old 2-stroke motor can be rather challenging. Whoda thought? Mechanics avoid touching them as parts can be difficult to find. So they send you along to the next mechanic. It’s a process.

My two-stroke engine repair journey landed me in Choctaw, Oklahoma, at Dolphin Marine. The owner/mechanic is Dave Spurgeon.

Dave fixed us up. Now, when the boating season begins, my wife and I trailer our 1968 Glastron, grab our Dunkin’, and take the backroads to become those people—breeze in our hair, soaking up the sun.