Grass is Always Greener

Article and photos by Skip Johnson

Susie and I took her 102 year old mother out on our Yamaha 190SX today. It's getting to be a challenge; she's getting frailer and we aren't spring chickens ourselves. But we did it and all went well. I'd go to great lengths to achieve same as long as we are able.

Say what you will about mother-in-law jokes, but I love my mother-in-law; we've a lot of history together. I started dating her oldest daughter over 65 years ago. Much of that history revolved around the water and this lake in particular. Camping, water skiing, canoeing—we've done it all for a very long time.

Since we retired and built our place here next to Tenkiller Ferry Lake we've been able to take Susie's mom out on a pretty regular basis, but it's apparent that future trips are limited at best, so each one is special and to be cherished.

Today we visited her two most favorite spots on the lake; Goat Island about 10 miles upstream on the lake, and Strayhorn Island about 6 miles south of us near the dam.

Goat island—no great surprise has a herd of goats— 16 at the moment, which Susie's mom and many others enjoy feeding. After launching at Snake Creek Park we head up the lake. Weather app says 6 mph out of the South; and the wind is from the south clocking around from east to west. But it's really closer to 8-10 mph; whitecaps are showing up regularly on open water stretches. But we are going with the waves and can easily find sheltered water along the cliffs regularly so it's an easy trip.

Fortunately the goats are on their regular lee side hangout so we can ease up next to the rocky shore and dispense a couple of bags of nutritious Dollar General vanilla cream cookies. Herd dynamics have changed recently. The old tan alpha male has been replaced by a new black alpha male. I’m not a fan of either of them; the old tan male tried to put a hoof on the deck of our boat, once. The black did the same today; hopefully his memory will be as good as the tan’s.

After feeding the goats we head south towards Strayhorn Island and it’s a bit of a rougher trip. The wind has picked up a bit and we take a few side trips going south, Terrapin Creek cove on the east side of lake and Burnt Cabin Marina on the west side as we zig zag across the open water waves to find relatively smooth water.

We make it to Strayhorn Island and we are in the lee in smooth water and it’s worth the trip once again. Almost a mile of limestone bluffs that rise about 80 feet above normal water level. We drift and idle back and forth soaking in the presence. The water here is 160' deep down to the river bed. I often try to visualize what it looked like before the lake filled.

After almost four hours on the water we head back in, heat index this afternoon will be around 120.

You might wonder what the title has to do this little remembrance. While zig-zagging south towards Strayhorn Island I realized there is a nautical equivalent to the above saying.

“The water is always smoother on the opposite shore.” •SCA•