Persephone & Hades... Crusin' in the Murphini on the River Styx?

Alas, I know what Ceres felt like when Persephone was taken away from her. Remember the story in greek mythology about the hot chick Persephone (Pronounced "Per-soff-ah-nee" sez Danielle's pal Katie Devan) gets kidnapped by Hades and taken to the underworld? Her mom Ceres wigs out so everything dies until she comes back in the spring.

Well, that's me (Ceres, that is). This weekend Connie and I took the Murphini2 out of water, the whole family cleaned her up, and prepared her for her winter slumber. I'm taking her to Innerspace Storage (the caves) tomorrow, where she will sit in hibernation until Persephone comes back from the netherworld in the spring. Parting is such sweet sorrow.

But like Mardi Gras before Lent, it is fine form to send something off in style. Tonight we had the last "cruise" of the season, a driveway/street cruise with Connie & I, Kevin and Danielle Shank, and their guest of honor Ms. Katie Devan. Yes, that is us, sitting in the boat, parked the street at 8:32PM on a Sunday night, it's dark outside, 52 degrees, and we're having a BEvERage. It's fun doing the parade wave to every car/minivan that slowly drives by, looking at us sitting in the boat, at night, on the street....you get the picture. Katie seemed most curious of all, and wondered if we'd really do this; so thanks for makin' in happen, kid.


Year 1 on the Murphini was eventful:
-We took 31 cruises
-Ran the engine 63.9 hours
-Had 84 different guests
-Trailered it to Okoboji
-Trailered to Tablerock
-Learned how to wakesurf.

Highlights? There were many:
-Wakebording with Ryan and his Pals
-Okoboji Madness with Becky Eiting carving S turns at 7am on the glassy water
-Delores cradling and cuddling the heating duct like it was here newest grandbaby during our night cruise
-Sarah's 14th Birthday Party with 9 of her friends
-Kevin Shank's only day off all Summer
-Trip to Tablerock with the Rodriguez's
-TouchNet Sales team day on the boat


Another highlight? Sometimes I do and I give and I give and I do things for others because I've got a big ole heart like a grapefruit, and it's hard for me to say no. This is one of those times.
Danielle's daughter Madison is the Senior Co-Captain of the Blue Valley Northwest Cheerleading Squad. Tradition has it that the squad has a promotional photo taken on some unique vehicle for a poster to be distributed to boosters, local business and parents. Somehow the idea came up that a picture on a boat would be nice. Darn the luck in that we just so happen to have a boat that holds 16 people.

Lowlights?
The day it died at TableRock, but even that has a great story/ending. The boat was under warranty, turned out it was a loose ground cable, and the President of Tige Boats wrote me a check for the day we had to rent a boat since our was literally dead in the water.

All winter, I'll be thinking of Hades taking his hottie Persephone out for rides on the STYX on my boat. By the way, Persephone actually fell in love with Hades and her mom doesn't know....and I bet she digs the time away from all the hustle and bustle of our world, so she can hang on the Murphini with her forbidden love. I can see them now, dodging the Charons and the lost souls, cranking the toons and having a blast.

I can't wait for Spring.

Cap'n Johnny