By Ron Tackitt

Outword Magazine, July 14, 2011

I‘ve never been houseboating before. I’ve heard a lot about the trips that others have taken, but until recently, I had yet to experience it for myself.

Happily, that has changed.

Several of my friends and coworkers and I have been talking with the folks at Houseboats.com for almost two years trying to find a time that we could get away from the office long enough between Outword’s deadlines, to drive up to Shasta Lake and be on the water for longer than two days. Recently, that opportunity came about and we were able to spend four full days on the lake.

We arranged to have a mid-line houseboat, that could sleep 12, and had, pretty much, all the comforts of home. We had no desire to fill the boat to capacity but we did end up with a great group of eight and that seemed just-right for us.

Our boat had four sleeping rooms in the main cabin, and two “penthouses” up on the top deck that accommodated all of us, without having to make the couches out into beds. That turned out to be really nice because if someone got up early and started mulling around in the kitchen, they were not right on top of someone sleeping on the couch.

Before our trip we held a planning meeting and assigned each person with a main meal, and left lunch open for each person to fend for themselves. In hindsight, we should have taken those meals into our plan, as everyone, not wanting to run out of food, brought way more than  necessary.

We had eight containers of sour cream, seven salsas, two hummus, ten bags of chips, nine  containers of sliced lunch meat, six or seven loaves of bread and an entire cooler full of various bags of lettuce. Along with the stuff that was specifically earmarked for the main meals! When we all realized the gravity of how much food was on board, we quickly dubbed our weekend, “Fat Camp.”

We thought we were going to have to walk all our stuff from our cars to the dock, but upon arrival were very pleasantly surprised that the Houseboats crew was more than ready and able to help. Their “QuadSquad” mounted on ATVs with trailers pulled up to our cars, unloaded all of our stuff and drove it to the boat. Once we were cleared to board, the squad even loaded the goods onto our boat for us. They were wonderful. In fact the quality of service was pretty amazing. Think of a relaxed Ritz Carlton…

After a short tour of the boat and a tutorial of how to drive it, one of the dock hands pulled our houseboat out of the marina and headed us out for open water. Once there, another dock hand picked him up, and we were free to navigate.

We could not have picked a better weekend to be on the lake as far as weather was concerned. Ours was perfect. It had been over 100 just days before we got there, but then dipped down to the mid 80s to low 90s. (The day after we left, it rained all day.)

We had great cruising/floating weather. The water had been warmed up and there was usually a slight breeze that helped cool the boat and keep us from having to use up precious gasoline to run the air.

Each night we pulled the boat up to land and tied up to a couple of trees. There are wonderful nooks and coves all up and down the lake, just picking the best one was our only challenge.

Our first evening we were greeted by a small flock of Canadian geese that swam around the back of the boat. Watching them, against the backdrop of calm water, catching the last of the evening’s light and hill after hill covered with trees, made for a pretty magical first impression.

The next day a friend joined us, and brought a ski boat with him. That increased the fun factor! When not being used to fling folks around on an inner-tube, or fetch ice, it was quite easily pulled behind the houseboat.

One evening we were parked in a spot where we did not have cell phone reception and it led to a great ski boat trip out onto the lake to find bars. (Can you hear me now?) I couldn’t have cared less, so I sat in the front and enjoyed the last sunlight of the day, dangling my hand over the side in the cool water and waves breaking off the bow. Heaven.

Bedtime came early each night. The darkness and the silence worked together to naturally tell our bodies that we’d had enough. Of course, eating and drinking all day might have also added to our sleepiness, but that’s another story.

Mornings brought about a familiar routine, brew some fresh coffee, mull around trying to wake up, then someone would make breakfast. After all, we had five dozen eggs to go through. Once satisfied, it was off to find another spot on the lake to hang out, stop the engine and float around in the water on a couple of styrofoam noodles.

We did this for four wonderful days. The houseboat was very comfortable, if not particularly well insulated for noise, and with just eight of us aboard, we all had plenty of room to ourselves. Some of us worshipped the sun on the top deck, others read books on their iPads or took naps, and there was almost always someone foraging in the kitchen.

All in all, this was a great trip, and there were only two things we would do differently; bring less food and get the bigger houseboat, AKA the Titan.

When we did have to return to the real world, we brought the houseboat back to the marina and once again, a dock hand came and moored the boat back in its place. The same great service that we experienced upon our arrival, we experienced again upon our return. The checkout process was quick and efficient, and it seemed almost too quick that we were in our cars and on our way home.