The Last Weekend Of Summer On The River

This is the third day at my aunt's camp on the Tygart Valley River near Fairmont, WV.  While we saw just a few boats out on Saturday, the last Sunday of summer brought out several as folks wanted to get in what could be the last warm, pretty-day, ride before taking their boats out for the winter.  Here's a sampling.

 A Mastercraft, built just up Tellico Lake from us at their factory in Vonore, Tn.


This guy was moving too fast to get a clear shot - note the clear dock across the river. That's a highly polished, all chrome top on his big, noisy, V-8 engine sticking up behind him.


These folks motored up past the camp and were fishing as they floated back past a little later.

It doesn't get more peaceful than this evening ride.  Other than quick 90* turns, this is a great water skiing river as the banks quickly remove the boat wakes and you can ski on very smooth water most of the time - unlike our lake at home, which becomes ocean like at times.

 Fall is obviously here as a few trees are starting to turn, the white oaks are dropping what seems like tons of acorns and docks are disappearing from the river. Even though there is a flood-control dam up river in Grafton, it’s common for the water to rise 6-8 feet (and sometimes several more) during the winter and spring and become somewhat of a debris-filled torrent. As a result any over-wintering docks in the water are subject to damage or being washed away - the folks beside us took theirs out on Sunday and this guy is towing his somewhere to take out.


For us, it was a lazy day of sitting on the porch, watching the happenings, and visiting until late afternoon, when cousins and friends showed up for dinner. We had smoked a turkey breast during the last BBQ day for the primary reason of bringing it to WV and making Kentucky Hot Browns for them. I used the recipe from Louisville’s Brown Hotel (inventor of the dish), which I’d used before and can be found HERE. We didn’t have oven proof plates, so we topped the toast with the re-heated turkey and a slice of beefsteak tomato that covered the entire sandwich then stuck it under the broiler until the tomato was warmed. We then added the mornay sauce, bacon, and parsley. The classic sandwich uses two slices of bacon in an X, but I find it easier to eat if it's crumbled - since Bev wanted to used sliced, I compromised and used one sliced and one crumbled.  Not a great shot, but you get the idea.


They turned out to be delicious and everyone seemed to enjoy them, but someone made the suggestion and we all agreed that some form of onion would punch them up. So next time, I’ll make one with a little sliced or diced onion on the tomato and another with some chopped green onion on top and see what we think.

The guests all brought a dessert or two and after a little digesting time, I just couldn’t pass up cake and ice cream. As long as I can remember, when having chocolate cake and vanilla ice cream, I would let the ice cream get soft then mix it up with the cake. I thought I was the only one who did this, but come to find out, my cousin does the same – he added some fresh strawberries to his bowl for this one. Here’s a shot of his and while Beverly says it looks like garbage, Dairy Queen thinks it looks like a Blizzard – we were just ahead of the time.


Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.

Larry