Saturday was sunny and 72 F so we hitched up the boat trailer and drove out to the Fanshawe Lake reservoir in Fanshawe Park. They charged us $12 for the car and $10 for the boat which is no real hardship for me but I can see how it would discourage a lot of people from taking their canoe or small boat very often. In fact I too would maybe go more often if the price was lower. We pay for these parks in our taxes and I don't think they should be making them exclusive to those who can afford it. We only saw a couple other boats the whole day.
The motor had been drained of fuel for the winter (run out until it starved and quit) and yet it started right up on the second pull. We explored along the shoreline for about 3 hours, shedding our coats as it felt warmer in the bright sunshine. A beautiful day for putting around.
There was quite a bit of debris left over from the winter around the edge of the lake so there was lots to look at. Obviously the water had been much higher at some time since the strewn branches, old stairways, and plastic drums were high up the banks.
At the north end, where the Thames River flows into the lake, Wendy spied a huge eagle's nest. We tried to get closer but the outboard motor started complaining by bumping along the bottom in the too shallow river delta. We were forced to pull up the engine and wait until we drifted back into deeper water. Still, we could see a pair of bald eagles peering back at us from the nest that was several feet in diameter. They seemed to locate the nest in the tallest tree, but only slightly above the other trees and positioned in such a way that the nest was not visible from the main activity area of the park. We pretty much had to drive the dinghy into a restricted area past a red warning marker in order to see it.
Later in the day clouds began to obscure the sun and the temperature dropped just enough for us to know it was time to load the little boat back on the trailer and head back home. This was the first time we were boating since we put the Phoenix away forever last year. Nice to get out on the water.
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