Well it's Friday September 22 and I'm trying to complete those last minute little details so I can get the Discoverer loaded and ready to go away for the
weekend. Last night I finished tying up some wiring, temporarily secured the battery and checked everything over as best I could in the dark. Today I gave "Blew-By-U" another once over and loaded the lifejackets and
other goodies on board. It was time for my unofficial second maiden voyage, so off I went!It was the same as last time, across the street, through the neighbor's yard, down the boat ramp and into the bayou. Well I
tell you what, I was a little anxious to see how Blew was going to move and the canal isn't that wide
or that straight but there was enough room to give it a good burst of throttle. So I did! What a big difference between the
GEO and the Kohler! Blew lifted high up on her skirt and started moving forward slowly. I could almost feel the prop starting to bite and the then the bow raised as she started to climb the little
wall of water to get up over the hump. It didn't take long until I was over the hump and starting to glide along, easily picking up more speed than the canal would soon allow me to maintain. I
backed off on the throttle and tried cruising along the canal as slowly as I could without falling off the hump. Well, I was able to maneuver very well using a little extra throttle to make the turns and
keep gliding along. It was great! Then it was under the little bridge and into the open bayou. I made several passes up and
down the length of the bayou and was tempted to head for the river but I knew I had to get back and get ready for the trip.
Back I went. It was really great being able to get up over the hump and move so easily. I knew the real test would be when I
tried carrying a passenger, but seeing how easy it was by myself I really wasn't to worried. I got the Blew loaded on the
trailer, the truck loaded with all our goodies, removed the rudders and off we went. It was about 130 miles to the cabins at
East Lake Fish Camp in Kissimee, Florida and the trip went very smooth. It was near dark when we arrived and time for dinner so there wasn't much I was able to do that night.
In the morning I was the first one up and after making a coffee I went out and pulled off the tarp.
Well, our friends must have seen me through their cabin window because I soon had help putting the rudders on and moving the trailer to the boat ramp. We off-loaded in the parking lot, moved
Blew over near the boat ramp and took the trailer back to the cabin. We finished up a quick breakfast and Sharon and I headed down for our first official second maiden voyage. Before we left
we had several people stopping to ask us all kinds of questions. There are loads of airboats here but it seems no one has ever seen and rarely ever heard of a hovercraft. Even after explaining a
little about hovering they weren't quite sure how I was going to drive across the parking lot and down the ramp. To help us get on our way I suggested it might be best if I just went ahead and showed them what I meant.
Lifejackets, fuel, cooler, are you ready? Is it clear behind us? Okay, here goes, Vrooom! The engine was running, high idle, gotta wait a minute for warm-up. Okay, idle is normal, now we can
go. Open the bow dump ports, bring up the rpms, rudder is hard over, nice smooth 180 and facing 
towards the ramp. Here we go, close the bow ports and here comes the ramp. Easy now, down
we go, that's a hard right turn after we hit the water, the canal after the ramp isn't that wide. Nice smooth slide down the ramp, gentle water transition, easy right turn and away we go! Watch the
no wake zone, the main canal is right over there and then we can let loose. The few people we could see while still watching where we were going had faces of amazement. They looked like
they still didn't believe what we just did. Well, they are behind us now and here's the main canal so its time to see how Blew will move. As
the throttle is opened Blew raises up, lifts her nose and starts forward. It was a little slower than when I was alone but still very respectable considering there was even a slight headwind. The wife
and I look at each other and I could tell she that we were both pleased. Since we got over the hump so quickly there was minimal spray and that was real important to her.
We were off into the lake for a couple of gentle turns and general maneuvers. Everything was going really well. After a short 
ride we headed back in. At the ramp there was no room to stay up on the hump so it was a slow
creep along the canal. Well here goes the real test; can we climb up onto the parking lot on our own? We lined up with the ramp, got within about 10-15 feet of the pavement and I gave it full
throttle. Of course the extra noise turned the heads of those that weren't already looking. The water to land transition was smooth and we started to move up the ramp. I was waiting for the slowdown and
the stall on the ramp slope but Blew actually seemed to gain momentum! We kept going right on up and I slid gently into a parking place. Now I was
impressed too! And here come the people again. It was great fun and there were tons of questions 
of what, how, when and why? I really wanted to check things out since
it was the first real run with the GEO so I tried looking everything over while I kept explaining about what this crazy machine was.
After awhile the questions died down and people were again getting curious about seeing us go. After I was satisfied everything was okay we started Blew back up and headed out again. This
time we were heading for a creek we had been told about that runs into the lake. Down the ramp
and out we go, this is so easy now! It's just great! We cruised out into the lake, and started towards where the creek should
be. The lake edges are thick with grass patches and lily pads so we had to pick our way around a bit and look for the well
traveled spaces in through the grass. We found some of our friends that were out fishing and
stopped to chat with them for a few. We told them where we were going and to come get us if they didn't see us for awhile. When we went to leave Blew didn't want to start very easily. After
the engine did start it ran fine. (After this happened several times over the weekend I began to realize that the electric choke started to close after setting for 10-15 minutes and caused a little
flooding problem in the carb. Looks like a little readjustment to compensate for the problem.) We follow a "trail" through he grass and found the little creek, it is called Boggy Creek. We started 
following it and it wound through several tight turns, a few large open marsh like areas and then
into a tree lined creek that had nice houses scattered along the edges. There were several low tree limbs and I thanked myself for building the full prop guard instead of the half guard a lot of
Sevtecs have. We kept going for almost an hour and decided to turn around. The ride back was a little quicker as my driving skills were quickly improving. I was even able to get over the hump for
some of the short stretches coming back. We made it back to the lake and headed back to the boat ramp. Of course there were more people, more questions and loads of amazement as we settle back into our parking space.
Sharon wanted to go into town with the girls and pick up a few things so she left and I gave a couple of the guys a ride as they
showed up to see how we had done. Everyone enjoyed the rides but you could see they appeared a little unsure of what to
expect as I did my 180 and slid down the ramp. It was great fun, especially when I came up the
ramp, did a quick left turn instead of parking and settled in right next to the fuel pump. Now that really got some attention. We heard "I never saw a boat pull up to the fuel dock like that before.
Especially in the parking lot!" We just smiled and answered more questions. When the girls got back the rest of our group showed up at the ramp to see what we were doing. I began to give
everyone a ride. I found a nice route that went out into the lake, along the grassy edge and to 
another "canal" about a mile and a half away. As soon as I turned into
this canal I made another hard left turn into the grass and followed some airboat paths. The paths twisted their way through the grass and across several open areas, towards the shore, almost up
on dry land several times and finally back out to the main canal going to the ramp. I lost count of the number of rides I gave but it was great. As the sun started to go down and the sky turned that
mixture of pinks and reds, I got Sharon in for our last ride of the day. While we were coming back through the grass the light was getting dim and the sky got really colorful. What a great feeling,
cruising along with the glassy water in front of us just over hump speed. It was so peaceful and serene you didn't want it to end, if I had time before it got to dark I would have make the trip one more time.
Well, the next day, Sunday, we slept late and had a late breakfast. Everyone else wanted to get home to watch football and since we're not big fans we went for another ride. After an hour or two
of exploring a canal and two connecting lakes (or ponds) we headed back. After we loaded up and
started down the road we realized how tired we were. The excitement and exhilaration of the weekend really took a lot out of
us. I was so happy all the way home. We talked about going back again someday and where we might take Blew for our next ride.
