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Moonlight on Williams Lake

By Pat Harbine

4 paddlers showed up for a paddle under the full moon. We started at 8 p.m. after searching for two other kayakers who indicated they were coming along. There was considerable commotion around Klink's Lodge and we could not find them but life goes on! Ted Lowe, his wife Carolyn, and a friend Bobbie Michaelis paddled with me to the quiet end of the lake. I sang an old Guy Lombardo tune, "Drifting With the Moon" but they were all youngsters and didn't recognize it. Perhaps it was the way it was presented.

I clocked the moon the night before and it rose at 9:00 p.m. so I expected it much earlier than it's 10:15 appearance but it was a teaching moment and all the novices learned how the tide following the moon's pull is a little later each evening due to the slight changes in its orbit, but you knew that! I couldn't explain why there was no tide inland other than to remark that perhaps the eastern part of the state was not important enough to have a tide! We paddled the few miles to the boat ramp enjoying the shadows and reflections on the water's surface. The departure of a few late evening trollers in their boats excited us enough to turn our strobes and head lamps on. The boats loaded, we returned home with the full moon whirling above as we changed directions on the winding road home.