November 11, 2017

A topic on the Next Door Neighborhood site started me searching for something I had written a long time ago about noise from waterskiers in the morning and I stumbled across this article.  I had completely forgotten about it (actually just not thought about the acticle for some time) and if memory serves me correctly (forgive me if I’m wrong) I think Dru Schwartz ran into the Author Gary Kramer while we were attending the Houseboat Show in Louisville and started telling him about the party.

I still can’t believe we were that responsible in our 20’s and 30’s (probably the only time of the year we were) but I sure do miss all of the great friends who helped make the parties such a fun and safe time.

January 21, 2026
Almost a decade later and while the voices in my head still don’t know if they will ever share my Rodney’s Rambling #1 and #2 I thought it important to add part of that acticle to never get lost.  To remind the new Rodney of what the old Rodney once accomplished with the help and strength of so many great friends.  And with the mutual help and respect of those that could have taken the easy route and shut the party down at any given time.

So here’s a little section from Rodney’s Ramblings #1
“Without people like the old Rodney that was willing to walk into the Lake County Illinois Marine Unit’s office in my 20’s and look the Commander of the Marine Unit straight in the eye and take full responsibility for anything that might have happened at our boat party the weekend before the party definitely would have been shut down. A boat party that grew from maybe 25 boat and 150 people to 1070 boats and 5,000 plus attendees over the 11 year span that I headed it up in Illinois. A party that because of the rules and ideas my friends and I implemented over the years there were no major incidents over the 11 years I hosted it in Illinois. A party that 17 years since I last hosted it in Illinois and 29 years since we threw it on Lake Redstone the stories still brings smiles to people’s faces every time it’s reminisced about. A party that for 16 years had the most amazing band “The Swing Crew” playing on our boats bringing smiles and lots of “It’s Toastin’ Time” chants to the crowd.

Without people like the old Rodney and my friends that very party never would have been written about in the Heartland Boating Magazine as a model of how boating parties should be ran. About how vital it is to have cooperation with the various authorities to make sure it’s a safe party, not just a fun one. An article that happened from a chance encounter over lunch with a complete stranger at the houseboat show in Louisville. An article that as my friends asked me why I didn’t correct some of the article and I said what’s important is that it was written and not who got credit for what. And my friend said something along the lines of “No, what’s important is that with all the huge fancy houseboats at the show the article that this author went back and pitched to write to his editor was about our party.””

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Well the pictures that day were worth far more, they were worth several thousand smiles that day and decades of memories and smiles that continue to this day.

Here’s the PDF of the magazine article.

SwingCrewParty-HeartlandBoating2

And here’s the PDF of the letter I had written to the Town of La Valle Board in against restricting the hours for waterskiers on Lake Redstone.