July 4 holiday was a ‘wash-out”

They came, they watched it rain, they watched it rain some more and they finally just went out and played in the rain.

If you drive for a half-dozen hours to get to Clinton County with the intentions of enjoying a long weekend vacation on Lake Cumberland or Dale Hollow Lake, then you would hope for some nice, sunny, sunburn-ready summer weather.

The thousands who came to our area last week in anticipation of just that, were disappointed in the weather we suffered through, which was rain, rain and then more rain.

With the local WKU Mesonet station reporting some five inches of rain falling at the collection station last week, vacationers and local boating and water enthusiasts alike, were pretty much just sitting and watching it rain from their houseboats, cabins and the docks they were staying at.

Then, on Saturday, despite the constant downpours throughout the day, everyone seemed to just give up on the prospect of better weather and they made a decision – not to leave, but to just get out in the rain and play anyway.

I was on Dale Hollow Lake through the weekend, and I noticed mid-morning Saturday that the traffic suddenly was moving and moving a lot. Houseboats, fishing boats, runabouts and PWCs all moving up and down the lake regardless of the solid periods of rain and foggy conditions.

I have a sign hanging over my boat at Wisdom Dock that has been there since I first began boating in the mid 1980s and the words that appear on that sign came to mind Saturday as I listened to the boats moving despite the rainy conditions.

It was true when I hung the sign, and apparently it is still true today.

“A bad day on the water is better than a good day on land.”