Utah Lake Experience

Some of you may already know our experience on Utah Lake but there are a lot that do not know so I thought I would share. Jason, Jessica, Jesse, Theron, and I went on a trip to Utah Lake with the boat last week. The Jessi's were looking forward to playing in the tube. We got the bout out in the lake and hooked the tube up. Jesse went first on the tube he went for a long time and then got thrown off when Jason had to take a sharp turn to avoid some other boats. So he got in the boat and Jessica got on the tube we drove for a little bit then Jessica did want to be on the tube any more. We pulled her in but as we did so the boat died not usually a problem but when Jason went to start it again it would not start. At this time it was probable around 8:30ish. The sun was still up and there was plenty of people on the lake. After Jason messed with the engine for awhile him and Jesse got the ores out and started to row the boat toward shore. As some may know Utah Lake is NOT a small lake, and we were in the middle of it. As we saw people go past us, going for the shore, we would wave, yell, and honk the horn, but Alas no one would stop. We just kept going and watching the beautiful sunset. As soon as the sun set though we wished we were off the lake, the bugs out there are terrible, they were so thick that we could hear the mosquito's buzzing above our heads. Even though their was four of us that have cell phones we were all dumb enough to leave them in the truck (We won't be making that mistake again). As we all really wanted to get home Jason and Jesse kept rowing the boat. Jessica would jump in to give them a break every once in awhile but neither of them would let me as I am pregnate. Theron got a little restless on us but out in the middle of the lake there is not much we could do. I took him to the drivers chair and let him pretend to be driving and eventually he fell asleep that made things a little easier on all of us.

Now some may know that my brother-in-law lives with Jason and I and he had been out with his girlfriend but he did know where we went because Jason had told him where when and who was going. He got home about 10:30 and when he noticed that the truck and the boat was not home he started to worry because by that time the sun had been down for about an hour and a half. He started by calling all of our cell phones, several times. At about eleven he called the police to report us missing, good thing Jason had told him where we were going so he could give the police all the details like how many was with us and what doc we went to. Then he started that direction himself. The police had not got back with him by twelve and Jeremy had also called Heather and Kaleb, Jason sister and brother-in-law.

Jason and Jesse had decided on a point along the shore to row to which was just a group of lights in the distance but it was something and we would all watch the buildings of the shore to see the progress we were making which would make us all fill better when we would pass something and it would get smaller even though sometimes it seemed like it took forever. We had the lights on the boat on but as the battery was dead the lights were really dim. Eventually we could see a really bright light coming from the place we had pick out as the dock and about thirty minutes after that we could hear a boat and a really bright light coming from around the place one of the other docs should be located. It was a Utah State Patrol boat. They came up to the boat and asked if we were the McNeill's, we said yes then they asked how the two year old was and the rest of us. We got hooked up and they towed us in to the docs, they knew which one because they had found the truck and trailer in the parking lot earlier. When we got there Jeremy, Heather, and Kaleb was all on the doc waiting for us. You really lose track of time in the middle of the lake. When we finally got the boat loaded it was 2am and we got home about 3am. Jason has sense tested the boat to see if his suspicions was correct and they were because he is such a good mechanic. The alternator went out so the battery was not getting charged which is why we could not get it to start again. Jason and Jesse has some sore museles the next morning and blisters on there hands but we are very greatful for those that prayed and helped us.

If you are ever out in a lake and see someone rowing there boat please stop and ask them if they need help they might not always want it but some times it is really helpful. I know that I would have been very greatful to any one that would have stopped and really am greatful to the officer that had to get out of bed to come get us at one in the morning. Thank you to all that help in those kind of situations.