an odd and busy day

It's Labor Day weekend, so of course, everyone's out and about, going wine tasting, to the coast, kayaking and canoeing, swimming, driving in the country. And lots of them come across the ferry. From 10 am until about 5:30, I was going back and forth nonstop. The vast majority of people had never been on the ferry before. There were a ton of random gps followers, the best being the one heading EAST on the ferry, and asking if it was the way to Seaside (which is on the coast--Northwest of the ferry).

At one point late morning, I was listening to the soundtrack to O Brother Where Art Thou. I had it on the stereo in the cabin, and depending on where you were standing on deck, you could hear it. This is the song I was listening to:

Around the 1:10 mark, there's yodeling. So I was out taking tolls, and was standing talking to three bicyclists. One of them heard the song, smiled that he knew the song, and right at the yodeling part, started yodeling! So I started singing along. His friends thought we were both crazy. It was hilarious.

At another point, I was talking to a woman who had just taken her kids to Wings of Wonder, the butterfly place in Buena Vista. I was looking to my right, at her, while I walked forward, and walked straight into a wall. I started laughing, then she started laughing, and then she SNORTED. Oh man it cracks me up when people actually snort with laughter.

This afternoon, I walked up to a small pickup to take toll, and it was an older man and his wife. The guy was probably at least 75 or 80, his wife the same. As he hands me his $3, he said, "We've got a hot young babe to drive the boat today!" EWW! So inappropriate!

I totally got yelled at! It was so weird and I was livid. So here's the deal. On the old ferry, the east boat ramp was shared as both a ferry launch and a public boat ramp. When the ramp was rebuilt for the new ferry, it's no longer a public boat ramp. Because this is a change, and the ferry has only been reopened for a few months, we're having to educate people to not use the ramp. Often though, kayaks and canoes will try to land their boats next to the ferry anyway. This is where they land:

It's about 8 feet from the boat. Sometimes when the boat lands, it'll jump and slide quite far in that direction before I can get to the throttles to control it. It's unsafe to stand there. And there are signs.

At least 4 times today, I had to go and talk to boaters and tell them that it's no longer a public boat launch, it's not safe, please use the park across the river, etc. 98% of people are fine with it. Until today. So a group of 8 kayakers pulled their boats up while I was on the other side of the river. By the time I got over there with a car, they were up at the parking area. So I walked up, and gave them my friendly speech. And this lady got all loud and yelled, "WHERE DO YOU GET OFF TELLING ME NOT TO! IT'S PUBLIC LAND AND I PAY MY TAXES!" One of her boating friends stepped in and stood between me and her. I basically just said that I'm only the messenger, and turned and walked back down to the boat. I was so livid! People are so weird.

I expect tomorrow to be equally busy, with as many random gps-ers, newbies and awkward people. Most of the day was fun. I'm thinking tomorrow or tuesday, once I'm done working, I'm going to walk back down the boat ramp and jump in the river for a quick swim. It's still 85 when I leave work. I was very tempted tonight.