On Location Tour Continues

From Dayton to St Mary's Ohio for the Next clinic at Short-line Shores, a man-made lake built by Carl Dammeyer and his family. Carl is a farmer by trade and has 2 boys Kyle and Kevin and a daughter Kristen who all ski very well. The lake is raised above the natural land level so burm's were built up to surround the lake.



We arrived Thursday night already knowing we were going to be dealing with a very windy day - according to the weather forecast. We were up early ready to ski, but the wind was building quickly on us. Diegi and Torrey where getting a little blown around on their sets as the lake soon became unskiable.


Shortly after lunch the wind switched and started blowing out of the west. All of a sudden we were surrounded by heavy smoke from a field fire. This was more than a little worrying as it was heading straight for the lake and farm buildings. 45 mile an hour gusty winds and the ash started to land on the boat, we made the decision to pull the boat out and clear out, you could hear fire trucks coming from all directions, but no one knew how far away the fire was and how fast it was coming. I jumped into the RV to turn her around as Gar and Diego took care of taking the boat out of the water and you wouldn't believe it, the engine would not start! The coach engine battery seemed to be dead. Now things really started to look bad.

The three or four of us, together with Heritage Coaches on the phone, eliminated the things that could be the problem. We ended up connecting the two house batteries up to the coaching engine battery with jumper cables to start the engine. For a few moments there, we were just a little stressed!

During the 30 minutes that we were trying to start the coach, the fire trucks had gotten the field fire under control just in time. They stopped the fire just short of taking out a row of houses and the Dammeyer's farm buildings.


As soon as we were all packed up to clear out the fire was under control and the wind started to drop and the lake became skiable again. It was time to throw the boat back in the water and go skiing. All the students from the college teams that came out to take a set managed to ski right up until sun set, it turned out to be a beautiful evening on the water!


Kyle Dammeyer taking the last set of the day on his own lake, living the dream! Thank you to the Dammeyer family for opening your home and site up for the On Location Tour, we had a very exciting day and can't wait to return next year.