A Flat Bottom Boat, McHenry Creek, and a Small Pond on Lockert Lane – Adventure of the Week

Last Updated on May 11, 2018 by Terry

Swimming, it’s a way of life for our family. We grew up around water and simply felt the need to be in it as much as possible. Most of the time, these activities took place during summer time. But, when you are as passionate as we are, there can be exceptions.

The title indicates our swimming pools as we grew up. We had a small aluminum boat leaning against the back fence when we lived on Lawson Road back in the early 1960s. One day in July, our dad drug it up near the house and filled it with water. We used it all summer. You could have never convinced us we were not having fun.

We have lived up and down McHenry our entire lives. Carla and I continue to cross it every day going and coming from work. There were many larger holes that could be used as a swimming hole and when were young, we took advantage of it whenever we could.

When I was twelve we built a house farther out Colonel Glenn on Lockert Lane. It was actually the driveway for the Bub and Elvie Lockert clan. On the back of our three acres, McHenry Creek bubbled up out of the ground as a spring. The first year or so we borrowed a friend’s small bull dozer and dug our pond. The wonderful swimming pool stayed clear due to McHenry flowing through it. The spring water also kept it very cool. We had many friends from the Martindale area that would spend hours with us at/in the Bryant community oasis.

The diving tree.

It was wintertime when we finished digging out the pond. It filled up and started flowing over the spillway in about a week. It was a beautiful sight to behold. On one corner, there was a giant oak tree. One of the larger limbs reached out almost to the water’s edge. One afternoon I was day dreaming with great anticipation about the many fun days we would spend there. I was standing under the big oak. I looked up and was suddenly stricken with the greatest idea of my young existence. I ran to the house as fast as I could. Jerry saw me and asked what was wrong. I informed him that everything was just right, and to get some cut-offs on quickly. In about three minutes we were both climbing the oak to the large limb.

You had to be careful and agile at this point. Remember, the limb we were now standing on did not fully reach the water line. It was about twenty feet above the ground, but if you used the spring action of the limb you could launch yourself  completely clear of the bank. We weren’t engineers, but it appeared our plan would work anyway.

My brothers and I at the swimming hole.

I was testing the spring of the limb, and suddenly bent my knees and pushed off as hard as I could. Four 9s and a 10 as my perfect dive barely made a ripple on the surface. I had barely returned to the surface when I saw Jerry disappear into the frigid water. He only received 9s so I was indeed the champion!

The current problem is that it was about 39 degrees air temp, and now we are wet and running as fast as possible back to the house. I told him next time we must remember to bring towels. We couldn’t wait until tomorrow!

“Today was good, today was fun, tomorrow is another one!” ~Dr. Suess