It was a beautiful Fourth of July in Saugatuck. We were taking my boat out from Holland Harbor down to Saugatuck to celebrate Independence Day with my friends. The sun was shining brilliantly, and the water was as flat as glass. The air smelt of a crisp, fresh scent, and it tasted like I was in heaven. My friend, Art, and I had spent weeks planning the trip in order to have it cleared by our parents. We had driven my boat many times with my mom, so we knew all the skills, and we considered ourselves to be master mariners. As we pulled out of the channel, my friend, Art, cracked open two glass bottles of ice cold Henry Weinhardt’s Root Beer to drink. It was my personal favorite soda. I took a big gulp, and it tasted as if it were a drink of the angels. I was wearing my favorite Ray Ban Aviators, and Art was wearing his favorite Oakley Wayfarers, and my Powerquest Integra 185 was gleaming brilliantly in the sun. We were listening to The Cars, Journey, and many other Classic Rock Groups. We were rockin’ it. We cruised down the shoreline along Lake Michigan South towards Saugatuck shirtless and with style. The sound of the boat’s engine cycling at full speed was the most beautiful sound I have ever heard; it sounded like the perfection of machinery. We were ripping through the water at 60 mph. We did circles around sailboats that were all headed the same way, and, man, we had fun. As I pulled into the Kalamazoo Harbor, Art popped open two cans of Mountain Dew, my second favorite soda, and that drink tasted like the drink of angels. The day was perfect, and the feeling of the sun on my body as we were cruising through a warm wind felt as if I was riding on cloud nine.
I pulled up to the dock at my friend Kirk’s house, who happily greeted us as we pulled in. We tied the boat off quickly, and went inside his house to hang out. You see Kirk, Art, and I all had a band called the Mariners Undead, and we performed at the Coral Gables Restaurant once every two weeks during the summer. I played the drums; Kirk played the bass, and Art played the guitar, and we all sang. We sang all the famous songs of Classic Rock, and we were pretty popular with the town folk. Kirk hurled me the keys to the most beautiful car on the planet, his Grabber Blue 1970 Ford Mustang Mach 1. As I stormed the Mustang out of the garage, I realized that the Mustang esteemed itself with an extraordinary glow as it gleamed in the sunlight. I pumped the radio up to play the music of Gold, Classic Rock. The Mustang was a powerful, beautiful stallion prepared to show off its strength and beauty to all who crossed its path. I stared at the front of the car, only to see a silver plate with my name written on it. I sat and stared at the plate, while the sun glared down on the car, causing the plate to disappear into the sky above. It was a beautiful day, no doubt.
Then, we drove to Saugatuck State Park to have a beach party with all of our friends, before we went to the Coral Gables Restaurant to play our show. Art, Kirk, and I met up with our friends Liz, Katie, and Megan at the Oval Beach. They were friends that we had met in Saugatuck, while we were working at Kirk’s father’s Wooden Boat Shop. Megan’s father was a customer of Kirk’s father. We charged over and hugged each other, and greeted each other. We sprinted and hopped into the lake together, and then we jogged out to the park to get the grill going, so that we could cook some hot dogs and burgers. It was time to cook a tasty meal. The air smelled completely scrumptious as we finished broiling and grilling tasty hot dogs and cheeseburgers. As we ate them, I had another bottle of Root Beer to drink, and boy it felt like a drink of gold as it flowed from the bottle down my throat.
We then played a game of beach volleyball with the boys being on one team and the girls being on another. We played until it was literally time to go, and we were competitive throughout the whole game, although, the girls still ended up beating us in a series of seven, because they were all part of the same volleyball team.
Afterwards, Art, Kirk, and I headed out to Coral Gables with our friends behind us to play some music, and, boy, were we excited to play the music of gold.