Labor Day Weekend

Three or four day weekend for most folks! What does that mean for us? We will be running all weekend, even on Sunday! Make sure you look us up if you need a ride anywhere around the lake this weekend!

Festival Weekend

Not much to report this weekend as I, Kevin, took the night off on Friday. My brother-in-law, Fred, drove the bus on Friday and I took over on Saturday. The weather was great on Friday night and although Saturday started out in stormy fashion, it turned out to be a great day overall. The Saint Mary-of-the-Woods festival was also a success.

It's time to update you about another one of the establishments at the lake. Acheson's Resort is a "little drinking resort with a fishing problem" and is a place that never ceases to entertain. The dining options include both inside and outside dining right on the water. They also have live entertainment every weekend. Whether it's a live band or karaoke, everyone always seems to have a good time. See an example of the karaoke below.

A new story...

After a year and a half of driving the bus around the lake, I thought I had seen just about all I could see. However, last night brought about a interesting story that had never happened to me before. At about 3:00am I received a call from the Logan County Sheriff's Office and they informed me that they were in need of a taxi for a person who wandered off on foot toward what they thought was home. After two hours of walking, the person realized that they had actually went the wrong way and found themselves on the complete opposite side of the lake. If you click on the link, you can see how far off he was. Now to give the guy some credit, this was his first time at the lake and really didn't know his way around.


View Mishap at the lake in a larger map

As I am typing this, it probably isn't as good of a story on paper as it was when it was actually happening, but you have to realize that he left the bar at 11:00pm and finally figured out he was going the wrong way at 3:am! Oh well, tis the life of a taxicab driver.


Remember, next week is the St. Mary of the Woods Parish Festival which will be held on the grounds Fischer's Flea Market.

Danger Bros. and more!

The Danger Brothers concert was a huge success and although the weather looked like it wasn't going to cooperate all day, the rain held off and it turned out to be a great day. Besides the concert at Oldfield Beach, there was also a wooden keel boat show at the Russel's Point docks. Unfortunately I didn't know that was going on until I happened to drive by and didn't have my camera. It is always really interesting to see these old types of boats. It is basically the same as a classic car show, just on water.

I did want to explore some of the bars around the lake for anyone that may be unfamiliar with the Indian Lake area. I thought I would start with the most popular bar, Froggy's. It has become THE destination for bargoers at Indian Lake. During the summer of '08, the owner of Froggy's decided to install a pool with a swim up bar behind his property. A video below gives a little view of what the end result looks like. There are always bands playing out by the pool, so even if you don't go in, you can always relax and listen to some great music!

New Driver

If you rode on one of our buses last night, you may have noticed that I wasn't the driver. Last night was the first official day for our newest driver, Jaime. I was hoping for a busy night, but with Country Concert going on this weekend, most of our clients were away from the lake for the weekend.

Still no news coverage of the accident that occurred early Saturday morning, but I was able to speak with a Logan County Sheriff last night to confirm what I already knew. Two pedestrians were struck and one was killed and one is at least in critical condition. The person who hit the pedestrians fled the scene. I officer I spoke with thought they may have found the driver sometime on Saturday but was not positive.

On another note, next weekend will be an amazing weekend at the lake, so if you currently do not have any plans, head for the lake. The Danger Brothers will be performing at Oldfield Beach. Contact the Indian Lake Chamber of Commerce at 937-843-5392 or by visiting their website here.

update 7/13/09: Finally a news story about the accident. Read it here

What keeps me up at night...

The fact that I drive a bus full of slightly to moderately drunk people around until at least 3am most Fridays and Saturdays is enough to keep me awake much longer than I should. However, that isn't the only thing that keeps me up at night. At 3:00am, when I get back into my own bed, one would think I could just fall asleep, but I can't. At first, I thought it was just my body telling me that I couldn't go to sleep, keep those eyes open it says, you have a job to do. But long after that job is over I still lie there. Last night reminded me of what else is always in the back of my mind during these late nights. Two pedestrians were struck and killed on a major highway right behind a popular bar at the lake. It was almost 2am when it happened. I haven't found any news stories on it yet, but being this is a small town, the news doesn't get reported as regularly. Based on what I know, it would seem the pedestrians had docked their boat and were crossing the street to go to or from Captain's Point, which is one of two bars that is open at that time. The road is dark, and on a curve, and I can easily see how it could have happened. It really scares me because I was on that road not 15 minutes before that happened.

It made me realize that while what I do can be fun, annoying, rewarding, tiring and downright exhausting all at the same time, it is an important job. Every time someone gets on my bus, they are putting their trust in me to get them where they need to go safely, otherwise they would've driven themselves. I know I am a good driver, but I have no idea who is on the road with me. The other hazards on the road include pedestrians walking on the side of a major highway in all black clothing, golf carts zipping in and out of driveways all over the lake, kids on bicycles in the campgrounds. These are all people whom I need to watch out for. While it is easy to just pass off the job as a bus driver who makes some extra cash on the weekends, I am helping to keep people off the road who shouldn't be driving, keeping an extra keen eye out for those who choose not to ride with me but should, and trying to keep all others who vacation at the lake safe so they don't end up like the poor people last night. I would like to say this is the first time I have seen something like this, but it happens every Summer. Someone leaves for the lake to have a good time and they never make it home. Its scary and I am thankful nothing has happened to me or the people on my bus yet. I am lucky for the people on my bus who are entertaining and keep me alert (as well as the major share of stock I should own in Red Bull for as much of their product as I drink).

Hopefully tomorrow's post is more lighthearted, but I needed to share these thoughts. BE SAFE OUT THERE!

Successful Weekend

Well, after a much needed vacation, I drove 14 hours back from Myrtle Beach only to jump into the Fast Freddie's van for another 6 hours of work. It was certainly an exhausting weekend. The lake was extremely busy and I think everyone had a good time. Attendence at the fireworks was down this year because it rained all day, but the show went on as planned anyway. From what I saw, the show was a success, but I was so busy in the van that I couldn't enjoy the fireworks myself. I do know that the smoke from the fireworks (both the professional show and the amatuer shows in backyards) created a dense fog that covered the entire lake for the duration of the night. While I was not able to get any pictures of my own, the Bellefontaine Examiner has an excellent slideshow of the events on their website.

July 4th Activities

Oldfield Beach is the place to be on July 4th! The activities begin at 11am and go until the spectacular fireworks show at 10pm. The Oldfield Beach list of activities will go like this:

• 11:00 am - Teeny Weeny Bikini Contest - Followed by Miss and Mr. Firecracker contest, Little Miss, Junior Miss, and Miss Indian Lake pagents
• 11:00 am - Car Show
• 12:00 pm - Cornhole Tournament
• 2-5:00 pm - Lawn Mower Racing
• 3:00 pm - Indian Lake's Got Talent
• 7:00 pm - Auction to get to press the button to start the fireworks show!

If this is your first year to participate in the festivities around the lake on the 4th (as it was mine last year), GET THERE EARLY!!! The fireworks presentation is the best and biggest in the area and people come from hundreds of miles around to see them. There will not be a parking spot or plot of empty land to park in after about 7:30, so be here early. Also, after the fireworks are over, do not plan on getting anywhere fast as the roads will be bumper to bumper traffice for about 2 hours after the show is over. I learned that the hard way last year. I will hopefully have some pictures to post of the fireworks after the show this year, but in the meantime enjoy the show from years past courtesy of indianlake.com!

Covered Bridge at the lake

Although there wasn't a lot going on at the lake in the form of events, I still stayed pretty busy this weekend. One notable occurance from the weekend was the closing of the Captain's Point Pub on Saturday night. Due to some sort of liquor violation, the bar side of the restaraunt was forced to shut down on Saturday night. I have been unable to get a reliable quote as to the exact reasons why they were shut down, and do not know when they will re-open. I will let you know if and when they do.

I don't know if you are interested in covered bridges or not, but there are only so many of them left in the United States and I wanted to let everyone know about a fantastic specimin right here in Logan County! The 94 foot long bridge on CR 38 just north of St. Rt 366 is absolutely gorgeous and is one of the approximately 138 covered bridges remaining in the U.S. today (http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/infrastructure/back0804.cfm). I encourage anyone who visits the lake to at least drive by the bridge while they are there if for nothing else than to simply experience something that is a huge part of American history before the bridge itself becomes just that, history.

Upcoming Events at the Lake

This weekend (June 26th and 27th) is pretty dead at the lake as far as events go, but that doesn't mean people still can't have a good time! The only event happening this weekend is the Lakeview car and craft show going on this Saturday at Oldfield Beach. The car show is put on by the Lakeview Fireman's Club and also includes a BBQ Chicken Dinner with all proceeds going to help support the local firehouses. This weekend is also your last chance to audition for the "Indian Lake's Got Talent" contest. You can do this at the car show between 12 and 2pm tomorrow.
The real action starts next weekend with the 4th of July activities. Check back here for a listing of events, or if you can't wait, check out some of these websites:

www.indianlakearea.com
http://indianlake.com
www.indianlakechamber.org

As always, you can always call Fast Freddies if you need a ride to any of these events.

Hospice Parade

This week at Indian Lake, the Turkeyfoot Benefit Crew hosted the 10th annual parade and auction to benefit Hospice of Logan County. The parade featured all the golf carts of Turkeyfoot as well as the Shriners from the local area as well as from Dayton, OH. The streets were lined with people and everyone seemed to have a good time. Fast Freddie's "sponsered" a golf cart for the parade.

For more information about the fundraiser, please visit the Turkeyfoot Benefit Crew's website.

Click on the picture to see it full size. Check out the spinning rims on the Fast Freddie's golf cart!

History of Fast Freddie's

Hello Again! The history of Indian Lake itself is fairly interesting but that is not the purpose of this blog. There are plenty of sites out there that can explain the history of the lake better than I can. For example, http://indianlake.com/watershed.htm gives a great history of the lake and the individuals involved in its development. My blog's purpose is to keep you informed on the goings on around the lake as they happen throughout the summer months.

Fast Freddie's is a business that my father-in-law (Fred Wheeler) and I started in the Spring of 2008 as a form of public transportation in an area where there was none. My father-in-law (also the namesake of the company) has had a lake house in some form or another at Indian Lake for over 30 years. In those 30 years, he has seen the lake evolve from a nice fishing community to a blossoming resort, weekend vacation destination. As more and more people discover Indian Lake, more bars started to pop up. As more bars sprang up, more people wanted to hop from bar to bar, but alas, there was no public transportation. There only choice was to drive. The Lakeview police department caught on to this and spent(and still spend) most of their time on the weekends picking up drivers who were under the influence of alcohol.

After so many years of seeing people who should not be driving get into their cars and venture around the lake, my father-in-law decided to take action. Not only would he be doing a service to the area he so loves, he might be able to make some money while doing it. He talked with me about the idea of starting a shuttle service, and in the Summer of 2007 we went on a fact finding mission. We talked with many of the bar owners and bar patrons and found overwhelming support for such a service. We kicked the idea around some more, and finally in April of 2008, we bought a 15 passenger shuttle bus, slapped a logo on the side, and passed out fliers at all the bars around the lake. April was pretty slow but we eventually got some regular customers as well as new customers every weekend. Things really picked up on July 4th weekend when we were featured on the front page of the Bellefontaine Examiner. Things were busy from then on.

We drove all summer (Fridays and Saturdays only) and developed quite a following. We were successful enough to buy another smaller van and come back for another year. This year has picked up right where we left off and has been successful so far. Please check back every week for updates and major happenings from the lake.

Also, check out Fast Freddie's official website at www.lakesideshuttle.com

First Post

Hello, My name is Kevin Kolks and I am a driver for Fast Freddie's Lakeside Shuttle. This is my first experience with blogging and I am still getting to know my way around the site. Stay tuned for stories and experiences from the wonderful resort town that is Indian Lake, OH!