If you walk around a few docks, you’ll inevitably run into some houseboats that have had renovation or restoration work. But have you ever run across a homemade houseboat?
According to The Times Daily, brothers Stan and Milton Cornelius had started with a pontoon boat and converted it into their own houseboat, complete with a shower, washer, solar power, and computers with Wi-Fi.
Milton reported, “We really enjoy it...On a typical day, we’ll drive for about eight hours, fish and read.”
Christened The Blue Creek Belle, Milton and Stan have taken several river trips aboard their vessel, including their first voyage from Brush Creek in Iowa to Brush Creek in Killen to visit John Bruninga, their cousin. It was actually this trip that first solidly planted the idea for creating their own houseboat. The brothers and their cousin had thrown around the idea for them to make a trip by way of the river for awhile.
“He finally called one day and said, ‘We’re not getting any younger,’ ” Milton said. With that, they started transforming their pontoon, carefully threading electrical lights and establishing other features that befit a houseboat. While we advocate that you should seek professional assistance before tackling such a task on your own, these two are no strangers to the task and have technical experience to back them up. Stan pointed out, “We both grew up doing for ourselves…Our dad was the same way, and it passed down to us.”
Stan and Milton keep up a blog of their travels, which will culminate with their final trip to Tulsa, Okla. You can find it at rivertrip15.wordpress.com. Once they again step on land, the brothers plan on trailering the Blue Creek Belle to Springfield, Miss., where they’ll pass the houseboat on to Stan’s son.
“We’ve met a lot of wonderful people along the river,” Milton summed up. “The Blue Creek Belle has served us well.”
Click here to read the full story reported by The Times Daily.
Top photo credited to Stan and Milton Cornelius, bottom photo credited to Jim Hannon