Hey fellow boaters!  I’ve blogged before about getting your 17 cent per gallon road tax refund in the fall or during the winter.  Now, my marina makes it easy for me to receive my refund but if you’ve a good first mate you can get your check usually in about two weeks. 

In case you’ve forgotten how easy it is…here goes.  Simply save your boat gas receipts, along with anything else you buy gas for and add up the gallons you’ve used.  I recommend that you do this when you winterize your boat.  The State of Missouri does not want your receipts if they are over 1 year old.  The forms are available at http://dor.mo.gov/tax/business/fuel/ 
As you look over these forms don’t get yourself all confused.  For the most part you will only fill in your name and your gallons of gas and do the math.  The remainder of the form is for farming and other uses.  It will take you about 5 minutes unless you use a lot of gas, which you should!  Your check will arrive in just a couple of weeks and is a nice gift to yourself in the middle of winter.  It is 22 degrees here at the Overland Park Boat Show in Kansas and I don’t even want to know what the temperature is in Tampa where my other half is at the moment…

We will begin in Kansas City at Bartle Hall on January 15 through the 17th.  www.patrihaproductions.com or www.mid-americaboatshow.com are great sources for you to plan either that weekend or the following weekend January 22 through the 24th.  The Springfield Boat and RV Show in Missouri is also the weekend of January 15-17.  www.megarvshows.com. 

From Kansas City, we will travel the long road down to The Overland Park Convetion Center for the Lake of the Ozarks Marine Dealers Show on January 28 through the 31.  Show times can be found at www.lomdaboats.com  This is a great show with easy parking.  What a great time to escape the cold and dream of boating!  The Tulsa Boat Show begins on Febuary 1st and runs until February 7th.  If you have attended this show you have probably already made it a tradition.  If you haven’t, this show has fabulous food and drink, family activities, many, many booths with about everything you can think of and naturally boats and Boat Floater Boat Lifts, the best boat lift the world with the best warranty!

At the same time we are in Tulsa, half of us will again travel to Springfield Missouri for the Springfield Super Boat Show which will be held in the Old Circuit City building.  The show dates are February 4 through February 7.  This should serve as a handy venue to many restaurants and shops too.  What’s this?  A week off?  Actually, ten days off!  Our final show will be the Northwest Arkansas Boat and Sport Expo in Rogers Arkansas on February 19 through the 21.  Visit my friend’s website at www.nwaboatexpo.com for a look at times.  The area of Rogers has some excellent restaurants like my favorite Carabas!  The show is also surrounded by great boutiques.  Dan makes the Northwest Arkansas show fun for kids and the John Q. Hammons Convention Center is beautiful.  www.jqhhotels.com.  These are the shows we are doing but many of our Dealers and Distributors will be traveling to many other shows such as Atlanta, Grove and Phil will be attending IMBC January 28-31st.  www.marinaassociation.org/imbc/

Boat Floater Industries, LLC has its factory direct boat lift sales office at 14850 State Hwy 13 between Kimberling City and Branson West offering factory direct prices and full service.  Call 417-739-2430 or 1-800-FLOATER.  Serving Beaver lake and surrounding lakes in Arkansas, Missouri and Kansas.   

I called Tommy Mayr last year to detail our boat on Table Rock as a surprise gift to my husband.  Ladies, you must do the same!   Of course, there are so many obvious reasons to do this for your husband, (like getting out on the water instead of cleaning the boat), but aside from that, Tommy waxed our boat so well that I frequently slipped while tending the lines and anchor. 

My husband was the envy of our community dock, both fortunately and unfortunately.  Unfortunately, one of our neighbors called him and said, “So, Tommy is waxing your boat for you.”  Well, he was still surpised because his boat was truly immaculate.  The “extra” bonus for me was that about a month later I received a detail on my truck from my husband.  Who says women want jewelry?

Give Tommy a call and schedule your boat detail or car detail.  He will come to your boat slip or pick up your car or truck too.  His number is 417-294-8458.  Tell him Boat Floater sent ya!