Photos by LAURIE EDWARDS | Laker Weekly

Wayne and Carline Kvasnicka's Glade Hill dock predates the Shoreline Management Plan. Many of its features would not be permitted today for new construction.

Wayne and Carline Kvasnicka

A 200-plus-square-foot hexagonal cabana features windows on all sides. The bar area, which encompasses two of the six sides, offers both indoor and outdoor seating.

Wayne and Carline Kvasnicka's dock was decorated with old farm tools Wayne has collected since the 1960s.

The dock features ample seating for the couple's many guests.

Sunday is game day for Wayne and Carline Kvasnicka. They spend the afternoon down on the dock of their Glade Hill home playing cards and board games.

"We play a lot of Scrabble," said Wayne. "But invariably, we're halfway through the Scrabble game and a boat pulls up."

The interruptions come because the Kvasnicka's dock is the place to be. Built in 1996 before the Shoreline Management Plan regulations went into effect, the dock is about 3,000 square feet with outdoor and indoor seating areas. It was designed to accommodate a crowd, said Wayne.

"We just decided that we wanted to socialize," he said. "You can't really do that with just a storage area and a dock."

The structure, built by Plyler Homes & Docks, does have a storage area, but it's simply that -- a storage area. The enclosure houses the Kvasnickas' life preservers, fishing poles, wakeboard, water skis and tow ropes.

On the other side of the dock, a 200-plus-square-foot enclosure serves an altogether different purpose. The hexagonal cabana features windows on all sides and houses a full-size refrigerator, stereo, games and other miscellaneous must-haves for a good time.

Carline said about a dozen people can comfortably fit inside the cabana, adding that any more and "you're not going to be able to get around in there."

At the center of the cabana, a piling stretches from floor to ceiling. Surrounding the wooden pole are two circular tables Wayne called "the inclement weather bar."

The everyday bar area runs along one side of the cabana with four stools both inside and outside the enclosure. Additional dock-side seating includes a picnic table and four lounge chairs, providing ample space for guests to mill about.

During the Kvasnickas' largest get-together, their annual Fourth of July family reunion, practically every space is filled.

"On the Fourth of July, we probably have 40, 50 people at least," said Wayne.

Family and friends spill over from the dock onto the 32-foot-wide stairs and deck leading from the dock to the house.

"We've had a lot of good times down there," said Carline.

The dock's shingles and cedar siding match the Kvasnicka's house. Other than having to restain the siding every four or five years, the structure doesn't require much elbow grease.

"We tried to keep everything natural," said Wayne. "It's easier to maintain that way."

The siding and pilings were decorated with Wayne's collection of old farm tools. There are horseshoes, hand saws, scythes, a yoke -- there's even a corn planter that sows one seed at a time.

Carline said the tools were packed away for years until Wayne decided to display them on the dock by using heavy-duty nails of different sizes depending on the weight of the tool.

"I started collecting stuff in the '60s," said Wayne, who grew up on a farm in Minnesota. "A lot of the stuff dates back to the early 1900s."

He dug many of the tools out of the ground at farms in Minnesota, South Dakota and Nevada. Some were found inside buildings on the Big Island farm the couple owned before moving to the lake in 1996. They commuted to Bedford until 2003 when they sold their business, Hometown Motor Company, and retired.

The Kvasnickas spend about six months at their lake home, leaving in October before the winter weather kicks in and returning in April. Unlike a large percentage of lake residents who head to Florida for the winter, the Kvasnickas take a three-day drive to Texas where they spend the winter in a second home, bought last year, on a golf course.

Carline said most of their Texas neighbors are part-time residents, who travel south to avoid the colder temperatures of Minnesota, North Dakota and Wisconsin. They're known as "winter Texans," she said.

Wayne said by splitting their time between Virginia and Texas, they're able to have summer weather all year. Carline said it can be unbearably hot and humid at their lake home, however, so aside from Sunday's game time or get-togethers, she's been keeping indoors lately.

"We usually don't go down there and spend that much time unless we have company," said Carline. "As far as I'm concerned, I'd rather stay in the air-conditioning."

Wayne and Carline Kvasnicka

Home: Glade Hill, near B48

Dock size: About 3,000 square feet with two boat slips

Date built: 1996