Tournament at Peace River

Tuesday brought the threat of thunderstorms all day, but the the tournament to benefit HART (Homeless Animal Rescue Team) went on as planned.  Men's and women's doubles were started first at about 8:45 AM, and after two straight wins, my partner (Rene) and I were beaten in a close match by our friends John and Dean.  That put us in the lower bracket since this was a double elimination tournament.  We won our way through the bracket and faced the number one team of Rich and Austin who had also lost to John and Dean.  We won that match and once again met John and Dean in the finals.  Rene and I prevailed in two straight games, but because the other team had never lost a match before that, we had one last game to 15 points to determine the champion.  It was good match but a letdown for us as we lost 15-8 and came in as the runners-up.  At least it was fun for the crowd watching.

Val played in the women's doubles, but she and her partner Gena were slightly out-matched by some very competitive teams from Kings Point in Sun City.  Val didn't sign up for the mixed doubles but ended up playing with two different men whose partners were injured or had to leave early.  She played very well and won a match before rain moved in to end the tournament before the mixed doubles champion could be determined.

My partner, Donna, and I were also doing well, but we'll never know who the champs would have been.  Guess it would have been us  ; )

The best news was that we raised nearly $500 for HART along with boxes of food and toys for the animals AND a couple of pets were adopted by folks at the tournament.  That made it all worthwhile.

There was also a raffle with great prizes.  The main prize was $70 in restaurant gift certificates for two winners followed by a dozen Pickleball balls with a 25 dollar gift certificate to Ace Hardware.  It was a very lucky day as we won one of the restaurant certificate packages and also the balls and Ace Hardware stuff.  Must be the clean living.....

And thanks to Donna and Rich for putting on a great tournament.  Well done.

Saturday at Sun City Center

It was about an hour bike ride to the Sun City Center Community Association on Saturday for a day of competitive Pickleball between Thousand Trails players and Sun City.  Unlike the rest of the week, Saturday was cloudy in the 50's with 15-25 mph winds which made things more than interesting. There were about 40 of us who braved the weather on the  five beautiful courts.

What a great facility and a friendly host group.  When lunchtime came, hamburgers and hot-dogs were grilled to go along with lots of side dishes and desserts.  Val and I brought two plates of brownies with peanut butter chips which went fast.

We die-hards hung around until about 5:30, and then Val and I headed a few miles away to the Comfort Inn where we had a room reserved.

 Then it was off to Wayne and Georgie's house two miles away for dinner.  

(Wayne, Kathleen, Georgie, Rene, Dean, Margie, Val and Mira)

Good food and beer and wine helped to loosen up the tired muscles from the 20 plus games we played and then it was back to the motel.

The morning brought more playing time followed by one more meal at Wayne and Georgie's (had to eat up some of those burgers!).  And finally we headed back to Wauchula in time to see most of the playoff games.  Thanks to Wayne, Georgie, Margie and Dean for setting up the weekend.  It really was a blast.

Back in the sun

Christmas has come and gone since our last post and we managed to get escape Virginia without any difficulty unlike the 5 week delay last winter.  We took a leisurely pace down the coast and arrived in Clermont, Florida at the Thousand Trails park on Jan. 7th.  Many of our friends from last year and our autumn Texas trip were waiting for us.  Most of them wanted to get me back on the pickleball court to see how I was doing.  Luckily my skills are up to par and Val has surprised everyone with her skill on the court.  We took a night and went with Dean and Margie to Miller's Ale House for some ribs (I couldn't believe I ate a whole rack!) and then went to Downtown Disney to see the sights.  It was neat to see things like the giant Tinkertoys and the huge Lego sculptures including a sea serpent that came out of the water about 25 feet tall.  Unfortunately it was so foggy that we couldn't see the fireworks.  Maybe another night.

We are now in Wauchula, FL and will be here another couple of weeks.  We have three tournaments over the next eight days so I'll be anxious to see how the knee holds up.  That's a lot of playing, but I'm looking forward to it.  And Val is playing too, once as my partner, so she's excited.

Last night we went to dinner at Giovanni's in Wauchula with two other couples.  It was some of the best pizza we have ever eaten.  It was brick oven cooked with a thin soft crust.  Ours was tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, fresh basil and eggplant slices.  It's making me hungry just thinking about it.  Man it was good.

It's Friday and we've had some heavy rain this morning which is probably a good thing.  It's allowing us to rest our weary bones and catch up on things like this blog.

And as a side note on the kids (can I still call them that??), Emily is training to be a real estate rental agent in Queens and is doing quite well.  And Matt left for Trinidad today to start the National Geographic travel book on the Caribbean islands. He's worked really hard to prepare for the 10 week trip that includes something like 19 flights and I don't know how many boat trips.  But still... hard life huh...

And on one last note, Val's sister Joanie is making good progress!  Val talked to her this morning and she is walking for 5 minutes at a time on the treadmill and is going places without a wheelchair.  Awesome news!!!

Traveling again

Just a quick note.  We're on the road heading back to Virginia and plan to arrive on Sunday or Monday.  The uncertainty lies with the weather.  We understand from friends that there has already been snow, more snow is expected today and even more this weekend.  If it's really that icy and snowy, we will delay a day or two (or three).  That will make it harder to catch up with everyone, but I guess we can all blame global warming.  It's going to freeze us all....
We've been in Abita Springs, Louisiana for the past two days and it's been cold here as well.  The first day here was one fraught with RV electrical problems traced to a surge protector under the bed that burned up for no reason.  It was a little tense as the microwave almost stopped and we searched for the burning electrical smell, but we got it cleaned up and replaced with a higher quality unit.  Whew.
Yesterday we thought about driving to New Orleans for the day but ended up saving that for another trip.  We went into town and had lunch at the Abita Brew Pub which several friends had told us about.  Great beer and great lunch.  I couldn't resist the Two Napkin Roast Beef Po-Boy which was delicious and Val got some huge burger made with fresh ground meat.  It was wonderful as well.  Then after a short walk around town, a visit to two local shops (produce and fudge) it was back to the rig to relax.
This morning we pack up and head towards Montgomery, Alabama.
At least it's not snowing...

Staying a while

We like it here.  That was the first requirement for extending our stay. The second was that we meet new friends, which we have done.  And they, like us, like to play pickleball.  An added bonus.  So we are staying here for another 9 days.  Then it's off to the New Orleans area and finally a four-day jaunt to Virginia.

This morning we were eating breakfast when we both noticed two hawks in a tree by the pond.  We got our binoculars out and watched for a few minutes when all of a sudden we got to see a live National Geographic special from our site.  One hawk flew across the pond and started fighting with a snake.  It was an epic battle for a while as the 4 foot green snake struggled and tried to wrap around the hawk.  But the hawk prevailed and tired out its prey.  Despite the snake not being dead, the hawk started tearing off large pieces of the snake and devouring them.  A few minutes later the snake was dead.  I got a few telephoto pictures, but when I tried to get closer, the hawk flew to a tree farther away.  The pics aren't great, but you can get the idea.