Southern Classic Tournament

Arrived at the RV park for Harrah's Casino near Tunica, MS Thursday evening.  Here all week to watch the pros play pool and may even participate in one of the amateur events.  One thing I like about these events is I don't have to watch the best players in the world with binoculars from the cheap seats.  Just milling around the tournament room I have already been listening in as "Toupee Jay" Helfert and Freddy "The Beard" were telling stories about incredible shots they had seen Ronnie Allen, "Jersey Red", and Efren "The Magician" make in earlier years.  Last night Earl "The Pearl" Strickland was lecturing me and anyone else standing nearby about defective measle cue balls and the disastrous affect humidity has on the playing conditions of the pool tables.  If only they would get the tables dry his game would be unbeatable.  He was appalled when someone reminded him he was standing on a boat with water just below him.  While he was talking he was attempting what I thought was an impossible stroke shot on one of the 10' tables (he made it on the 5th try).  He finally announced that we were all too dumb to comprehend his brilliant observations and gave up trying to convince us. 

If you are not a pool player you won't understand any of the above, if you are you will realize this is the place to be for the next week.  Will post some pictures soon.

4th of July

Our kids and grand kids came by train and plane from Texas and my sister, nephew and step mother drove from central Illinois to Grannie's place for a few days over the the 4th of July holiday.  Ella is the newest addition so she of course gets the most attention.

                                                       
                                                                  Grannie and Ella

                                                    Grandma Bonnie and Ella

                                                           
                                                                   Nana and Ella

                                                
                                                                Aunt Sonja and Ella

                                                    
                                                            Papa and grand kids

                                                 
                                                            Zack, Megan, and Paige

                                             Zack saying goodbye to cousin Christian

                                        
                                             Grannie with grand and great grandkids

We went to the St. Louis City Museum one day. Among many activities available for kids it is basically a 4 story indoor/outdoor jungle gym made entirely out of recycled materials. If you are ever in St. Louis it is definitely something to do.

                                                Paige climbing from one floor to the next.

                                           

                                               Zack and Megan in one of the rebar tubes

We were glad everyone made the trip and had a great time despite the fact the daily temperatures were 105 to 110 degrees. We will be staying here a few more days before heading to Tunica, Mississippi.

Back at the Track

After spending some time visiting family near Normal, IL we are back at the fairgrounds horse track in Carrollton, IL. Visiting Granny and waiting the arrival of our kids on July 4th.

Northern Indiana

Still making our way back to Illinois from New York. Have spent a few extra days near Elkhart and Valparaiso, Indiana, getting levelers repaired and checking out Classy Chassis, a fancy RV Tow Truck modifier. Theirs' are nice but may be a little pricey for me. If you want to buy or have anything done to an RV, this area is the best place to do it. We've been here several times over the last 10 years. Heading to El Paso, Illinois today.

The Wedding

Here are some pictures of Sarah and Renee's wedding, Tim and Jesse Gill produced a beautiful and fun event.

Us

Proud Papa

Renee

Sarah

Sarah's recently ordained brother, Chris, did a fine job of officiating.

Let's Paaaartee!

Guests came from Sacramento, CA, Las Vegas, NV, Atlanta, GA, Wilmington, NC, Carrollton, IL, several places in Texas, and two were actually from Ithaca, NY. It was worth the trip.

Ithaca, NY

We have made it to Ithaca, NY. I think Ithaca is Indian for "Land of the steep hills". I thought we would be roughing it while we are here, which means there are too many trees to get a DirecTV satellite signal. Just regular antennae reception, no recording shows on DVR and no fast forwarding through the commercials. How in the world did we do it back in the old days? But, as luck would have it, a couple of DirecTV service guys were in the park. I flagged them down and for some lunch money they used their super satellite finder to figure out that by putting the dish on the roof we could get reception. It was a close call but it looks like we won't have to endure regular TV for the next few days. Going to meet Jesse & Tim and Kathy & Bob, our friends from Whitehouse, TX for lunch.

Indy 500

We got to do some visiting my family and are now headed to a wedding in Ithaca, NY.  Just so happened we were going through Indianapolis on the way, the Indianapolis 500 was happening, and my friends that go every year had an extra ticket, so we stayed in Crawfordsville and they picked me up on their way to the race.  Nothing like dropping in on the Indy 500 on the way to somewhere else. 

                                                          Getting to our seats.

                                                   Last parade lap before start of race.

We are staying tonight just north of Columbus, OH.  We didn't realize when we stopped here that the 450 sites this campground has are all dedicated to trapshooters.  Fortunately they don't show up until tomorrow so we got to stay tonight.  If we didn't have somewhere to go we would love to stay and see the trapshooting event that will be going on all this week.