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.

Mission Accomplished

Grannie decided she shouldn't move back to Carrollton to live by herself but should stay at the supported living apartment she was in. We have spent the last two weeks getting what she had left in her Carrollton apartment packed up and put in to storage. She has a great time at her new place, playing pinocle, bingo, dominoes, and all sorts of other activities, as well as getting good food. We are very relieved she is somewhere safe. On the Friday before Mother's Day they had a family night honoring the mothers. Here are pictures of Grannie's family and friends that showed up.

We stayed at the Greene County Fairgrounds. We were the only RV there and were parked right next to the horse track so we got to watch harness racers exercise their horses every morning.

We have moved a couple of hours up the road to Bloomington, IL to visit family and friends.

End of the Road.....For now

Arrived in Carrollton, IL this evening. Ready to commence with our mission tomorrow.

Amarillo, TX

And Tonya complains about my parking. I bet this guy's wife is really upset.

Tonight our heads will hit the pillow in Amarillo.

Grants, NM

Headed to Illinois.  When we stopped for fuel in Grants, New Mexico I discovered the trailer brakes weren't working.  Found a cracked fitting in the hydraulic lines.  By the time I got it replaced the wind was blowing 40 mph so we stopped for the night.  Good thing, the local news reported even higher winds to the east including a 75 mph gust in Albequerque.

I know I haven't posted anything since we were on our way to Yuma.  We are still here but getting ready to hit the road again.  I could have filled up the blog with all the things we do while we are here, but we are so busy doing stuff that I don't have time to post it.  One of the entertainers that performed at our park was amazed at how active everyone was.  He remarked "And all your kids wonder what in the world you could possibly be doing all winter in Yuma, Arizona.  They think you're sitting in a dark trailer putting together six piece puzzles and spending their inheritance."  Other than the "spending their inheritance" part that's not exactly how it goes.
As the president of the Billiard Club I write an article every month for the Courier, a  park newsletter.  This usually consists of news about the club's activities for the month and upcoming events.  The article for the April edition was more general and, I think, best expresses how our life has been the last few months, so here it is.

Country Roads/Courier/Billiard Club News/April 2012

What is happening?  I see people and rigs leaving the park, the billiard room isn’t as busy as it was just a few days ago and things seem to be slowing down.  It can’t be the end of the season, can it?  I distinctly remember the agonizingly slow trip across the desert to get here, including a 4-day stop in the middle of nowhere to get a 3-hour repair done on the truck.  I remember finally coming through the pass and looking down at the Foothills.  I remember pulling up to the gate where the security guard said, “Welcome home”.  That was surely just a few weeks ago.  How can it be April already?  There can only be one explanation.  Apparently when we came through the gate we crossed over “into another dimension of time and space”.  A “worm hole” in the universe, where everything moves at warp speed.  A dimension where pool games, pool tournaments, holidays, spaghetti dinners, dances and shows are all like blurry scenes passing by at an incredible rate.  A dimension where everyone walking, riding bicycles and golf carts looks like they are in a Charlie Chaplin movie, but we don’t realize it because we are all going at the same speed.  Occasionally we glance over the wall and see the others in the outside world plodding along at the “normal” speed at which the rest of the world operates.  How do they get anything done at that rate?  We might ponder that question if we had time, but we’ve always got to get to the next activity that fills our schedule.  As we go through the gate for the last time of the season we might not realize it, but, just as Einstein predicted, we have aged a little less than the people who have been traveling at less than the speed of light for the last several months.  Have a safe summer; see you next winter.

That pretty well sums it up.  I'll start keeping you updated on our travels, at least until we get back here and start putting our puzzles together again.