We got up early last Friday to head to Orlando. It took some time to get the Winnie started up, but I finally got her going. By the time we left Ken's house the morning rush hour had begun. We found ourselves in stop and go traffic for a good hour. While we were stopped at a red light, and Al and I were going over some maps, my foot slipped off the brake and we rolled 3 feet into a minivan in front of us, which happened to be a Dept. of Transportation "official use only" minivan. The driver had to do everything by the book since he was a state employee. After about an hour we finally got moving again. I had gotten a ticket for careless driving which resulted in an accident... $80 and 4 points on my license... a bit extreme I thought.

We moved on...

Friday at Barnett Park in Orlando was practice until 3pm then random draw doubles. Sue got teamed up with Ron Russell and came in 2nd. Somebody else in the Winnie won a few bucks too. Camping is scarce in Florida during the winter so we stayed in the hotel parking lot. It was tough to sleep... It seems that the night club a few hundred feet away from us is a popular spot for people with loud car stereos and louder voices. It was a circus atmosphere throughout the next two nights.

Saturday we headed to the park and got in some practice holes. One hole plays real close to a park road. Feldberg swung a drive low and over the road just as a car was coming around the corner (Dave says the car didn't stop at the stop sign). His disc smacked the grill of the car and broke a plastic grill piece. The driver stopped, got out of his car, threw up his arms and yelled "Who gonna pay for dat!" We directed him to Bob Lewis, the tournament director who informed him that Dave would have to pay for it. $50 later the incident was settled.

On to the tournament...
Triple Crown, First Leg - Orlando:
63 Open players made for a good turnout. Al finished 5th, Todd came in 9th with a rotten final round. Dave held strong until a stinker round in the 3rd, but held on to 17th place and some cash. Sue was the only women player at the first leg so she won. Kenny won the first leg.

After the first leg, 32 people went over to Gregg Hosfeld’s "Canyon Course" near Brooksville. It was a difficult and demanding course with tons of major elevation. It was very uncharacteristic terrain for Florida. I managed to draw Climo as a partner and we smoked the course record together. We won a little cash and moved on to Melbourne on the other side of the state.

Triple Crown, Second Leg - Melbourne:
51 Open Players, 3 Women. Al and I got paired up in the draw doubles at Melbourne and shot a -14 for the 18 hole course. Weather for the Melbourne leg was windy with spots of rain here and there. Al led the tournament after the first two rounds but dropped to a tie for 3rd on the last day. I had trouble with getting putts to stick in the wind and tied for 12th. Feldberg had a rough time and a nameless person forgot to turn his group’s scorecards in after one round to add two more strokes to his score... Dave finished tied for 22nd. Sue had some people to play against at this leg. She ended up beating Trixie Jacobs in a playoff for 1st. Kenny came from behind to win this leg too. Ken remains undefeated at Melbourne for the history of the Triple Crown.

In other news, Helix jumped out of the Winnibago while we were picking up some food at a grocery store. We asked the store owners and employees to keep an eye out for him and stopped back in a couple times but couldn't locate him. So long Helix... we hope everything works out for you. The dogs are doing fine. Storm is a bit overprotective of everyone including Hyzer. A small dog was playing with Hyzer outside the Winnie and the runt got a little rough for Storm’s liking. Before we knew it she was out the door and in one quick move had the little dog pinned to the ground by its neck. She let it up again and didn't hurt it, but the toy dog’s owner decided to skee-daddle.

Right now we're tearing down camp and getting ready to head up to Daytona for the final leg of the Triple Crown. Michigan player Dave Bourgeois is expecting us today and looking for a place to stay. We'll meet up with him in a few hours.

- Todd

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