We drove though the night from the Innova plant to Gainesville Florida, pulling into Northside Park tired and looking for the camping facility mentioned in the course directory. No luck. We parked and I took Hyzer for a walk and checked out the course. Next to hole two's tee pad was a sign that said "Pro Shop" with an arrow pointing to a nearby duplex. I walked over to check it out. It was 7am but someone was stirring around inside and a dog was giving me an earful.

Uncle Dick invited me in for coffee and we talked about the upcoming tournament. He invited us to park the Winnie in his yard and provided an electrical outlet. Uncle Dick would be our new best friend for the next several days.

The tournament was a big success due to a lot of hard work by the local club and a hefty sponsorship from Alan (Disczilla), who has the nice new big motorhome. We played Northside and a temporary course up the road. It was very windy for our rounds on the temp course. I played well, but not as well as many. I finished 7th. Al played better and ended up tied for second with Matt Tittle. Kenny won. Kenny has won every tournament we've seen him at this year. Dave cashed also. Sue got a nice bouquet of flowers.

I've figured out why it's been so hard to write stories the past couple of weeks.... things are going well. No troubles to report. It makes my life easier but results in less exciting reading.

New stuff: The radio went out in the Winnie, don't know why. Sometimes the tape deck and tuner just don't work. It'll probably fix itself. Yesterday we scouted out a kennel for the dogs while we play at the Sandy Point Team Invitational in Wisconsin next month. No dogs allowed up there this year. The Winnie will stay in St. Louis also, and we'll drive Sue's Blazer up. We have cabin space reserved and the Blazer gets better gas mileage. The team that Dave was going to play for decided they couldn't use him. Dave thinks that the team captain saw how he played at Bowling Green and decided to drop him, so now he scrambling to jump onto another team’s roster.... maybe Texas.

We saw our article in the new issue of Disc Golf World News. Very cool. Interested in seeing what the story looked like before we asked for an edit? We’ll try to get the original posted at DiscLife once you’ve had a chance to read the printed article.

While we're on the subject, I found a journal I kept since my first disc golf tournament when I was a novice and brings us up to when the Winnitour starts. It's pretty interesting. It doesn't contain a lot of tact since I hadn't planned on anyone seeing it, but people have been writing me stating that they can't get enough stuff to read. Be watching for some of it soon.

Other happenings this week: Al went to the optometrist and got some new glasses and a year’s supply of contact lenses. $400!!!! I guess it pays to be able to see the basket because Al won the Ozark Open in St. Louis a few days later over Russell, both Lissamans, Sinclair, McCormack, me, Dave and some others. It just so happens that he won the $400 back that the optical improvements cost.

Over here at Gateway central, Davey-Mac still works hard every day on improving his discs. All four (Sabre, Blaze, Warrior, Apache) are in full production, and Dave is close to perfecting the plastic blends for each model. If you haven't looked at these discs in awhile then check 'em out. They're turning out sweet. Next on Dave's list is to come up with a putter. He's thinking of continuing the American Indian motif and calling it the Arrow.

Next update will be about the Bowing Green Open as seen through the eyes of my old roommate and pal Eric Farber. Eric spent a few nights in the Winnie and followed my group around the course for the entire weekend. I'll inject some comments and fill in some blanks. It should be interesting.

- Todd

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