Wouldn't you know it? Right after I reported how well everything had been going we got a flat tire on the way to Sececa Creek. We pulled into a tire broker just after they had closed shop. There was an after hours phone number to call so we gave it a try. The man on the other end of the phone said it would cost $72 just for him to show up plus the fee for the work. We decided to spend the night. Next morning I was first in line and got a new tire and an oil change for $99.

While waiting around to get the tire changed I decided to sort through my throwing discs. I noticed that I was all out of Ching Eagles. I had picked up 6 of the 4-color J-bird stamped Ching Eagles in January and man... they have really been my go-to disc for long range distance and accuracy. I guess that the color stamping process used by Ching makes the tops a little flatter and thus makes the disc more overstable. This works out well because I like to throw 168 grams for distance and the added stability makes up for the lack of weight. Hey Ching... how about some freebies? Just kidding, but I'd like to get my hands on some more of them if anybody has them.

We pulled into Gaithersburg Maryland the next day and started looking for a hotel. Hotels, gas and cigarettes are way overpriced in this state. We drove to hotel after hotel but none had any vacancies. We drove over to the tournament hotel to see if anyone had checked in yet... maybe we could stay there and shower with some friends. The tournament hotel had one room left. $100 for the night... what a rip-off. We decided to keep looking and went back out to the Winnie. The starter was out. We weren't going anywhere.

We pushed the Winnie out of the way and took the room after all. Next day I got up at the crack of dawn and spent the next seven hours under the Winnebago trying to pull the starter out. Scammed a ride to the local parts store and picked up a rebuilt starter, two more hours to get it back together and it didn't work. I took it out and put it in again.... broke some wiring and had to replace that. The starter still didn't work. I put it aside until Monday and played the tournament.

Seneca Creek: Lots of pine trees. Throwing in the air would stick you in the trees a lot. More than half of the holes you HAD to throw a roller on if you wanted any chance of playing well... and not just typical rollers -- cut rollers, straight rollers, crazy crazy rollers -- tons of 'em. Al managed 3rd place, I came in 7th, Dave was 20th. Sue was 5th out of 9 women and cashed. The winner for the men was Joe “The Technician” Mela. Craig Gangloff was second.

Back to the Winnie: When we got up Sunday we noticed that someone had thrown a stone through the driver’s side windshield -- gee thanks -- and the starter was still broken. I changed out the starter again to no avail, so we called a tow truck and rented a car (couldn't have four people and two dogs in the Winnie while it was being towed), and went to a light truck repair place. They informed me that the parts store had given me the wrong starter and fixed our problem. It cost $400. We drove out of Maryland as fast as we could and headed for the Ace Run Ranch in Suffolk Virginia.

- Todd

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