Dave, the dogs, and I stayed with Mad-Dog McRee and Dave Mansfield for a few more days, sleeping on the big couch while the Winnie was in the shop. Every day I called to check on progress on the Winnie, and after two days the mechanic hadn't even looked at her yet.

I borrowed the truck and drove up to talk face to face with the shop owner. He told me that they couldn't get her started in order to move her to a spot where they could work on her. I took care of moving it to a small slap of cement where actual work could now be started. They ordered a new master cylinder... it would be there in a couple days.

So.... Dave and I were stranded. Al and Sue were hanging out in Spotsylvania, leaving us on our own. On Friday Dave and I came down with Mansfield's cold. Leaving the Winnie behind, we rented a truck and drove up to 'The Grange' for the tournament. We showed up about three hours before the start of the tournament and played the course blind. Tight woods, coughing, sneezing, shivering, etc.

Ron Russell won the tournament, followed by Larry Leonard. Third place was a tie between Al, Cam Todd, and Mike Belchik. I was two strokes off 3rd and finished in 6th. Dave didn't cash. I collected up my $230 and Dave and I headed back to North Carolina to get the Winnie. I made enough money to pay for the rental truck the hotel room we used in Spotsylvania. When we got back I scraped together another $200 to pay for the new master cylinder. The Winnie was running (sort of) and the brakes worked (not really). Monday night we were all set to drive to the 'Ace Run Ranch' to meet Al and Sue and to have Don Johnson look at the motor and brakes.

As we were getting ready to leave I noticed that Hyzer wasn't in the motor home. Turns out he was out studding the neighborhood, and I looked for him for the next six hours without luck. He finally showed up about noon the next day. We piled in and headed up to Don's. The Winnie made it okay. Once we finally got there I got a message from Al that he and Sue had finally decided to come help me and drove down to North Carolina. A couple hours later they had turned around and drove back up to Virginia to meet us at Don's house.

Right now it's Thursday. The motor is completely torn apart on the Winnie.... and I mean completely. Don and I are in the middle of replacing an exhaust valve. It doesn't look like we'll be playing any tournaments this weekend.

In other news: I will be running for PDGA competition director this year. Mark Ellis is retiring from the position and I have decided to give it a shot. Mark promises to give me as much or as little help as I need. Should be interesting.

Yesterday was Linda's birthday and I didn't get the card or present into the mail that I had picked out for her. Happy birthday sweetie. Hopefully she isn't too angry with me.

-Todd

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