After our fun in Philly we headed south to Baltimore, Maryland for the Patapsco Picnic. On the way out of town we struck a flat tire right in the middle of a huge bridge. The right front tire blew out and pulled me over to the right shoulder. The shoulder of the bridge had just barely enough room to place the Winnie out of traffic's way. As soon as I cut the engine, a State of Pennsylvania courtesy patrol truck pulled up behind us and offered assistance. The driver took me to a couple tire brokers until I found one who could supply the needed rubber to stay on tour. When I got back Dave and Avery had already loosened the nuts on the flat and it was a pretty easy change. (I had taken the previously flattened spare tire with me to get new rubber).

Off we went toward Patapsco where we stayed with yet another Joe... Joe M. Sorry I didn't remember your last name Joe, but since you don't have a computer I guess you wont be terribly offended. Only three people could shoot under par at the Picnic. One was Craig Gangloff who shot a -3 for the tournament to win. Ken Climo and Joe Mela shot -2 to tie for 2nd. Our old pal Patt Pitts shot a +4 to finish in 4th. Way to go Patt! Avery was in a tie for 7th with +6, I was tied for 9th with +8. Dave shot two of the best rounds of the tournament but also had a couple bad ones and tied for 12th.

Patapsco is a sweet course. Needs a few adjustments here and there but it sounds as if Jim Myers is going to prune it a bit as suggested by some of the touring players. It will make the course even nicer. If you're in the area I'd suggest stopping by here to play a round or two… hopefully the baskets will be set in the long positions for you!

After the tournament was over on Sunday night we beat feet back to Michigan to run a doubles event at Cass Benton park... you might remember this one from the 2000 World Championships. A bunch of our friends showed up to play and we brought in a bit of needed money. We had dinner and drove to Kalamazoo after doubles. We pretty much spent Tuesday sleeping. It'd been a long few days. Wednesday was Independence Day and we drove up to Grand Rapids for some fireworks.

Mike 'Worm' Young has been hanging out with us since we left Patapsco. Cam and Leslie aren't going to Toronto Island this weekend so Worm is hitching a ride with us. We'll be leaving Thursday morning. We've got a tent and will be camping in Guru's back yard on the Island. Avery is the returning champion at Toronto but the rest of us plan on giving him a run for his money. Should be interesting.

-Todd and Crew

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