It was the fall of 1998, half way through my first year of playing as a Pro. I had just had a successful year as an amateur and wasn't doing too badly in my rookie season playing with the big boys. My job allowed me a lot of free time and I found myself out at Hudson Mills Metropark playing disc golf on most days from 1pm 'til about dark. During this time Al Schack was doing a lot of practicing at "The Mills" and we ended up shooting together regularly.

One day I discovered that Al was a bowler like myself so I invited him to join our bowling team on Monday nights. It seemed like we were doing everything together and we constantly talked about touring the country for a year. After about 5 months of talk I paid off my two car loans and started saving some cash. I worked another two months and decided to quit my $45,000/year job and actually have some fun with my life. You see I've always had a job... ever since I was 15 years old and got my first paper route. Then it was the Army, then college and working for Meijer supermarket, then my job as a predictive maintanence technician. I was sick of working... sick of paying tons of taxes... sick of paying rent.

Al and I made the descision. I cashed out my 401(k) and bought a camper... a 20 footer with 3 beds, a bathroom, stove, microwave, and lots of storage space. It was made in 1974 and has 80,000 miles on it. It is powered by a 415 Chrysler motor... plenty of horsepower for towing my Celica behind for general driving around stuff. Of course my two year old yellow lab, 'Hyzer', is coming along with us.

I was quite surprised at all of the positive reactions I got from my family, friends, and co-workers. Everyone thinks it's great to be chasing a dream and traveling the country. I, on the otherhand, think that what we are doing is quite risky and maybe even a little irresponsible. "So what", I tell myself. "I'm not married, I have no children to support, I'm 31 years old now and this could be my last chance to chase a dream."

Anyway, Al and I started the year playing a doubles tournament in Indiana. The weather was awful with harsh winds and snow throughout. Al didn't have much trouble with the wind and cold. He just bundled up in a neck collar and a pair of dark sunglasses and threw right through the wind. I had just started putting with the new Rhyno discs and they worked great. Al only had to putt on two occasions and he made both. We ended up winning the tournament by five strokes that day. A good start.

Next up was No Foolin. I managed my first PDGA sanctioned tournament win and Al finished in big money too. Next stop was MDGO #1, where we both cashed. We went down to Bowling Green, KY for the Bowling Green Open. Al had lived in the BG area for several years and knew everyone and everyplace. Al came in 5th in a field of 76 golfers. I ended up in 28th after a good last round and managed to make a hundred bucks.

Then, just yesterday, we went to MDGO #2 in Kalamazoo. A notoriously cruel course. The key to Kalamazoo is DON'T TAKE BOGEYS. You gotta fight hard to save your pars there. I managed to keep my bogeys down to three with one double mixed in on bad luck. Put that together with 20 birdies and you win the Open division. It was my second B-Tier win in 3 weeks. It sure feels good. Al tied with Jav Kowalski and Gary Laura for 4th and got some cash too. There were six aces on the day... wow (Editor's note: Including one by the webmaster -- HA! ).

Now Al and I are getting ready to go to our last week of bowling for the year... probably for awhile. It'll be weird... I've bowled every year of my life since I was five years old.

My dad is working on a small tail light problem with the Winnebago. We'll pick that up on Wednesday. Next stop is 'Big Fun at Big Run', a B-Tier in Columbus. Actually I think we may stop in and play the Lansing leauge on Tuesday so that we can buy some more plastic from J Bird. We bought a bunch to sell on the trip, but have already sold a lot to people who we were showing it to. We have been picking out some really sweet discs and they seem to be easy to sell.

More to come after the "Big Fun" tournament. Wish us well and we will be thinking about everyone back home in Michigan.

-Todd Branch