Half-way home!

Greetings:

Today marks day #40 of our 80 day odyssey. We are officially at the half-way mark. Since our last posting on Sunday, we have driven from Bellingham, WA to Willits, CA, where we are camped for the night.

After a much-needed oil change on Monday, we drove down to the Tacoma area and played Chambers Bay Golf Club - the home of the 2015 US Open. Once again, the course lived up to the hype - very picturesque and challenging. We had a late tee time (@3 pm) and just managed to finish by playing the 17th hole (a par 3) in near darkness and by playing #18 in absolute darkness. The only reason we finished was because we managed to hit the ball straight all the way to the green on the par 5. Couldn't tell if it was a scenic hole or not. Our caddie said it was the darkest finish he'd ever been a part of. We had a nice dinner in the CB Restaurant afterwards.

We drove all day Tuesday from the Chambers Bay area and arrived late pm in Bandon, OR. Yesterday (Wednesday) we played the Pacific Dunes course at Bandon Dunes. Golf Week mag. had rated it the #1 "course you can play" in the USA. It's a great course with the ocean bordering most of the holes. Unfortunately, we ran into some cool and rainy weather. It's the first really nasty weather we've played in since we left PA We finished the round (it really wasn't that bad) and then went to a local sports bar for dinner.




Today we drove from Bandon to here in Willits, CA (we passed the 6,000 mile mark for the trip on the way). The first part of the drive followed the Oregon coast.






Tomorrow we plan to see a bit of the Napa Valley as we drive down to central California to visit/play golf with Mark and Melanie Reynolds. After that, we'll be headed to the Monterrey Peninsula for a couple days before heading down to So. Cal to visit with Sam and Nan Mazzilli.

More to follow...

Sleepless in Seattle

Hello all,

We've traveled quite a ways since our last posting (9/12). Before leaving Jackson Hole, WY last Friday, we played Teton Pines CC. Beautiful setting, nice course, but very pricey. That pm, we drove to Idaho Falls, Idaho and spent one night before heading to Missoula, Montana. Missoula is a neat western town. We stayed 2 nights, played a great golf course (River Canyon CC), went to Mass at a pretty hundred-year-old church, and found a terrific breakfast spot.

On Monday am, we headed to Idaho (a re-entry state for us). That pm, we played golf at the Highland Course near Coeur d'Alene, and stayed overnight there. Tuesday am we drove to the Moses Lake area of Eastern Washington State and played Moses Pointe CC, home of the 2008 Washington State Amateur Championship. The slope from the back tees (7500 yds) was 150! Jim played the "Copper" tees (6800 yds) and shot 81 (yes, the ball carries farther out here). Ladies tees were 5800 yds. We had a great meal in the restaurant afterwards, and "camped" a few miles away.

Wednesday am we drove across the Cascade Mountains, all the way to western Washington.

That pm we played an unbelievably hard mountain course called Eaglemont. Signs at the first tee indicated its difficulty, in terms of what tee to play (black, blue, gray, white, gold or red). Players with handicaps of 6 or less were invited to play the blue tees. God only know what it must be like to play from the black tees, if you need to be a 6 or better to play the blues. Jim played the gray tees, and struggled mightily. We lost a lot of golf balls, but had a good time.


After playing Eaglemont, we drove up to Anacortes, WA (passed 5000 total miles on the way)and stayed at an Indian RV park on Puget Sound. The next am we took a driving tour of the area, including a trip over Deception Pass Bridge, which separates Anacortes from Whidby Island - very scenic.



Thursday pm we drove up to Bellingham, where we've been for the past 3 days. We're staying at an RV park near Steve and Keri Snodgrass for 4 nights. We got up at 5 am the last 2 days to watch the start of Ryder Cup play (8 am in KY) - hence the title of this posting.

Yesterday we participated in the fifth annual Bellingham area ALS walk with Brett and Steve, who has organized the "Strollin' for Rowland" team for the past 5 years. The venue for the walk changed this year (to another pretty seaside setting). Although the weather was rainy, the turnout was large, and lots of $ was raised for this worthy cause.


Today we watched Ryder Cup singles play and rooted the US team to victory. Tomorrow am we head south to Tacoma, where we have a 3pm tee time at the course rated "the best new course in the USA" in 2007 - Chambers Bay. After that, we're headed to Oregon to play Bandon Dunes Wednesday pm.

More to follow....

Long time, no speak...

Hi everybody,

When we last wrote, we were leaving SD to head to ND. Didn't spend 6 days there, but had a great time.

We stayed in Medora, ND right near Teddy Roosevelt National Park and Bully Pulpit Golf Club.
Got in early pm and were entertained by a C&W singing couple (Vern & Rita), who apparently sing every evening at the park for four months each summer (this was their finale for this year) for the past 25 years.






The next day, we toured the park (which is the ND version of the "badlands") and saw a huge bison perched atop a mountain ledge. Just a few other animals (unlike Custer Park in SD), but beautiful scenery, nonetheless.




That afternoon (Monday) we played Bully Pulpit. Now we know why S.I. calls it the best public course in ND. The course and the vistas are amazing. Took lots of pics, but none of them will begin to do it justice. Finished late and went looking for a restaurant. Unfortunately, we went to the only open restaurant in town and as we were entering met a woman who said "that's the worst meal I've ever had". So.... we found the only open bar in town (a real cowboy dive, which doesn't serve food) and then met up with an old cowboy and his wife, who then gave us a story to tell for a lifetime - which we will tell anyone who asks about it later on (too long for Blogging)....
(p.s.) We did eventually get fed.


Tuesday we headed for Montana, and the Little Bighorn National Monument. It's the location of Custer's Last Stand, and was fantastic. Just incredible standing on that ground! Late that pm, we headed for Wyoming. The drive was harrowing through the Bighorn Mountains. Beccy said it was beautiful - Jim couldn't look anywhere but straight ahead. We arrived in Greybull, WY very late that evening. We stayed overnight there and headed for Jackson Hole, WY the next morning. It took all day Wednesday to get there (passed 4,000 travel miles along the way).



Yesterday (Thursday) we took an all-day bus tour of the Grand Teton, Roosevelt Parkway and Yellowstone National Parks. More unbelievable scenery, including "Old Faithful". Glad the tour guide was driving, so we could take it all in (270 miles in all). This afternoon, we're playing the #1 rated course in Wyoming - Teton Pines, which is located at the foot of the Grand Teton Mountains. After that, we're off to Idaho for a few days. Later.....

Go figure...

Believe it or not, we're still in South Dakota. In our last posting we said we were headed here. It's amazing how much there is to see and do in this state. We got here last Monday evening, and stayed in the SE corner of the state that night. On Tuesday morning we headed west and stopped at the "Corn Palace" - a huge theater/basketball arena with a corn-cob mosaic facade. It's hard to believe that corn comes in so many colors (see picture). We next headed west and drove through the "Badlands" of SD. Fabulous vistas - saw lots of prairie dogs, mountain goats and mule deer. We stayed that night in Wall, SD - home of the "World Famous" Wall Drug Emporium (think South of the Border type hype which got us there). It was only OK - can't think of a highlight.




Wednesday am we drove over to the Rapid City area and played golf at a spectacular mountain course named Red Rock (rated #1 in SD by Golf Digest). Weather was cool (high 60's), and windy. The greens were like lightening.

After golf we drove to the Mt. Rushmore KOA, where we stayed for 2 nights. We visited both the Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse memorials. Hard to believe we were actually standing there seeing such landmarks.



On Thursday we drove down to Custer State Park and did the "Wildlife Loop", where we saw lots of bison, antelope, and "wild" donkeys that came up to "Old Faithful" looking for food.









Friday am we decided to play Red Rock again before driving to Deadwood, SD. Weather started out nicely, then rained and hailed mid round before tuning beautiful again. We played with two doctors who gave us great scenic directions to Deadwood. They also recommended a terrific restaurant named "Jakes", which is located in the Midnight Star Casino. Jakes is owned by Kevin Costner, and there is memorabilia from every movie he ever starred in (the name Jake is from his role in the movie Silverado). The design, decor and, most of all, the food were top-notch.


Today (Saturday) we toured Boot Hill Cemetery, where both Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane are buried. Tonight we went back to town and saw a re-enactment of the shooting of Wild Bill by Jack McCall.


Tomorrow (Sunday) am we head north to North Dakota where we'll be staying tomorrow night before playing golf at the #1 rated course in North Dakota. The golf course is right next to Theodore Roosevelt National Park - hence its name Bully Pulpit.

Hope all is well with everyone "back home". Talk at you later.....

J&B

Happy Labor Day from South Dakota

Greetings to all:

We've driven quite a few miles and done quite a few things since our last posting. We stopped in the Chicago area for a few days and visited with Beccy's sisters (Rhoda and Anna), her great niece, Peggy and her husband Mark, and Bob and Karen McQuillan. We saw the Phils lose to the Cubs (3-2) on a spectacular Friday afternoon at Wrigley Field and took a walking tour of most of the area thanks to tour guide McQuillan before quenching our thirst at several bars located a few hundred yards from Wrigley. Thanks Bob!







THEY BUILT IT - WE WENT..........
After leaving Illinois, we drove to the NE corner of Iowa and stopped at the Field of Dreams. It looked exactly like it did in the movie - except for the two carloads of Japanese baseball fans who were visiting it with us (tried to get a picture of that, but couldn't figure out how to ask them to "come out of the corn" together and still be PC). Anyway, it was neat being there.

Drove across Iowa (and the Mississippi River) yesterday and stayed last night at a beautiful campground right on the Missouri river in NE Nebraska. Played a real nice, very tight public course this am (where Jim shot the first sub-80 round of the trip -78). Finished golf around 2pm and then drove north (with 30-40 mph cross-winds at times) into South Dakota. Arrived here at a quiet campground where we will spend the night before heading directly west across SD to the Mount Rushmore/Crazy Horse/Deadwood/Badlands area tomorrow. Lots to do in that area (including some great golf courses), so we'll probably spend a few days around there.

As always, more to come....hope you had a great Labor Day weekend!