Travis was at the Peace River park in Wauchula when we arrived so after we finished at the RV we headed over to say hello to him and Baxter. After a cold beer (Rich) and a glass of wine (Me), we took a ride around the park on our bikes to see what site we might consider for this winter. We were a little dissapointed with the work they had started on the pickelball courts. We understood from the manager that work would be completed this summer to improve the safety on the courts. They pourd a few more feet of concrete behind the service lines - but the muddy areas are still there where players have to go to retrive the balls. So, we're hoping this is not all they intended to do. Not too many people in the park this time of year.
From there we continued south toward Ft. Lauderdale We were getting tired so we stopped at the next hotel we found. I purposely do not want to remember the name of the place or where it was! The price was right and it was very clean - really - not that cheap Lysol just cleaned smell. But there were certainly no frills, not even a clock! Even worse - there was no coffee pot - nor was coffee even available in the morning at the office! I wasn't sure how Rich was going to make it without his morning caffine! Actually - I have never seen Rich move so fast in the morning. Quickly showering, packing and getting on the road to the nearest coffee stop - about 1/2 mile down the road. About 20 minutes later he was awake and ready for conversation.
We arrived here at the Laquinta, in Plantation, Florida, just outside of Ft. Lauderdale before check-in time and were very pleased with the hotel. The rates for this area were quite low in comparison, so we were'nt sure what to expect. The room is very spacious, complete with microwave, refrigerator, WIFI and all the News Channels that Rich likes to watch.
We headed out to find a grocery store and car wash. It wa
s important that I have my Wine - for a nightcap, and that Rich have a good supply of "sugar" for his sweet tooth. We stopped at Applebee's on the way back for an early dinner - and Rich is resting his eyes right now as I update the Blog.
About 5;45 we headed over to thy Hyatt Regency Hotel and Spa were registration was set up for the National Championship Games. While there, we ran into the New York State Group that had flown down. It was great seeing them again. We had played with them up in Scotia, NY back in the summer of 2007. After getting the registration out of the way we headed over to the C. B. Smith State Park to help line the tennis courts. There are eight courts. After finishing five of the eight, we decided we'd had enough, and decided to get in a few games. We played until 10:00pm, when we were told politely, that they would be closing the park and turning the lights off.
It took us about 18 minutes to get back to the hotel. Rich had his sugar fix, with the cherry turnovers in the microwave. We both had a couple of glasses of win.........Just a few minutes after midnight - and we called it a day.
We me so many nice people today - David and Nancy Jordan, Rich's partners for the tournament, Bob Huskey and Roxanne Ware.....the group from New York - a couple of players for Louisianna and Arizona....................More to come tomorrow!
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