It was mid afternoon when we left Punta Gorda, so we decided not to stop for lunch and just make it an early dinner in Seminole. We stopped for something cold to drink and arrived at the La Quinta about 4:00pm.
We did a practice trip to the courts to make sure we could find them, and not be late in the morning. It was one of those days where we were both hungry, but not sure what we were hungry for, so we drove along Park Blvd, and down US-19. We spotted the Egg Platter, which was a place we had stopped at last year, and where Rich had his "Waffle A-La Mode". Tonight we both opted for one of the daily specials. Rich had post roast with mashed taters and gravy, and the beef was smothered with mushrooms. I had the grilled chicken topped with Swiss cheese, onions and peppers, and gave Rich my mushrooms. Both were very tasty! We had to make one more stop before we got back to the room: donuts for Rich, and a bottle of wine for me!
Check in was at 8:00 in the morning, and the games started at 9:00. They had a nice hospitality room set up for all the players with coffee, danish, granola bars and fruit in the morning, and cold cuts and chips for lunch.
Monday was the doubles competition, and we were a little disappointed when we learned that it would be a modified double elimination with rally scoring. The registration was not large, but they only had two indoor courts; but they would have had plenty of time to do regular scoring. Roger and Buddy were supposed to play together, but Buddy is still not able to play. They found Roger another partner. Unfortunately, he did not play at Buddy's level - so no medal today. Nadine played with Delores in the ladies doubles.
Rich played with Gary, his regular doubles partner, and the teams in his age division were pretty good, especially the team from The Villages. I played with Cathy Miller, who lives up in the Solivita community up near Kissimmee. I saw Rich with the camera - but I had not shown him how to use the "sport" setting, and then the batteries died!!!
Generally the games last well into the afternoon, but today we were back in the room by 2:00. That was fine with me.....I napped until dinner time! We had seen a place called Emily's Family Restaurant on the way back to the room, so we headed there and had a very nice Ravioli with meatsauce and salad. Made it back it time to watch "Dancing With the Stars!"
Back to the games on Tuesday morning for the mixed doubles. Roger was partnering up with Nadine, and Louann was supposed to play with Bruce. But Bruce had hurt his shoulder again, so they found her another guy to parter with.
In the mixed doubles Rich was playing with Cathy Miller, and I was playing with her husband, Gary. Gary and I played a team from Anna Maria Island our first match. What a great match! We lost our first game 11-8, and thought we might pull off the second game. We lost 18-16!! Then we met up with Rich and Cathy. Donald and Miller vs Donald and Miller!! Rich and Cathy took both games and that put Gary and I out of the competition. But it was one of the most fun matches any of us had played!.
Rich and Cathy took the Silver! Rich and Gary took the Gold!, Cathy and I took the Silver! Delores and Nadine took the Silver! Roger and Nadine took the Gold! And Louann ...............I'm not sure where she got those medals!!!
The games were over by noon and we headed back to Wauchula. Went over and visited with Roger and Linda and then Bill and Val stopped by to see how we made out at the tournament. Wednesday, Rich and Bill and Roger and Neil went down to the courts and played for a couple of hours, and on Thursday (today) all the ladies played at 8:00am, and Rich went down to Sebring to practice with Gary and Linda.
Tournaments are a lot of fun.........but you sure do get tired out!!!! No more for a couple of weeks and then we're off to Mandeville, La for the Mid South USAPA Tier 3 Regional Tournament!
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