This year’s event was in Reno. And because I’d be travelling with my doubles partner (BowlingBob) and his wife (Sharon) we ultimately decided to cram ourselves, our clothes, and our bowling equipment into his Toyota Tacoma Crew Cab and try our luck on the freeways, highways and byways.
It’s around a 13-15 hour trip each way, depending on which way you choose to go, so we decided to spend a night at a Super 8 Motel in Roseburg, Oregon each direction. For the uninitiated, Roseburg is an Oregonian word meaning “clusters of budget chain hotels that surround clusters of budget chain restaurants.”
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BowlingBob and Sharon Show Off the In-N-Out Goodie Bag
On the way down it was unanimously deemed to be really, really important to find an In-N-Out Burger place in Northern California. So what if it’s a couple of hours away? It’s against California state law NOT to stop at an In-N-Out Burger establishment when the opportunity presents itself. And the opportunity happened to present itself in Chico.
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BowlingJoe: Caught in an April Donner Pass Flurry
Chico also happens to be the home of Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, but because of time constraints and the fact that we had several more hours to drive to Reno, we settled for the burgers. And they were damn good.
The rest of the trip there was pretty smooth except for some snow flurries on Donner Pass that were easily negotiated. [Okay…….time for a joke that’s klassy with a “k”: Overheard at a restaurant near Trukee in the Sierra Mountains: "Donner, party of eight..." (pause) "Excuse me, Donner, party of seven. Your table is ready."]
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Bowlers Rick, Brian, Tommy, and BowlingJoe after a fine Mexican Meal
We checked into the Sands Regency when we got there. Such a deal. $20 a night! And the place had a completely free happy hour for bowlers and dollar beers the rest of the time. I think I could afford to retire there. I mean NOW, at age 49. Big thumbs up for value with the Sands. Not the nicest place in Reno but dollar for dollar the best buy in town.
As far as any gambling activity it was confined pretty much to the Sports Book, where BowlingBob and I made some “sure thing” bets on things like the World Series and the Super Bowl. Because the event will be in Reno once again next year I have no doubt that we’ll be collecting thousands of dollars in 2011. Other than that, I watched BowlingBob rolling dice on the craps table for a while, and doing quite well until his luck imploded and he was handing chips back to the dealer (or whatever they call the guy who runs the craps table).
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BowlingBob: Pounding the 1-3 Pocket for his Family
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Bowling? Oh yeah. For me it was a shimmer of greatness with a lone 222 game while spending the rest of the time wallowing in the mire of what my friend Brian refers to as “Junior League Hell”. As for BowlingBob, he got off to a pretty good start on day one, but suffered a tendon injury on the second day that ultimately forced him off the lanes for an appointment with Mr. Ice Pack.
BowlingJoe on Webcam: Hoping the Scoreboard is Wrong
When the dust finally settled and we performed our primal screams of frustration in the parking garage it was time to pack up and hit the road. But we’ll be back again next year. Same time, same place. Only next time it’ll be different. Really.
