Louisiana Part One: Baton Rouge and Bowling

After a long day of flying and connecting through the Houston airport, BowlingWidow and I arrived in New Orleans at 10:00pm and picked up our rental car for the 90 minute drive north on I-10.  It was dark out so we couldn’t see much scenery, but were easily guided into Baton Rouge by the string of tall, brightly lit yellow Waffle House signs that seemed to line the freeway at each milepost.  Obviously waffles are selling like hotcakes in the South.

Other than being the capital of Louisiana, Baton Rouge doesn’t have a whole lot to offer (we did, however, get to stand in the hallway of the capitol building where Huey Long was shot to death).  Its name roughly translates to “Red Stick” which fits it just fine.  Sure, it’s surrounded by swamps and plantations (a good one that we visited is called Nottoway), and is home of the college football powerhouse LSU Tigers, but as far as what’s in the city proper is concerned, all I can say is just pray that your car doesn’t break down at street corner on Florida Street.

Downtown Baton Rouge from the 27th Floor of the Capitol Building

Two out of every three years the US Bowling Congress National Open Tournament is held at a specially-built bowling center in Reno, Nevada.  On that third year, the show travels somewhere else where they literally truck in materials and equipment to construct a fully-functioning bowling complex on the large concrete slab floor of a convention center.  Baton Rouge hosted this event several years ago and it worked out okay so they won it for 2012.

The Nottoway Plantation Mansion

The makeshift bowling center was cool.  And I mean that literally.  Heat and humidity is not a bowler’s friend as it tends to make our fingers swell to the point that it becomes increasingly difficult to get them into a bowling ball after a few games.  The spectators may have felt like they were in a meat locker but we were loving it on the hardwoods.

This is the sixth straight year I’ve been attending this tournament and it’s always a challenge.  Explaining why that’s so would take too much time here, but the short version is that because of the manner in which the lanes are oiled, being accurate and consistent is a must.  My average scores here are usually around 25 pins per game lower than what I do in regular league bowling, which means typical games of around 170-175 instead of 195-205.

This year was different, however, as I averaged a personal best 190.1 pins per game over nine games.  I attribute it using a couple of different releases effectively as I let go of the ball at the foul line and getting used to bowling in an environment that reminds me of a domed stadium.  I’ve always said that bowling is an easy game to learn and a difficult one to master, so I’ll gladly accept these little successes when they take place.

BowlingJoe (center in maroon shirt) delivers a shot:  must have been a strike!

Next up, we put the bowling balls away and head west to Cajun Country!