Yup, that is quite a question to ponder. Thursday, Carlos picked me up around 7am and we headed off into the sunset (well, not at 7 am, but we did head west) for Cleburn, TX. We arrived at the Hampton Inn around 9:30 and they actually let us check in early, without additional charges. We both headed to our rooms, sharing a luggage cart. We stopped at mine first, since I was on the 2nd floor and he was on the 4th.
A little background.... we are in a 4 day golf tournament that we do every year with AT&T people from Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. Sheila and I usually ride together, but she wasn't going down the first day, instead taking Joyce to the airport. Since I was riding with Carlos, I opted to stay at the same hotel he used. He provided me with a link to Hotels.com, and I booked thru them. I did see that it only cost like $4 more a night to upgrade to a queen "suite" instead of a queen double, so that's the route I took. I mean, Sheila and I like to go first class. We got to my room, and it was really nice. Mini kitchen, living room area, desk area, bed area, and dressing area separate from the bathroom. Very nice. I was good to go. Carlos headed to his room. He is a little on the frugal(squeak squeak squeak) side,so he got the regular queen room. He got two beds and a bathroom. Nothing more. When we met up later at the front desk, I was looking at his receipt. He had actually paid $74 a night plus tax for his room, and ours was $70 plus tax. Yee-haw! I got a bargain. The difference was that during his making his reservations, he somehow or other got Travelocity instead of the one he meant to use. Oh well. My luck for the weekend was going to be good!
We headed to the main part of Cleburn to eat breakfast before we headed to the golf course. I ordered ham and eggs with biscuits and gravy. It arrived, and there was enough ham there for 4 people. I gave half of it to Carlos, along with one of the two biscuits and all of the gravy. The hash browns were not like fried.... more like baked potatoes that had been shredded. We goth got full on my order. All that, for only $6.00.
Off we head for Squaw Valley in Glen Rose, TX. The course was in great shape. Just beautiful.
We played about 9 holes and then we went to the club house to meet up with Brandon (from our Dallas AT&T group), who was going to share a room with Carlos. Carlos and Brandon played a few holes, then we all three entered into our first golf contest, the SHOOT OUT. That is where you play with a group of people in your handicap range, and on every hole, one person with the highest NET score is eliminated. A tie is resolved by a chip off. Well, I bogeyed the first par 4 hole, but a triple bogey got someone. Second hole, a long par 3 into the wind.... I was on the green in one (only 2 of 8 people actually made it to the green on their first shot because of the wind), and then birdied the hole. The only birdie I might add. Great, I'm on a winning streak. We get to hole 3, and they told me to tee off first since I had a birdie. It didn't make sense to, since I'd have to leave them all there, drive to a different tee box, then they'd have to wait for me to drive back to pick up my cart partner, Larry, after they teed off. OK, they tee off. As we're driving from the hole to my tee box, Larry mentioned that Karma would get someone for not honoring the tradition of birdies always teeing off first. Yeah, I said. Everyone already got a good shot. He then reminded me that I had NOT teed off.
Well, it might not have been Karma kicking in, but if it wasn't, it had to be the luck of the Irish. I shanked my ball right. We dive over, about 100 yards away, and I again shank it. About 4
3 shanks after that, I was on the green where I made three ugly putts. The entire group of men were silent.... afraid to make eye contact. WTH! I was soooooo screwed. An 8 on a friggin par 4. Oh well, I had to go to the bathroom so bad, it was really a relief to not have to play any more. Off I go to watch Carlos. Well, I was a little late, he was eliminated on like the 5th hole. Brandon fared better. He made it thru 9 holes, then lost in the sudden death playoff between the winners of the 3 different flights. We headed out to dinner, at Susannah's, In Cleburn.
I had salmon and rice (trying to keep my stomach from acting up), and it was really good. The three of us had a ball. We laughed, talked about some of my exciting house parties. Carlos can make them sound so much more fun than I remember them being. His favorite was the Pub Crawl in Austin. That was also Brandon and the waitresses' favorite. Yup, the three of us were living large in the little town. We finally head back to the hotel, and they do the hot tub route, and I do the go up and crash route. Got there, and my room was HOT. Called the front desk, and they came up and explained that I hadn't set it correctly. It started blowing cold air, and I get in bed. All of a sudden, it's hot again. I again called the hotel, and the lady comes back up and says she hadn't done it correctly, and it was now fixed. I go to bed, and freeze all night long. Next morning, I called them right away. Up comes a guy... same scenario. Yada yada yada. Long story short, it is either hot air or cold air, no in between, and it wouldn't stay on either one. They began getting me a room ready. In the mean time, Sheila had dropped her Mom off at the airport and driven to the hotel. We moved to the 4th floor.
I called Carlos (on my cell phone) and told him our new room number, and he also told me his room number. Their room had been a handicap room, and the only way they could bathe was to sit on a shower seat and use a hand held hose. They had found out only after the hot tubbing, so they'd moved the night before. Sheila and I get in our new room and we all go to the golf course. We met our friends from other cities, and we start the afternoon event.
Long story short, I shot fairly well, 86 net 67, but net 61 and 63 were winners. Sheila shot a 90, net 77, with net 62 and 67 winning her flight. I did win a closest to the pin, which was worth about $52. The four of us eat Bar B Que with the gang, and catch up on each others lives.... cause hey, it's been a year since we have seen most of them. Then the four of us decide to go play pool at a bar in Glen Rose called "Hollywood and Vine".
Saturday, we all start out again. We played 18 holes individual. Our scores were as follows..
Connie 88 net 69 .... net 60, 63 and 66 won
Sheila 84 net 71 ......net 61, 62 and 66 won
As you can tell, there are a lot of sand baggers in every flight. Live and learn. Oh well. While playing, the same guy in a group behind us hit into our group twice, missing me by about 10 yards both times. I was livid after the 2nd time, and met him on the cart path. I basically told him I would hit his next errant drive right back at him the next time it happened. I think the "f" word may have come in to play also. I told him it wasn't the only four letter word...... speaking of "four".... the term FOUR! is supposed to be yelled when there is a ball zooming at a player. DUH! Anyway.... it didn't happen again the rest of the day.
Then came the afternoon event. A four person team best low net and low gross ball. We all head out to the first hole, and my team tees off. Guess who was on my team? YUP.... the guy I had just chewed out for hitting into me. He approaches me, apologizes, and we say our it's ok now crap, and he gets on the tee box. I say.... "Well, hit that big damned club you've been hitting into me all day... we need a long shot!" Everyone laughs, he tees off, and his ball goes about 15 yards. He said what do I do now? I advised him to retee and he was now hitting 3. It was sort of funny!
We are almost off the tee box and it pours down rain. We get to the green and realize the team behind us is gone. We leave our balls and head to the club house. Sheila was there, under the awning staying dry. Her A player, Moreno, refused to play in the rain. Carlos just happened to be on my team, and we decide to head back out. We finish 5 holes with our team, and the other two players are tired of the rain and they quit. Carlos and I continue. We were soaking wet, cold, and sober. THAT's A BAD COMBINATION. It was just too cold to drink. Anyway, we finish, finally. We only had two scores on the majority of the holes cause our wimp team mates quit. We did come in 3rd place, so we really did okay.
We ate dinner at the course, Mexican food, and then we went to the hotel, got warmed up by a nice hot shower, and then we headed back to Glen Rose for the Calcutta. The sunset was beautiful..
We played Par 3 Poker. When we played in the morning, based on our score on the par 3's, we could each earn extra poker cards. You get 5 by default. Sheila and I played our cards, I had a straight flush.... 3,4,5,6, 7 clubs, but was beat by a J high flush. DAMN! Sheila gets a crappy hand. However, her hand was so crappy, she tied for low hand.... winning $62. Woo hoo for Sheila. We then do the calcutta. My team sold for $900, the second highest priced team (high was $925). Sheila's team sold for $875. Yup, we were some of the stronger teams out there. Off we go home, thinking of the possibilities of winning.
We got up early Sunday, at breakfast on the run, then headed to the course. Off we all go. My team followed two of the players that were with the guy that hit in to me. On my second hole, I teed off INTO THE WIND.... and why, I have no idea, but my ball went 244 yards and landed right next to the team in front of us. Carlos happened to be in that team. I am pretty sure you can imagine the things they said to me. When we got to my ball, which is the ball the team used for that hole, this is how we found it.
Yup, it was teed up on a pink tee, just waiting for a match to burn it up! I did go up and apologize, and they were really nice about it. They knew it was a freak of nature that I'd hit a ball 244 yards, which is what they lasered it to be. Wow, career long drive. I called the club house and ordered them all beer and soda and sandwiches. The all thought that was really cool that I did it. The story of the entire weekend was about me being hit into, then pulling the same thing on someone else. They never left out the part about the beer making it all better though.
We finish our round, and Sheila's team came it like 6 or 7 under, Carlos' team did about the same, but my team came in at 10 under. However, there were two teams that c in at 11 under, and Brandon's team came in at 12 under. No money for us. Brandon's team each won like $1200, and the team that won the scorecard playoff for second place got like $800 each. Yes, it pays a lot of money, but you have to shoot lights out to win any of it. I am hoping that we do better next year.
Sheila, Carlos and I met at Susannah's for lunch. We rehashed the events of the weekend, and had a great time together. We started planning our next party for January. We're hoping to have a tamale making party. The logistics are tough, but hopefully we can get it together before then. I decided if there is such a thing as a fast lane in life, that we were definitely in it at Glen Rose. It seemed like we were only there for a few minutes, and it was time to leave aready!
We got home, and my Stella was at Angie's house. Chloe brought her home and spent the evening here. We got caught up on all the shows I'd recorded while I was gone.
Got up this morning, and put off leaving for Oklahoma til tomorrow. I am just too tired to travel. I called about the RV. They're still waiting on parts for the RV. CRAP! I got washing done, and decided to blog before I did anything else. I am going to leave for Oklahoma in the morning for sure. As of this minute, it's almost 4:30. I'm getting ready to run over and see Morgan. I hope you all have a great time. I probably won't be able to blog while I'm gone, but I am going to borrow Angie's T-mobile hot spot device if she's not using it at work.
I hope you all have a great week, I know I will.
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