Baton Rouge Here We Come!

The car's all packed, gassed & ready to go (except for the computer....always the last thing to get packed!).  I am looking forward to seeing all my friends and co-workers.  I groused and complained, but I am really happy to be going back to work.

See you in a couple of days!

Time to Start Packing!

Well the holidays are over, my 75th birthday is past, and it is time to pack up and get back to work.  This year we will be working at the USBC (United States Bowling Congress) Open Champions Tournament in Baton Rouge, LA.  This will be our second time to work in Baton Rouge and our 14th year to work the Tournament.  It is always great to see all the rest of the traveling crew when we get back to work and we also hope to see some of the friends we made when we worked there in 2005.

We really did not expect to be going back to work this year.  We had decided to finally retire and stay home.....however, we are too young to retire!  We still have places to go and things to do before we drag out the rocking chairs.  The only regret I have is we moved to West Virginia right after we started to work so we have never had a chance to enjoy springtime at home.  Maybe next year.

On the plus side, we can continue to work on our own business via the internet and phones.  I am excited about the new Laundry Pure unit.  I have gotten used to washing my clothes in cold water with no soap or bleach.  I was skeptical the first time I tried it but it really works......fresh clean smelling clothes with no soap residue and no phosphates added to our water supply.  My only regret is I can't take the Laundry Pure unit with me to Baton Rouge.  However, I will be taking the Fresh Air Surround and the Living Water unit with me.

Our daughter, Wendy, house sits for us and takes care of all of the critters.  We will be gone until July and we will miss all of them.  We do chat with Wendy on the internet frequently and she keeps us up to date on all of their shenanigans.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Just taking the time to wish all of you the very best Christmas ever!  I hope you bake some cookies and hug someone you love.  I hope Christmas day finds you gathered around the dinner table with family and friends and I hope you cherish every moment.  I hope you have a Christmas Tradition that you share every year with loved ones.  I hope you have time to wish our Lord and Savior a Happy Birthday and thank Him for all the blessings that you have received this past year.

Be Safe, Be Happy and Share the Love!

Hope Everyone Had a Great Thanksgiving!

Hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving Dinner.  I remember when my family was larger and Thanksgiving was a wonderful, sharing occasion.  However, as you get older, your family circle shrinks.  My three older brothers are gone now and their families have scattered to different parts of the country.  They have their own lives to live and  their own traditions to establish and that is how it should be.  Since there were just the three of us this year, and we are not fond enough of turkey to want leftovers for the next month, we decided to eat out this year.

In some parts of the country, this would not be a problem.  However, in our part of the country, restaurants close so that employees can enjoy Thanksgiving with their families.  As we drove through the nearby town that actually has some restaurants, every one we passed was closed except one.  So we celebrated Thanksgiving at the Chinese Buffet!  There was plenty of food to choose from, including turkey, ham, roast leg of pork and all the trimmings as well as the regular Chinese menu.  The important thing was we were together and we still have a lot to be thankful for every day of our lives.

An Early Morning Surprise!

Last Saturday was the first snow of the season for us here in West Virginia.  I hunted up my camera because I always like a few pictures of the first snow, stepped out on the front porch and stopped with my mouth hanging open.  There was a pick-up parked neatly beside the house.  Now I have to explain there is no way you can drive a vehicle larger than a lawn mower into my front yard!  There were no tracks in the snow around the pick-up soooo........maybe a gift from the Great Pumpkin?  I yelled at Homer & Wendy to come see my surprise!

A closer look showed me there was also a section of chain link fence missing!  We all stood there staring at this silly pick-up for a few minutes and then I decided maybe I should go call the sheriff's dept.  Before I could follow-up on this idea, a dump truck pulled up in front of the house and a young man jumped out and came over to talk to us.  He said it was his truck and he must have fallen asleep.   He lives across the road from us.  There is a dirt road leading up to his house. He came down his driveway, across the road, across my driveway, wiped out the chain link fence and drug it all the way to the back of the house.  There is no way to drive back up so he just parked the truck and left.  We slept through the whole thing!  He also ran over the two Tennessee Mountain Fig trees Wendy planted last year and tore up the honeysuckle and rose bushes that were growing on the fence, and my new peony!

The boys left, promising to come back this week to put the fence back up.  The reason we have a fence around this part of the yard is to keep Fred-the-dog at home.  Fred is getting old, but if he manages to escape, he will take off running and will not come back home until he is exhausted and hungry.  The roads around here are narrow and people drive faster than they should, so we worry when he gets loose.  Fred spent several days pouting because he had to be tied up until the fence was repaired.

The boys did come back and put the fence back up, but it was a rather droopy looking job so Homer took it down and redid the whole thing.  Fred is now happy again.  He sits in the chair on the front porch and barks at anyone who dares to get anywhere near his yard!

Sometimes I need a good hard push!

Much as I hate to admit it, I have to fess up to a major character flaw.  Sometimes I need a good hard push to do something that I really know I need to do.  I have been hobbling around on a painful arthritic knee for over two months.  I know I should have gone to the doctor sooner, but I just keeping hoping if I ignore it, the pain will go away.  Wishful thinking.....it is never going to happen.  I finally got tired of not being able to get around and do the things I wanted to be doing and made an appointment with the doctor.  After x-rays and a MRI to make sure there was nothing more serious going on, he gave me a shot in my knee.  I got up this morning, no pain.  I can walk, I can sit down without having to call someone to help me get up again.  I even went out and worked in the yard for awhile.  I am filled with energy!  I feel like dancing!  SO WHY DID I WAIT SO LONG!

One thing I don't need a push to do, is work on my business.  I love my products so the rest is easy.  I have to admit, I don't really understand all the technical stuff....I just know it works.  Water is one of the most important elements for good health.  I have to admit, I thought just filtering out the nasty chlorine taste in my tap water was making it more healthy to drink.  Wrong!  How about drinking bottled water?  Not really a very good choice.  Most bottled waters are acidic and add packaging in plastic bottles and you compound the problems.  Plastic contains carcinogens that can leach into your water.  Heat or extreme cold can accelerate the leaching process.  How many of you have put a bottle of water in the freezer so you would have good cold water to take with you someplace?  I know I have.  That was before I became a cancer patient and became more conscience of what I was putting into my body.  One thing I didn't know about water was the importance of the ph level.  Ordinary tap water usually has a ph level of around 7.  That is neutral.
Bottled waters and soft drinks are more acidic and that is not good for you.  Water that is more alkaline with a ph level of 9.5 has some very positive health benefits.  Our water purifier filters the water and then changes the molecular structure and ph levels.  The water is more easily absorbed by our bodies for better hydration.  It is not sold as a medical device.  I only know that my family has more energy.  Homer's blood oxygen level has improved.  He just celebrated his 80th birthday and he can still work circles around men half his age.  Another big plus, better hydration slows the aging process.  Our skin  is smoother and softer.  I have just skimmed the surface of what this wonderful water purification system can do.  Check it out at www.ecobusiness.com/bettyd/products to learn more about the products.  To order these fine products go to:  www.myvollara.com/bettydavis.

Whew!  I started off talking about needing a good hard push at times.  I think that means I am a procrastinator. The reason I don't have any pictures on this blog lately is that I have misplaced my connector that allows me to download my pictures from my camera to the computer.  I probably won't find it until I go down to the store to buy a new one and I have just been putting off that simple chore.  Maybe if I put it in writing.....next week I will go buy a new connector wire.  It is probably still packed up somewhere.  It has only been two months since we left Nevada.

A Breath of Fresh Air!

Good Morning!  It is a beautiful morning.  The emergency repairs are all done and my life has returned to as near normal as it ever gets.  Hubby is out working on enclosing our deck with screens and windows.  Sitting out on the deck enjoying our back yard sounded like such a great idea when we built the deck, however the wasps like it as much as we do.  We seem to be located in the midst of a huge colony of wasp nests and no amount of spraying discourages them for long.  So from now on we will be enjoying our deck behind the safety of screen and glass.  Homer has had multiple stings on more than one occasion since he spends more time outdoors than I do.  Wendy has to exercise extreme caution since she is allergic to bee stings and we have to keep an EpiPen handy at all times.  For her a sting means a trip to the emergency room.

Since hubby is occupied out on the deck, doing what he enjoys most...building something, I am free to get busy on my own project creating a home business so we can finally retire to stay home.  We have tried a lot of different businesses over the years but we have never been able to find one that is the right fit for us until now.  I hate going out and trying to recruit people. It is just not me and I am not good at talking to people.  I like working with the computer and selling products I truly believe in and use every day in my own home.  The air purifier is wonderful.  It not only cleans the air, it sanitizes surfaces and kills staph germs, avian flu germs, mold and mildew spores. My chronic sinus infection has complete cleared up and Wendy's allergies are under control for the first time in years.  It is wonderful to wake up in the morning without my head feeling all stuffy. The technology used in the air purifier comes from the space program.  It is based on the technology used to scrub the air in space capsules.  As you can probably tell, I am completely sold on this product.  You can check it out at  www.ecobusiness.com/bettyd  Just click on the product tab to find out just what all it can do!

The other products are awesome too: a water purifier that really works (we have nasty water without some sort of purifier) and believe it or not, a gadget that lets you wash all your clothes in cold water with NO soap or fabric softener! I was extremely skeptical of that, but it really does work. Hubby's work clothes have always been a real chore to get clean because of grease and sweat-- I have always had to wash them twice with extra soap-helpers like Shout, add in-wash fabric softener, plus dryer sheets. Not any more! One wash cycle in cold water gets it done.

Okay, I'll say it upfront-- the products aren't cheap, but they really do pay for themselves in savings on power, water, prescription antihistamines, and wash/dryer products. So, we are all extremely happy with them.

Lol Enough of that, I wasn't planning to make this post an advertisement. But do check them out if you think they might work for you.

Oh my! It looks like it might actually rain today. Wendy has been working for since we bought the house to get some fruit trees, bulbs, and roses started (she's just about ringed the front yard in different colored roses) and this year, for the first time, one of the peach trees has peaches on it! It just really needs extra water for them to develop. We can hardly wait for them to ripen!

We still have 5 roses, a pair of azaleas, a rhododendron, and a few other things yet to plant, but it's been just too hot: upper 90s with the heat index in the 100s and so humid it feels like you're breathing soup. Yuck!

Home Sweet Home???

We just couldn't wait to get home, but it didn't take long for Home Sweet Home to turn a little sour.  First the air conditioner drain had gotten clogged up and water had seeped between the wall the divides the laundry room and dining room and had also seeped under the carpet in the dining room.  What a mess!  We had to rip out part of the dining room wall and replace it (after Homer had found the source of the trouble and repaired it)  The carpet had to be pulled up and dried out.  It will have to be replaced, but that is for another day.

The chicory weed had taken over most of the property and although the blue flowers are very pretty, I really did not want a whole yard full of them!

Last Sunday we got up to discover that the refrigerator had died during the night.  Yuck!  Fortunately, it was repairable.  The bad news was I did lose some food.  The good news was, it was time for a thorough cleaning anyway and I had been putting it off so that chore is now done.

Sometime during the last couple of weeks in Nevada, I managed to injure my knee.  Not sure just how or when but I have been hobbling around ever since.  I finally decided last week to go and get an x-ray to find out what is going on there.  I haven't received the results on that yet.

Add to that a major heat wave!

I was just about ready to throw myself a first class pity-party but then yesterday was Sunday.  We got our selves ready and made it to church without anything else going wrong.  There, we were greeted with hugs and "welcome home" from out church family.  By the end of the service, our world was right side up again, our priorities back in line and it really was good to be back home.

Packing My Bags!

Two more days to work and then we head for  home!  I love all the friends I've made here, however I am soooo glad to be heading for home.  The boxes we have to ship are all packed and ready to send.  All that I have left to pack is my suitcase, some personal items and our computers.  The computers are always the last to go.  I will probably go into withdrawal on the way home unless I can find someplace to use my laptop.

How did I ever get so addicted to the internet?  It has replaced TV as my principal form of entertainment.  If I am not playing games, chatting with friends or visiting other blogs, I am working on my business.  It is great to be able to work from home.  I can go to work in my pj's, with a cup on coffee and a bagel by my side.  I can take a break whenever I choose and best of all.......NO BOSSES!  Well, almost no bosses.  Sometimes Homer tries to be the boss and that is a bit of a challenge and on a personal level, my critters get bossy at times.

I can't wait to get home so I can hug my daughter, Wendy, and scratch Fred the Dog's ears and, if they will tolerate it, a little cuddle with Rudy and Miss Kitty.  The cats usually turn their backs on us when we first get home, as if to express their disapproval that we dared to leave home in the first place.  They stalk off with their tails in the air and refuse to even look at us.  It takes a bit of coaxing and some kitty treats to get back in their good graces.

Home.  What a small word to encompass so much.

Life is Good!

I apologize for being so lax in writing my blog.  There just hasn't been much time.  I've been working 48hrs  a week and then I spend my days off doing my laundry, grocery shopping, doctor visits and other chores.  But I love my blog and I miss writing.  I think it must be therapeutic.  We only have four more weeks and the tournament will be over and I will have a lot more time.  I took a personal day off today to relax and just enjoy.  We are going to a BBQ this afternoon, the first of the season for us and I am really looking forward to it.

Sometimes I think it would be great to really retire and do nothing but then I think "how boring!"  We have embarked on a new business and I am really excited about it.  Space Age Technology for better health....I love it.  I can stay home and work on this business and the products are ones I use and truly believe in.  I am breathing cleaner air, drinking purer water and I am feeling great!  On June 11, I will be celebrating the anniversary of my 2nd year as a breast cancer survivor.  Life is good!

Check out these wonderful products at     http://www.ecobusiness.com/bettyd

How Precious Are The Memories!

I was reading Pearl's blog this morning and she talked about finding a rock in her purse that her father had given her.  I love Pearl's blog.  She always sees the humorous side of life.  But it also made me think of how precious  are the memories that are attached to the ordinary things that surround us.  We all tend to fill our lives the the latest gadgets, fancy cars and expensive doodads and forget the little things that trigger our special memories. For instance, I can never pick up a spool of thread without remembering my mother.  She was a wonderful seamstress and spent her whole life sewing for other people.  She made all of the clothes for our whole family and they were beautiful and well-made.   When I look through my high school yearbook, there is a picture of the cheerleaders wearing the outfits my Mom made for them.  Growing up we were surrounded by her handiwork,  the pillows on the sofa, the curtains on the windows, the clothes we wore.  Folded away in a box in the top of my closet is the wedding dress she made for me over 50 years ago.  We didn't realize at the time that it was her love that surrounded us in every single stitch.  Priceless and precious.


So be very careful when you clean out your closets, garages or attics.  There will come a time in your life when the memories are all you have left of the special people that touched your life.  So cherish the rock, or the spool of thread or whatever reminds you of those special people.  The memories sustain you and help you to survive the golden years.

Hush Up Feet!

I am finally starting to get back into the work routine and I hope I will have more time, or maybe I should say more energy, left for doing other things, like writing this blog.  We are working a 48 hr week again this year and that means standing on my feet at a counter for 9 1/2 hrs a day. We work 4 10's and 1 8hr day.  These old feet have been carrying me around for almost 75 years and some days they let me know they are feeling abused.  I am usually up by 3:30 a.m. because I have to leave for work at 5:30 and I am not one of those annoyingly chipper people who are wide awake and ready for the day 5 minutes after their feet hit the floor in the morning.. I am more the "don't expect anything from me until I am on my second cup of coffee" types.

Many of our bowlers come to the tournament year after year and they are always happy to see a familiar face on the other side of the counter and when they say "I remember you.  You helped me get my teams straightened out last year."  it makes me feel good too. For the most part, I really love my job.  It is interesting to get to talk to people from all over our country and other parts of the world as well. The teams that come to the tournament from Hawaii always bring us boxes of macadamia nut chocolates...mmm so good.  The teams that come from other countries like to exchange pins and we have accumulated quite a collection. Most of the bowlers will leave this year with a smile and a wave and a "see you next year in Baton Rouge".  It makes me have second thoughts about retiring so.... "hush up feet, maybe you can survive one more year."

Rewards Mall Here I Come!

Woke up this morning to....guess what?......more snow!  I am going to the Rewards Mall to shop for some new clothes.  I think I will be optimistic and go for the Spring clothes! I am totally and completely tired of winter and if that is redundant ...so be it! Join me for a shopping spree at http://fhtmus.com/homerdavis and click on the Rewards Mall icon.  It is free to sign up.  See you there!

One Very Impulsive Man!

I would like to go back a few years in time and tell you how we came to own our home in West Virginia.  First I have to tell you my husband is one of the most generous and impulsive men I have ever known.  Both of those qualities sometimes get us into unusual situations as the story below illustrates.  This one has to do with the impulsive side of his nature.

I think I may have confused you a  little about our 5^th wheel trailer.  We did live full time in that trailer for about 6 years.  Then we bought a little house in West Virginia.  I do mean little house.  When my daughter came to live with us, it was really a bit too little.  My daughter, Wendy, house sits for us when we are away working at the tournament and assumes guardianship of all the various critters living with us.

After we quit taking the trailer to the tournaments, we bought a GM conversion van and packed everything we needed for a 6 months stay in that.  We shared an apartment with another couple when we got to the host city for the tournament.  This seemed to work out well for all concerned.  The year the tournament was in Knoxville, Tenn we shared an apartment with our friends, Jeanne & Gary.  One day the four of us were out driving around on our day off and spotted a mobile home lot.  Jeanne suggested that, just for the fun of it, we should go check the homes out and so we did.  They really were pretty nice and my husband found one that he decided he just had to have.  Now, keep in mind, we are staying in Knoxville, Tenn but we live in West Virginia.  However, little details like that never stop Homer when he makes up his mind he wants something.  The next day we went back and bought it, completely furnished.  (I told you he was impulsive)

I liked the nice roomy kitchen!  Compared to the fifth-wheel this room seemed enormous.

And a real bathtub! Wow!

Now we own this huge double-wide and guess what?  We don’t have a lot to put it on! Homer called his brother-in-law Doug, in West Virginia and asked him to check out property in the area.  Doug called back and said he had an acre just down the road from his place that we could buy.  And then the fun began.  We bought the trailer in April and it was November before we finally got it back to West Virginia.  About a week after we bought the mobile home (I don’t know why they call it that…there is nothing mobile about it) we got a call from the company.  They had some good news and some bad news!  Ever hear that before?   We said give us the bad news first and maybe the good news would make us feel better.  The bad news was this particular mobile home did not meet West Virginia standards for insulation, it does get a little colder there.  The good news was, the factory was going to build a brand new home for the same price that would pass West Virginia standards.  Ok that wasn’t so bad.  Next the salesman said, bad news is we sold the furniture with the original mobile home.  Good news…you can go to the factory warehouse and pick out the furniture you want.  Ok we can handle this.  Everything seemed to be working out in our favor.

The tournament ended in July and we went back home to start working on our lot to get it ready for our new home.  The weather did not cooperate.  It rained..a lot!  The mobile home company finally got the two sections of the home as far as Harrisburg, Va, where they parked it to wait for more favorable weather.  Now I have to tell you that in rural West Virginia the roads are narrow two lane roads that are either going around a curve or up and down hill, or both.  I could not see how they would ever get to our small town and no way could I see how they would ever get this home on to our lot, which is on  the side of a slope.  (Everything in West Virginia is on the side of a slope)

Homer assured me that these drivers know what they are doing and have put homes in worse places.  Hah!  The weather was still not cooperating and everything was a muddy mess.  They got stuck under a railroad road overpass and tied up traffic for what seemed like hours.  They finally got our new home onto the lot…well almost!  The back half slid off the foundation into the mud and required a bull dozer to get it back into place!  But they finally managed to get it put together and we went out to to local rock quarry and gathered up rocks to build the surrounding foundation.  A couple of old folks with a hugh do-it-yourself project!

 

End of Part 1 of the continuing saga of Our New Home.

Some Very Special People!

On March 2nd and 3rd we had some very special people at the National Bowling Stadium in Reno, Nevada.  For the last 21 years the Special Olympics for Bowling has preceded the opening of the USBC Open Championships Tournament.  Ninety-eight teams bowled in the Special Olympics this year with each team being made up of two Special Olympians and two unified bowlers. These participants traveled from 13 different states to take part in the tournament.  If any of you have ever attended any of the Special Olympic events, you know that we could all learn from these kids.  They are so proud and excited to be a part of this tournment.  Each participant receives a medal and there are enough divisions so there are plenty of other awards and medals to be won.  It doesn't matter whether a bowler knocks down 1 pin or  10.  They clap and cheer for their teammates and there are plenty of high fives exchanged.  It is a heart-warming and humbling experience to watch these kids.  The staff really looks forward to this event every year.


On March 4th, the USBC Open Championships Tournament began.  This is the 108th year for the tournament.  There will be more than 12,600 teams attending from all over the United States, Canada Mexico, Europe and Asia.  The tournament will last for 122 days with the first squad going on the lanes at 7 a.m. and the last squad at 11.30 p.m. seven days a week.  That is more than 63,000 bowlers.  Many of them bring family and friends with them and plan their vacations around the tournament and most of them return year after year.  We had one bowler who has bowled in this tournament for 70 years!  We also have several 50 year plaques to hand out this year.  It is always fun to greet the return bowlers. We have a core group of travelers who work every year and it is like family reunion time when we all get back together at the start of each tournament.  The balance of the employees are hired locally, so it is a great chance to make new friends as well.  Homer and I have been doing this for 12 years and it has been a wonderful experience for us.  I have had a chance to visit parts of the country that I might never have seen otherwise.  Everywhere the tournament is held, there are always new things to see and do.

Don't Give Up On Me!

The first two weeks at work at the tournament are a bit hectic.  I have to work ten straight days before I get a day off.  I work 6am to 4:30 pm, come home, eat dinner and fall into bed.  I promised to tell you more about the Special Olympics Tournament and I will do that tonight but right now I have to fix breakfast and get ready for work.

Back to Work!

The new tournament season started Sunday night with a dinner for all of the travelers who come back to work every year. The dinner was at the Copa Bar & Grill at the Sands and the prime rib was excellent.  Yesterday and today are orientation and tomorrow starts the Special Olympics.  Those kids are great.  I will tell you more about the Special Olympics tomorrow.  Got to go get ready for work now.

Guess what? It is Snowing!

I am so ready for spring.  I am sure it is coming soon and it will be much too short.

Yesterday I mentioned how my circle of old friends is shrinking every year, but there are other circles, some interlocking, that are expanding and bring me joy.  My USBC family circle of friends grows with every new city where we work.  My church family circle of friends that I am still getting to know back in West Virginia (West Virginians take a little more work to get to know.  If you weren't born there, you are an outsider.)  New friends that I am meeting through our business are another circle.  I hope there will be a circle of blogging friends as well.

Life is good and there is still so much to look forward to in the days ahead!

For Bob & Marge....You Will Be Remembered!

There is a part of surviving the golden years that I usually don't like to dwell on too much.  We lived for many years in Reno and have friends that we have known for a lot of years.  Every time we return to Reno, we try to look up those old friends for a visit and every time there are fewer of them to visit.  Last year when we were here in Reno, we had dinner with our friends Bob & Marge, and spent several hours reminiscing about the good old days when the guys were trucking together.  A group of the local truckers  had gotten together to form a club, it started out as a CB club.  We had camp outs and BBQs  and had a lot of good times.  Now there are only 4 or 5 couples left.  It is an ever shrinking circle of friends.  Bob & Marge, for all the good times spent together, you will be remembered.

H Started Work Today!

Homer started back to work today.  I don’t start until the 28^th.  The house seems really quiet without him here, but it is also kind of nice.  I love him dearly, but sometimes 24/7 is too many hours to be together.  It happens to a lot of us when we reach retirement age.   We are used to having separate time and suddenly we are always together.  He is always finding things for me to do on the computer and all I really want is to escape somewhere with a good book.  But we make some compromises and work things out because, bottom line, I would rather be with him than without him under any circumstances.

We both had full work schedules up until we retired.  I worked for a CPA, stuck in a back office entering data and running reports and rarely seeing anyone.  I did this for 33 years.  Homer had been a long haul truck driver and for awhile we had our own trucking business.  After that he worked as a heavy equipment mechanic, a hard knuckle-busting job. 

Our dream was to sell our house, buy a fifth-wheel trailer, and just travel around the country.  Well, we sold our house and bought a 30ft fifth-wheel trailer before we handed in our resignations.  This entailed getting rid of almost everything we had accumulated over the previous 35 years.  I had all sorts of junk that I thought I just couldn’t live without, and I shed a few tears over some of it.  But you know what I found out?  They were just things and I didn’t really miss any of them.

Unfortunately, our dream fabric had a big hole in it.  Due to some unforeseen circumstances, which I will not get into, our savings had dwindled.  So when a friend approached us and asked us if we would like to combine work and travel, it was like a godsend.  We immediately turned in our resignations and signed up to work at what was then ABC (American Bowling Congress) at the Open Championships Tournament.  That meant we would be working for 6 months and free to do whatever we wanted for the remaining 6 months.  A perfect solution for us!

 Normally the tournament is held in Reno, Nv at the National Bowling Stadium every third year and the two intervening years are bid out to other cities.  The year we started, 1999, the tournament was held in Syracuse, New York.  We got a phone call asking us to get there ASAP.  They needed someone as an assistant in administration and human resources (me) and Homer could work on construction until the tournament started.  It was December and cold when we hooked up our trailer to Homer’s GMC Top Kick tool truck and headed for Syracuse.

Now you have to understand that people do not normally show up with a travel trailer in Syracuse, New York in December.  They get a lot of snow there!  There are no RV parks open!  We finally found a RV park in Cortland, NY that stayed open all year.  They had a few full-timers there.  It was a very nice park, just had a lot of snow.  We soon learned more than we ever wanted to know about winter RVing.  That is another whole blog.  Just wrapping your pipes and adding heat tapes does not get the job done in that kind of cold.  Cortland is 32 miles from Syracuse and we drove back and forth for the entire month of December, in the cold, in the snow.  Fortunately, one of our fellow tournament travelers found a restaurant in Syracuse that had two RV hook-ups behind it so he took one and we took the other and that is where we stayed for the balance of the tournament.

Once the construction was finished and the tournament started, Homer went to work in the scale room, weighing bowling balls.

We had a great time in Syracuse.    We met a lot of wonderful people.  It was a new experience for me.  I had never been to that part of the country before.  We spent our days off exploring the finger lakes area, visiting Niagara Falls (I loved the Maid of the Mist boat ride) and visiting Cooperstown and the Baseball Hall of Fame.  Unfortunately,  when my old computer crashed, I lost all of my pictures from that year.  I am still hoping to recover some of them.