July Travel:

I was going to leave in Spring and arrive before winter, just like the old pioneers who walked the Oregon Trail. I was going to hike the national parks, sleep on the ground, and ring a bear repellent bell when I encountered a grizzly bear. I was going to live in a cowboy town and volunteer Habitat for Humanity and build homeless shelters. I was going to see America. I was going to brave nine red states.

I replaced this idea with the six minute walk on the original Oregon Trail on the video.

https://youtu.be/5L-B-6n-04Y

April Travel:  

Saturday, 6 May 2023​

Cowell Park tennis w Roy and Don vs Mike & Jack 

Roy and I were playing Mike and Jack.  Mike is a previous junior and college player but older. Now his balls are not so heavy. Jack is a younger player hits with strong forehand topspin but with so much topspin, his balls are not heavy either.  Jack is a younger player and jumpy.  He raises his body up too soon and hits into the net when he gets excited.  

He tries to run around his backhand and seems to miss half his backhands.  He gets excited at the net also and misses many volleys.  Roy and I took the first set 6-2.  

Cowell tennis is not serious play for our group of daily players (Roy, Dave, Mike, & Matt);  the points are competitive, but the score doesn't matter much to anybody.

Mike was coaching me (before the set and during the set) to keep my left hand up for overheads and serves. I exaggerated this tip and kept my left hand up even after the serve. So I was waving at Mike with my left hand up after serving to him. A very awkward and ineffective way to serve. I was laughing as I did this.  I lost the point. 

Roy and I were down 1-5 in the second set.  I was serving to Jack on the ad side. I was trying to serve to his backhand side.  He is very fast so he positions himself to make it hard for me to serve to his backhand.  Mike gave Roy a tip to position himself more to the middle of the court and to allow a little room for the receiver to go down the alley. 

My serve needed to thread the needle between Roy and Jack, which is usually not a problem.  But jack can run around his backhand, so the serve needed to be fast.  The wind was swirling and blowing hard.  You toss the ball up for the serve and you are not sure which way the ball will move; forward in front or back or to the sides.  Also, the tip that Mike gave me, was making me think about technique which is usually not a good idea during match play - it is better to clear the mind and watch the ball.    

For my first serve to Jack, the ball went past my brother's ear and hit his racket and knocked it out of his hand. The sound of the racket hitting the ground scared everybody. Only the racket fell but it made such a loud noise that it sounded like I had hit Roy and he had died standing up. It was unusual because Roy had his racket down and mostly not visible to me. The serve passed by his head and dipped down to hit squarely on his racket. It was a hard serve and took the racket out of his hand and made a very loud sound on the concrete. Everybody was quiet for a bit. 

​I kept thinking about that event and hours later, I ​couldn't stop laughing.​ I don't even know why it is so funny.