The Pine Crest Inn Pinehurst

I'm sitting at my desk and setting up this blog- one of many things I'm doing this week to get ready for my trip. While I'm gone, I won't have access to my american cell phone, but I will have some limited email and facebook access. This blog is where I plan on updating most folks while on the trip. Check back here from time to time for new entries and hopefully some photos, too.

Highlights from what will be accompanying me on the plane tomorrow:

1 The Essential Neruda: Selected Poems (Bilingual Edition; I will be visiting several of his homes and Machu Picchu about which he wrote a collection of poetry)
1 Motorcycle Diaries: Notes on a Latin American Journey by Ernesto "Che" Guevara (English version because reading in Spanish wears me out)
1 My Invented Country by Isabel Allende (also ...

... to my scheduled stop in NM. I am really REALLY looking forward to eating through the Southwest, esp NM. I will prob get to shoot a couple excellent rolls there, as well. Leaving NM I head up to CO, for the sole purpose of visiting the USAFA's world famous chapel. Leaving CO, heading through western KS, one of the most boring drives, ever. I will stop in ...

... a little later. Camp LeJeune is a huge training camp for the US Marines and the ICW passes adjacent to their property. Essentially the Notices to Mariners indicates that boats will be permitted to move through the area every hour and that information will be broadcast on channel 16. This was not happening and we ended up waiting with 10 other boats while small Navy boats blocked the channel. Calls to the USCG and a conversation with the local USCG sector office on 22A obtained no ...

... a woman I had golfed with at TPC Tampa 1.5 years ago. Our caddie was Kevin, a strapping young man in his early twenties, who I had not doubt could handle the double bags. On the other hand, the other caddie was Jesse, an elderly man in his seventies, who from the looks of it I would not think could walk the course let alone carry two golf bags. Sharing the services of Jesse was two people from Chicago, Terry and Brian. I ...

... from yesterday, and we talked for a little while. Another ASGA member requested a hug as she spotted my Steelers shirt and conveyed that she was originally from Western Pa but now currently lives in Florida. I spent a great deal of my time talking to the owner about various things related to golf. I told him about my attendance at the Sunday round of the 2005 US Open and how I was there to see Michael ...

... round. It rained off and on throughout the round. For most people this is not ideal golfing weather; however I tend to play well in the wet conditions. Last week in similar conditions I shot a 93 on the Woodlawn course at Fort Belvior...I good round for me because my average score is in the low 100's. The other good thing about the rain was it sped up the group's pace of play because people tend to quickly hit their shot to get back in the ...

... for the Friday and Saturday tournament was 2 best ball net out of 4 players. Since I had no clue what this meant, I had John one of my team-mates to keep the team score. It was a shotgun start and my foursome started on hole 5. In my foursome was John from Myrtle Beach (I guess there was not enough courses in Myrtle Beach), Peggy from Lexington, Kentucky and Pat (my cart mate) from Connecticut. It was funny after I met John at the cart I was ...

... Golfers Association. I have been a member of the association for 3 years and as always I am the youngest person at the ASGA outing. I still go to the events because I like the courses they play and I enjoy the company of other people who like to golf. Also I am holding on to the dream that one day I will be paired up with a Natalie Gulbris look-a-like...not today. My partner is an elderly lady named Cheryl ...

... for our internet also primarily uses T-Mobile and for instance here in North Carolina, T-Mobile just about doesn't exist! We're thinking about one of us switching to Verizon, because it seems to have pretty good coverage, especially where T-Mobile doesn't. We haven't decided yet. Driving to the coast was pretty and very green. There had been a lot of rain recently and all the corn and tobacco fields and all the many kinds of trees made for a wide variety of the color green.