cycling/ not cycling

I love to ride, but I haven't been riding much lately. I'm on vacation this week, and the weather is fantastic, so I plan on getting in at least a couple of decent rides. But I also have projects to work on in the yard, and of course, I need to go golfing.

Golf is a wonderful, terrible game. I started playing when I was about 20 years old, and I've gotten better, but I'm still not good. If you play golf you probably hit a lot of bad shots, but when you do hit a good one it makes you want to come back and try again.

It really is an addictive game. A couple weeks ago I was joining a couple buddies to play a course southeast of Kansas City called Hoot's Hollow. It's not fancy, kind of out on the prairie, but in pretty good shape, and never too busy. They also let you play as much as you want for one price. If you use a cart you pay a little extra to take the cart for more than 18 holes, but it's still a good deal. If the weather looks good we like to make a day of it and play 36 holes.

Well, as we got to the course the fog hadn't lifted, and the 30% chance of rain looked like it might be more than that shortly. In the pro shop they had the weather on their computer screen, and it didn't look like it would get better any time soon. While we were there, lightning and thunder came up and caused them to blow the horn and get golfers off the course. We were really disappointed that we weren't going to get our game in that day.

One of my buddies got out his phone and started checking weather, calling courses around town to see if it might be any better if we headed south or west, but it looked bad all over. Then he called a course that he had played with his brother who lives acouple hours south of town in Joplin, MO. He proposed a 2.5 hour trip.....to OKLAHOMA! We had planned on spending the day golfing anyway, so we figured less time golfing and more time driving wouldn't be that much different.

A few hours later we were teeing off at Peoria Ridge in Miami, OK. Sunshine and warmth felt great, and we got to check out a new course. Our wives thought we were all crazy, but I think they knew that already.

Tomorrow were heading to Manhattan, KS for a round at Colbert Hills. It's a planned road trip that we've done each of the last few years to play a great course in a beautiful place. There are some elevated tee boxes that have to be close to the highest point in Kansas. Today I went to the driving range to hit some balls, and I cleaned my clubs so I'm ready to go. I hope to play well, but I know that even if I don't, I'll enjoy a nice day in a beautiful setting with good friends. And I'll probably hit at least a few good shots that will make me want to come back and try again.