Texas Open Bonspiel - April 17-19, 2009

My big weekend away - first time ever away from either of the boys for more than 3 or 4 hours.

The weather was crummy, I saw the same nasty thunderstorm 3 times on Friday and it just kept getting worse each time I came across it.

Our first game was Friday night and it was the first time any of us had played in about a month. The game ended in a tie so the skips from each team had to throw a single rock. The rock closest to the button (center of the scoring zone) won. We lost that game by about 6 inches (maybe a foot). It's a loss we could really feel good about though, as the team that beat us ended up playing for the bonspiel championship on Sunday. They ended up losing on the last rock. Anyway, this was our only loss of the weekend. The one benefit to this particular loss was that it meant we didn't have to be back out on the ice until late Saturday afternoon. It just so happens that we were right by NASA and the Johnson Space Center. One of my teammates and I spent the day touring the space center. We got to see the original Saturn V rocket, the real astronaut training facility, and the world's largest collection of moon rocks (which actually was VERY cool). It was fantastic, and Alex and Ben (Mike too) would have just loved it. We will be going back! We left the space center around 2 to get some food and get ready for our afternoon game. The weather, which had been drizzly and gray all day, took a sudden turn for the worse. Right around the time I was leaving the hotel to get some food, the tremendous downpour started. During my 15 minute meal, the deluge continued and the roads started to flood. I had to go back to the hotel to change because I was soaking wet and couldn't play in my dripping clothes (I probably would have stuck to the ice!!) As soon as I set out for the ice rink I realized that I might not make it in time. The ice rink was about 3 miles from the hotel, about a five minute drive. I had about an hour and a half before my game. Somehow or other I made it about 20 minutes before we were supposed to start playing. If I hadn't had the big truck I would not have made it to the rink. I have never seen flooding like that, it was insane. Cars were stranded left and right and I had no business being out in all that crap.

Long story even longer, I made it, we wond our game by forfeit because our opponents were all flooded out. So, my teammate took me onto the ice and gave me some great pointers. After a bit of practice we decided to get off the ice and try for the hotel. That was not to be. The roads were even worse, and the rain wasn't going to let up for several more hours. I was about the last person that actually made it to the rink for a number of hours. To make things even worse, the other games had to be stopped midway through. The compressor working the dehumidifier on the ice rink stopped working and water started pooling on the ice. After an hour or so, they got the compressor working, and they then had to do a bunch of work to get the ice back into a playable condition. They restarted all the games that were stopped earlier. We still won as our opponents still couldn't get to the rink. About 8 or so, the water finally started to recede so I finally left the rink. I stopped at a bookstore and crashed for the rest of the evening. My roommate got back about 1:30 in the morning, there were still some games going on. The weather totally messed up the whole schedule.

So, Sunday we had our first game at 7 am. In my opinion that is way too early to be up on a Sunday, even worse when we were expected to function. Our game started off well enough, we were up 5 points about midway through. Our opponents came back though and then were ahead by 2 going into the final end. We actually scored 5 points in the last end to win the game. That win put us in the "B" event final. (There is an A event, B event, and C event - the A winner is the tournament winner - B winner is technically 3rd place I think).

So, just before the last game, everyone that is playing in the final lines up on the ice. We all walked down to the opposite end together while bagpipes are being played (yep real bag pipes). Then the skips of each team take a shot of scotch and the games begin. Our last game started off not so great. We were down by 3 points after 3 ends. We slowly came back and going into the last end we were up by 2. They would have needed 3 points to win, but they didn't get them!

We played some incredibly challenging and fun games and we are already planning on doing it again next year. And yes, the winners got prizes. There were all sorts of prizes, everything from prints to brooms, to silly little cow statues. By the time our team got called to the table to collect our prizes, about half the stuff was gone. I got really lucky and there was a pair of curling gloves (and a hat and a bottle of champagne) that I REALLY wanted, so I was happy.

Of course there is always so much more to tell, but this has gotten really long as is!

Tune in tomorrow for tales of the bunk beds!