Saturday, April 26, 2014

Travelers Welcome


"Our first house guest is coming," I told my wife after I hung up the phone with one of my California friends.  "He's passing through on a road trip and wants to visit for a couple of days."

My wife looked at me and saw the excitement on my face.  "I need to step up my training," I told her.  This is no ordinary house guest.  My buddy is the one who led us to victory when we were about to get knocked out of our team tennis tournament.  When we were on the edge of defeat in our last match, he and his mixed doubles partner dug in and won seven games in a row before winning the match in sudden death.  The team victory paved our way for entry into a regional tournament in Las Vegas where we took first place out of 28 teams.  Once again, my buddy and his mixed doubles partner were in familiar territory.  They were the last team on the courts and their win sealed first place, earning us a berth in a national tournament.  We trained hard, got some pointers from our local pros and had the time of our lives on the same courts where the pros play every year on the tour.  I will savor the memories we had together for a lifetime.  We fell short of our goal to win the national tournament and settled for 5th place.

If you find yourself passing through Iowa on a road trip, check out the red solo dot just off Interstate 80.  By the way, my cousin, Mark Mulligan is going to be in Burlington, Iowa on September 13.  My wife and I are planning to attend his concert.  Click here for a link to his site and reserve your tickets for a fun evening, trop rock style.

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