Tuesday, February 10, 2009

This story needs an ending

I'm sure everyone has heard by now...Keith finished tied for 6th place in the High Roller and won $3,600.00. The guy who beat him advanced to the final match to bowl against the winner of the 50+ division, the 40-49 division, and the 39 & under division. He finished last. The winner was the 50+ champ, which happened last year also. I guess that's proof that you don't have to put a ton of revs and speed on the ball to beat your opponent.

Our flight on Sunday morning was at 8:20am. We got up around 6:00 for showers and packing up our stuff. When we left the hotel it was around 7:00. We kind of misjudged the time to get to the airport, drop off the rental car, and get to the check-in. We were going to be cutting it close. At 8:00 we were standing in the baggage check line. We can still make it. When we checked our bags, they couldn't guarantee that they would be on our flight because we were so late. Whatever, get me to the plane. Then I had to stop and pay a bag fee for it being over 50 pounds. Now it's 8:10am. No big deal, the airport in Vegas isn't very big, right? Well guess where our gate was...that's right, the farthest gate away from check-in. We get to the security check, and my bag gets held up. The guard checks it manually and finds my micro-Leatherman in one of the pouches. Because it has a 1" blade I cannot take it on the plane. So I tell him to throw it away, I gotta go. When we finally got to the gate we were the last ones there. Keith hands over his boarding pass, I grab my envelope that the baggage check lady gave me, and there is no boarding pass in it. The baggage lady didn't print one out for me, she just gave me the bag-fee receipt. I am destined to miss this flight. The gate person tells me to go the gate check-in desk and get one. They already had it printed out and ready for me. Cool. Now I have my laptop briefcase, my jacket, my flight envelope, and my boarding pass shuffling around from hand to hand. I head back to the gate, hand the person my boarding pa....where is my boarding pass? I just had it in my hands! I look through the envelope, nope. Briefcase? Nope. Now I am frustrated beyond belief. I looked back at the counter, and there it is, lying on the ground where I dropped it as I came around the corner. Unbelievable. We made the flight, and I was ready to go home.
By the way, our bags did not make our flight. Fortunately there was another flight 20 minutes behind ours. After some lunch at Love Field, we picked up our bags, loaded up my truck, and headed home. This was definitely an adventure that Keith and I will be able to remember for years to come. I had a great time, and even though I only won a total of $200 in brackets and side pots (and spent WAY more than that), I plan to go again next year. It was an awesome learning experience, and although my results weren't what I planned, I gained a ton of knowledge that I can use for upcoming tournaments.

Well kids, that's my High Roller adventure. Hopefully you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Now it's time to start getting ready for Nationals in mid-March. I will continue to post my thoughts and observations as I try to beat my personal best all-events score of 1957, which I shot last year. Stay tuned......

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