The Trip

Hey All.  Check out Peggsters exercise opportunity below.  Now, regarding my trip, at mile 275 I was out of the wasteland of snow and driving through a brown landscape.  Can't say brown is my favorite color but white is certainly my least favorite....I HATE SNOW AND COLD!!!!!!!!!! By mile 325, the temp was above 29...WOHOOOOOO.  At mile 375 the temp was above 40....FREAKIN INCREDIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!1.  At mile 425 I saw a car with a road bike attached to it....WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Now, after driving for 9 hours, I am somewhere south of Columbia SC but not yet to Charleston.  Oh, Columbia...what fond memories.  As a youngster, I was asked to give a presentation in front of the Professional Golf Association's (PGA) business school.  I was to give a 5 hour talk about golf club design and the USGA rules of golf to the Business School I and give a 3 hour talk about golf club fitting to the Business School II the following day.  Yikes was I nervous.  I was shaking and could not stop.  This was my first real presentation in front of a group of 200+. When I checked in with Judy Bell, the education director for the PGA at the time, she stumbled backward and fell into a chair (she didn't know I was replacing a bit of a legend).  This did not help my state of mind. On the day of my first presentation, I had some time to kill so walked to the courthouse and sat in the gallery and watched them debate a seatbelt law.  The courthouse in Columbia has gold stars affixed to the facade to show where Union cannon balls had hit during the Civil War...kind of neat! Then walked back to the hotel and watched the guys giving a presentation before mine about teaching the golf swing.  After a few minutes I thought, geez, no matter how bad I am I can't be as bad as those two so went back to my room to go over my notes.  Hands still shaking badly I wondered how the heck I was going to get through this. Suddenly a calm came over me.  I have no idea why but the shaking stopped.  It was eerie.  I went downstairs to the hotel ballroom and was still calm.  The two knuckleheads who were droning about the golf swing ended and I walked up on the stage and was introduced.  An audible gasp went out when the audience was told I was replacing the normal speaker (a long story).  The lights dimmed and I started, they laughed at my dumb jokes, they laughed when I gave them the answers to the test (I had worked with SAT testing service to prepare the tests so I was the only speaker that week who knew the questions and answers), they really liked being told out of a 5 hour talk, what they had to know for the test.  At the end, they gave me a standing ovation. That's kind of a neat experience, no matter what the circumstances. Over the next few years, I gave 12-15 of these seminars each year and totaled over 200 of them.  It provided me the opportunity to travel all over the US and also the world.  I have had some great experiences.  I had a beer at the Raffles hotel in Singapore, the same bar where British officers drank prior to WWII and also where Japanese officers drank during their brief occupation...kind of neat.  Unfortunately, I hate talking about myself so that's it for now.  Maybe later I'll talk about witnessing a hole-in-one at Takasaka Country Club in Japan or petting a kangaroo in Tasmania or visiting a church built in the 1200's in Germany or having a drink at Surf's Club in Perth, Australia or visiting Roratonga in the Cook Islands or getting my ass kicked every year by Craig B and many others....