Friday....UPDATED

This is coming to you from the Incline Starbucks.  At 0800 local, the line is literally out the door.  I keep saying, "If you can't make it as the operator of the Incline Starbuck's, you need to get out of commerce as a career path."

We say "good-bye" today to 1 and her family.  I'll add a photo here later.  They head over to Sacramento to spend the evening in anticipation of a Saturday morning return to Harvest Path.   1.01 and 1.02 may take weeks to figure out what "normal" is for daily living schedules at home.  Then again, 1.02 hasn't been that good with "normal" even before this vacation.

2 and I played 12 and a half holes on the Mountain Course here yesterday afternoon.  I thought that getting a few holes in would be a good re-introduction to golf before my focused efforts to reduce my handicap at Geneva beginning next week.  While it was fun to get out, our play was something less than stellar.  The course is branded as an "executive" layout, which is resort-speak for it being essentially a Par-3 track.  For a golfing purist who wants to use all the big sticks in his/her bag, this ain't the place.

Although you don't use much of your woods/metals on this course, it is far from a putt-putt challenge.  With all the change in elevation coming from it's location on a mountain-side, and the presence of "carry" (lack of an immediate fareway) off of most of the tees, lost balls were common.  My thought was that it was the equivalent of a pretty hard course hit by a shrink-ray.

The regional celebration "Hot August Nights" formally kicks off tonight down in Stateline on the South Shore.  While most of the festivities for this event are down in Reno over the next week, I think that the tourist organizers down in Stateline figured that a weekend of classic car shows would be a crowd pleaser.  Sorry that we'll miss the show this year.  I kinda like sitting in the audience at the  auction down at the civic center in Reno and watch Margret-comparables go through the sale.

And the second-tier PGA event, the Reno-Tahoe Open, is taking place this weekend at a course on the lower slopes of Mt. Rose.  Most of the big names are at the event over in Akron, Ohio, but you had to be high up in the world rankings to qualify for that tournament.  Reno-Tahoe is not unlike the John Deere Classic back home, where you have a decent field, and the community gets behind it, but it definitely is worth only a side-bar in USA Today.

All for now.  More later.


NOW LATER:.... Excellent send-off dinner with Phil and Jan.  With all the family activities and various things going on, I really didn't have much time with Phil on this trip.  Another time.

Packing and going through a house after two weeks of residence is always a laborious process.  When you consider that an overnight trip to C-town ends up with a trashed-out car, the loose-ends in this house should come as no surprise.  Having staggered departures beginning Monday (Sunday for 3!) has made things a little easier.  (Not that we wanted 4 to have to go back that early!)  Glad I'm not picking up after 1.01 and 1.02 everyday.  That's what Mom's and Dad's are tasked with, eh Kiddo?

The program for tomorrow has us departing Incline at 0830 local.  Scheduled departure from RNO is 1030, and ultimate arrival in MLI at 2030 tomorrow night.  That's a long day in our future.  I'll probably do Twitter updates, but not sure if I'll be back here until Sunday.

Thanks for reading.  Enjoy the weekend.


BCOT