The good news is I got here.
It was about a 12 hour trip with the stops I had to make to walk a little, eat a little and put allot of gas in the old van.
it took about $230 worth of gas. I don't know what kind of mileage I get but that's about as simple as it gets. The dollar amount.
Then there was the tolls in Illinois. I was getting dollared to death and then $3.60 here and $4.80 there and pretty soon I think we were creaping up on a whole $50 bill altogether.
Just when I thought i seen it all I got one big one for $15.00. WOW.
Forget about pool. We all need to build our own road. We could charge everyone a dime and become billionaires.
I sat and counted cars after that for one minute. I counted 92 cars in one minute. $15 Times 92 cars is $1380.00. .......that's $13,836.600 per hour .Doesn't take long to make a million.
For that kind of money you would think there wouldn't be a bump in the road.
When i got to Pittsburg. it was about 12:00 midnite. I couldn't even get a deal on priceline. There is something going on that they all have their prices jacked. Lucky me.
I could of stayed at a couple of dives but Pittsburg is one of those states that doesn't have it right with the smoking. In turn there is allot of smoking in motel rooms that shouldn't be and some of them still put ashtrays in the rooms.
I don't know but I think it is supposed to be all non smoking in the motel rooms. But just like the poolrooms where they finally got the smoking bans passed, the motels think they are going to lose a little money because somebody might not stay if they can't smoke.
But just like the poolrooms with out the smoke now, the motels that are absolutely non smoking are full all the time.
I was outside the Motel 6 in Cranberry, just northeast of Pittsburg, and I feel asleep. It was about 6:00AM and I was exausted. I woke up at about 10:00 just roasted. it had to be about 105* in the van.
The motel 6 was the only motel I could find under $500 for a week. They were $350 for a week but they only had rooms upstairs. I can't haul all my stuff up the steps. I went in at 11:00 to get a room and the guy said they had a full house and the maids don't start cleaning until 12:00 so come back.
So I went back to Conway to stay in the local motel there but as soon as I walked in the room my throat shut right down. The rooms were small and yellow. Nicotine stains on everything. So I headed back to Motel 6. Kind of funny. these small little ma and pa motels don't clean like the big chains. So the yellow looks like it is painted on everything. If you put a little soap on a cloth and wipe, I think you get the point. The room like this look like a little cancer factory.
Right now it's 8:00PM and I got my food bought that i will eat for the next 5 days and the room and all my things are organized.
I lost my power cable for my printer so that's another $25 to $30 to replace that. Anyway. I finally got my stuff moved in. What a relief.
This is why it is so tough for a pool player to travel to a tournament.
$240 for gas
$60 tolls
$350 room for the week.
$200 to 300 for food for the week.
$50 more gas running back and forth to the tournament
$500 entry fee. this can be more or less......
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$1400.00 invested before you hit a ball............
This is another reason there are no other teachers that have been on the road for 4 1/2 years steady( with exception healing up from the motorhome incident 4 months and right shoulder surgery 3 months)
For me right now i don't have to pay an entry fee. But when i went to Tunica I did.
If I was just playing there like i did and didn't cash I spent about $2000.
The road is really exspensive. This is a tough nut for a player to justify especially if he has a family or other commitments.
I don't know what the answer is but I just keep doing what I do. trying to help players play better and that is why I'm tagging along with Tor right now because he is doing the same thing. Trying to do something good for pool.
This is what the players need to learn. How to survive out there without stealing. Players over the years were known to knock off poker machines and these change machines. Steal from pawn shops. Plus too many issues to mention.
When a player comes up to me and says he has the dead nutz to stay on the road and it's stealing, that's just so messed up. Especially for the game and image.
Players everywhere can try to help players wherever they go. They can charge them for helping them become a better player. Not much but something. Every little bit adds up and helps. I can't believe how many players out there tell me they have never had a lesson. If you can show them some stuff that will help them you can charge for the lesson. The more you do it the better you get at it.
If everyone did this they could supplement their income tremendously. I've done this for years. it really helps jump up the competition in an area also.
I went back to Kansas City and was pleasantly surprised to see some of the players I worked with playing really well.
Same with Minneapolis and Wisconsin. Games have been stepped up. Players are playing better. Now if those players teach what I taught them the cycle just keeps on.
Right here is the whole answer to this pool thing. Everyone is getting better and teaching other players. And everyone is playing more because they are playing better.
Anyway. Got to get to bed. I got to set up 6 lessons this week just to get back to even.
Then Thursday I go to Oil City to show Perfect Aim to Tors, 14 day Reality Show Player.
I think this guy is a higher caliber player. When we get done he should and will be even higher.
But this isn't even what it's all about. It's about doing something to make pool a better place for everyone.
It's like when I had Zack with me on the road. He really saw the value of teaching and helping players Verses trying to bust them.
Zack started teaching even more now than ever. There you go. the ball is rolling. Now we got Zack teaching and helping players wherever he goes.
it's such a great concept and it's right in front of our eyes. We just need more players to see it and apply it.
I'm tired and I could keep rambling on for ever but you have to admit there is some merit to what I said here.
Next time your at the poolhall try to help that guy that you keep trying to beat. Pretty soon your best friends and then he's helping someone else. Then you help someone else. And then these players help someone else.
Pretty soon you got enough players playing to even have a pretty good tournament right in your home bar or poolhall. This is what will build it.
Pretty soon right in your own town you have a little army of pool players and it all started with you and the guy you were trying to beat out of the money.
That's why these teachers around the country teach. They love the game and are trying to make it better. They're not getting rich, believe me.
But if we all did this on the local level and kept doing it and doing it.
The results could be .............................................................................infinite.
You have the passion for the game. Now you just need to share the passion here and there.
, have a lit smoke over the table while shooting :angry:, try sitting on the tables :slap:, or just do something out of line with regards to the equipment :bash:, and before I even get over there to kindly ask them to not do whatever it is their doing, one of my regular players is already there doing it for me :thumbup2: . Just seeing that makes it worth while for me :canoodle: