Well I am going to try and do a recap of the past day or two days as we go. As you may know we are going to 7-9 stops on this Exhibition/Pool Clinic Tour with Earl Strickland and John Schmidt. Go here to see the schedule http://www.azbilliards.com/2000storya.php?storynum=7852
So as always it seems nothing goes as planned when we go on the road and my plans have already had to change.
Earl's plane was due in at 12.30 on Thursday, and I was set to pick him up in the CSI Tour Mobile. By the way the CSI Tour Mobile is a 96 Conversion Van with a bed in the back, Limo lights, captains chairs and TV, this van is also known to my kids as "You look like a Chimo van" or the Shaggin Wagin to my friends. Well I get in the van to take care of a couple of things before Earl gets to Phoenix and I head to pick him up. The Van is not getting any gas and can only move about 15 MPH. I am a total idiot when it comes to engines and so I have no idea what to do and I am leaving inthe morning and still have to pick up the Pearl. "Great this is all I F&*King need" I make a quick call to a friend who got me a great deal on the rental of a SUV and so I am set. Phew!
I go run my errands and head to the airport I'm a little early but I think I can just park outside the terminal and fake that the person I am picking up is right there if I open the trunk and act like I am busy. NO SUCH LUCK. I got the airport parking nazi on my ass in her little car. I tell ya this was not a happy or attractive woman by any stretch of the imagination. She pulled up right behind me with lights flashing so I got out to try and plead my false case. I could see her obviously through the windshield and although I can't hear her she is yelling and waving her arms around like I just did the most horrible crime you could imagine. I walked to her car door and sherolled the window down still screaming "What the hell are you doing? Don't you know you can't park here? I explained that my pick up was just about to walk out the door. "NO NO NO your party has to be actually at the Curb" I asked if I could wait a min til he got to the door since i was already there. "NO you have to circle the airport" I am a nice guy but have no patience for people who are just angry and rude. I told her "I understand you have to do your job and keep the rules but maybe you should try and think of a nicer way to say what you want to say instead of being a raving Bi*$h and you may be able to sleep better and night and keep your blood pressure down. At this point I get back in the car and realize that I am on RED for gas. Wonderful so I found the Cell phone parking lot to wait but I didn't want to keep the car running while I wait as I would be out of gas maybe, so I turned it off and stood outside the car. Its 107 in Phoenix not nice. Anyway Earls plane came in and he got his bag and called me at 1.15. So over 45mins stood there sucked.
Good news is Earl has arrived safely and on time. He gets in and I see it, his hand looks really badly burned (Bridge hand) "WTF!! What happened??? "mycar overheated and so I went to open it up and the top burst off and burned me" I ask if he is ok and if he can play, "Oh yeah, its not burned where the cue touches" Ok well we shall see.
We get to my house and get him sorted out, he is particular to spaghetti as am I. So my girl Jessica and came over and ate spagetti while Earl tryed to explain pool. Its such a shame that she does not know what end of the cue is up and later I tried to explain to her that Earl was maybe the greatest pool player ever and that it was a kinda cool to have him try to give you his explanation. She said "Really?? is he better than you??" I didn't want to ruin my rep and so I told her "Maybe just a little"
On to this morning. Earl and I were packed up and left at 8am and drove to Vegas to meet with the guys at CSI. It was great t see David V, Holly, BillS, Mark E, Glenna and the rest of the crew. Just a bunch of nice people if you don't know them already. We had our meetings and did what we had to do and actually got done early so we decided to drive a couple more hours to save us time.
We have arrived in Mesquite, NV a little casino town north of Vegas and decided to stay away from the Casinos and just go tothe Best Western. They wanted $100 a night and it was a Motel not a nice one, I asked is there any place cheaper and the lady said 'No but the Casino mayhave something" So off we go toat least try. We get to the front of the line and ask what the rates are for tonight. The guy kinda pills his face and saids "Well you are gonna have the weekend rates" then pulls his face again. At this point Earlis looking at the guy like he looked at Peach during the Mosconi Cup and the clerk says "$39.00" WHOO HOOO awesome! So here we are just relaxing for the long drive tomorrow. Earl wants to try and make it to Tacoma tomorrow but thats a 17hr drive from here so we shall see how we all feel after 12 hrs.
Well I know this has not been very exciting but it seems things always happen thats informative or funny while on the road so I will keep you posted.
If any of you out there are close to any of our stops, please come by and at least see the exhibition in the evenings as we would love to meet you. As you Know John is a AZer too and I am working on Earl
Look forward to seeing sme of you soon,
Mark,
So as always it seems nothing goes as planned when we go on the road and my plans have already had to change.
Earl's plane was due in at 12.30 on Thursday, and I was set to pick him up in the CSI Tour Mobile. By the way the CSI Tour Mobile is a 96 Conversion Van with a bed in the back, Limo lights, captains chairs and TV, this van is also known to my kids as "You look like a Chimo van" or the Shaggin Wagin to my friends. Well I get in the van to take care of a couple of things before Earl gets to Phoenix and I head to pick him up. The Van is not getting any gas and can only move about 15 MPH. I am a total idiot when it comes to engines and so I have no idea what to do and I am leaving inthe morning and still have to pick up the Pearl. "Great this is all I F&*King need" I make a quick call to a friend who got me a great deal on the rental of a SUV and so I am set. Phew!
I go run my errands and head to the airport I'm a little early but I think I can just park outside the terminal and fake that the person I am picking up is right there if I open the trunk and act like I am busy. NO SUCH LUCK. I got the airport parking nazi on my ass in her little car. I tell ya this was not a happy or attractive woman by any stretch of the imagination. She pulled up right behind me with lights flashing so I got out to try and plead my false case. I could see her obviously through the windshield and although I can't hear her she is yelling and waving her arms around like I just did the most horrible crime you could imagine. I walked to her car door and sherolled the window down still screaming "What the hell are you doing? Don't you know you can't park here? I explained that my pick up was just about to walk out the door. "NO NO NO your party has to be actually at the Curb" I asked if I could wait a min til he got to the door since i was already there. "NO you have to circle the airport" I am a nice guy but have no patience for people who are just angry and rude. I told her "I understand you have to do your job and keep the rules but maybe you should try and think of a nicer way to say what you want to say instead of being a raving Bi*$h and you may be able to sleep better and night and keep your blood pressure down. At this point I get back in the car and realize that I am on RED for gas. Wonderful so I found the Cell phone parking lot to wait but I didn't want to keep the car running while I wait as I would be out of gas maybe, so I turned it off and stood outside the car. Its 107 in Phoenix not nice. Anyway Earls plane came in and he got his bag and called me at 1.15. So over 45mins stood there sucked.
Good news is Earl has arrived safely and on time. He gets in and I see it, his hand looks really badly burned (Bridge hand) "WTF!! What happened??? "mycar overheated and so I went to open it up and the top burst off and burned me" I ask if he is ok and if he can play, "Oh yeah, its not burned where the cue touches" Ok well we shall see.
We get to my house and get him sorted out, he is particular to spaghetti as am I. So my girl Jessica and came over and ate spagetti while Earl tryed to explain pool. Its such a shame that she does not know what end of the cue is up and later I tried to explain to her that Earl was maybe the greatest pool player ever and that it was a kinda cool to have him try to give you his explanation. She said "Really?? is he better than you??" I didn't want to ruin my rep and so I told her "Maybe just a little"
On to this morning. Earl and I were packed up and left at 8am and drove to Vegas to meet with the guys at CSI. It was great t see David V, Holly, BillS, Mark E, Glenna and the rest of the crew. Just a bunch of nice people if you don't know them already. We had our meetings and did what we had to do and actually got done early so we decided to drive a couple more hours to save us time.
We have arrived in Mesquite, NV a little casino town north of Vegas and decided to stay away from the Casinos and just go tothe Best Western. They wanted $100 a night and it was a Motel not a nice one, I asked is there any place cheaper and the lady said 'No but the Casino mayhave something" So off we go toat least try. We get to the front of the line and ask what the rates are for tonight. The guy kinda pills his face and saids "Well you are gonna have the weekend rates" then pulls his face again. At this point Earlis looking at the guy like he looked at Peach during the Mosconi Cup and the clerk says "$39.00" WHOO HOOO awesome! So here we are just relaxing for the long drive tomorrow. Earl wants to try and make it to Tacoma tomorrow but thats a 17hr drive from here so we shall see how we all feel after 12 hrs.
Well I know this has not been very exciting but it seems things always happen thats informative or funny while on the road so I will keep you posted.
If any of you out there are close to any of our stops, please come by and at least see the exhibition in the evenings as we would love to meet you. As you Know John is a AZer too and I am working on Earl
Look forward to seeing sme of you soon,
Mark,
