What a great life!

7:05 am - Thursday - May 16th - LPG&RVR - 48° F, humidity 46%, wind 1 mph out of trhe south by southeast.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 82° F! It's going to be a ONE day heatwave, however, with temps dropping back into the low 70's, and then into the 60's through the end of the month.  On this date in 2014 I bought my first set of golf clubs since I sold my other ones back in 1988.....they were a matched set I found at the Goodwill in Carson City, NV.....

....it was just the beginning of my efforts to get back into golf after not playing much for a few decades.  I played golf a lot when I was in my 20' and 30's, but then my kids got into youth soccer and there went my weekends.  I sold my beloved golf clubs in the summer of 1988, and had rarely played since then.  These clubs were not very good, nor was I.  I'm on my 4th set of clubs since then, and really like my current set.

Speaking of golf, I was determined to play at least 9 holes for the first time since we returned to LPG&RVR on April 10th, but I get ahead of myself...as usual.  TLE and I slept in Wednesday, the first of our 4 day weekend.  We were out walking our 2 mile out and back walk by 9 am.  The temperature, and weather were spectacular.......

.....we managed 3.3 mph for the two miles.  Every time we take that walk it is like the first time.  The long, beautiful, tranquil, pastoral views just overwhelm the senses.  It is always a great way to begin the day.

Upon our return we changed clothes and headed out to the 'lido deck' to create 3 flower beds.  TLE loves flowers, and wanted to plant some wild flowers this year, so we bought some seeds a few weeks ago for just that purpose.  Once we had the ground cleared we headed over to the Clubhouse to pickup one of the small trailers, then headed up the hill to the gigantic lava rock pile, which has been created over the years as land has been cleared for permanent sites.  We need a few dozen lava rocks to ring the flower beds....

....on Thursday TLE plans to plant the seeds, and we'll see what we get.

Around 2 pm, after a nap, and a snack, we headed back to the Clubhouse to pickup my clubs, and by 2:15 pm we I was teeing off on the 10th hole.....we love the back 9, and if I'm going to play only 9 holes I play the back 9.  When I teed off there was a very slow foursome in front of us, and within minutes I could see we had people behind us, so instead of heading to the 11th hole we crossed over to the fairway for the 2nd hole, and played that hole instead....there was NO ONE on the front 9.  I played the 2nd, 3rd and 4th holes to get ahead of the slower groups in front of us, and then switched over to the 15th hole to finish on the back 9.  As was expected, the first hole (10th) was not very good, but by the time we moved over to fairway #2 I was beginning to get the ball in the air off the tee, and even hit a good fairway wood to the right side of the 2nd green.  I hit a 6 iron on the par 3 third hole, and was just off the green on the right side.  I chipped onto the green, but three putted for a 5. I hit a long, straight drive on the 4th hole, and was over the creek in two, and just off the green to the left side in three, but I ended up with a 7.  By the time I got to the elevated, par 3, 16th tee box I was feeling good about my game.  I hit a 7 iron to the green...first time I've hit the 16th in regulation in a long time....

My favorite hole on the golf course

.....the 17th hole was a mixed bag for me, but then came 18....I hit a long, straight drive to within 30 yards of the table top green, then a beautiful pitching wedge to within 10 feet of the hole....finally got my par!

My main reason for not playing my first 9 holes until over a month after we arrived here has been my lower back.  You may recall I fell on my back the day before we departed GNHS, and it has been a long road to recovery, but I'm finally where I can play golf again.  My back was stiff after the 9 holes, but within a couple of hours of getting back to the Newell I was feeling good again, so it's just a matter of putting in the time, and getting my back used to swinging a golf club again.....life is good.

TLE had me grill a New York Steak for our dinner, so I lit the Sea-B-Que around 5 pm, and by 5:30 we were eating a perfect medium rare steak....TLE added sides of mashed, garlic potatoes, and salad.  Wednesday was the perfect encapsulation of why we love this nomadic life, and being able to live in such a rural, beautiful place 6 months each year....what a great life!

Thanks for stopping by!