On the Road 8 x 30; 24 x 7

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06-23-2005 Golf at Hampshire Country Club, Dowagiac, MI

Thursday, June 23, I must be getting used to the time change because I was up at 7:00 a.m. today. I read for a while and then sat outside. It is a beautiful 59-degree, sunny morning. After breakfast Bob and I suited up for golf. We went south on CR 668 to Hampshire Country Club on Pokagon Hwy in Dowagiac. Yes, the same Dowagiac as the fishing lures. We're hoping to tour the museum while we're here, as well as learn how to pronounce the dang name. All these years of fishing with their lures and neither one of us knows how to say it. We heard Dave, our Tuesday golfing partner, say it when he told us to play to the golf course down here. But in a senior moment I promptly forgot it. As my friend, Glenda, would say "I've slept since then!"

The course is in great shape and is quite challenging. Bob played the White Tees at 6,626 yds. with a slope of 123 and I played the Red Tees at 5,588 yds. and a slope of 119. This place was playing really long. It was quite hilly with very old trees. We saw hundreds of pines chopped off at the trunk. It looked like the pine beetles or something came through and got them all. What a shame. Fortunately the place has hundreds of hardwood trees as well. It was very well kept with nice greens. But they were fast and we both had more than our share of 3-putts. My tees had five par-five holes which makes me cranky right off! I think the temperature was in the mid-90's but it didn't seem nearly as hot as Tuesday was with that high humidity. There was a nice breeze and almost every tee box had a bench in the shade.

We were done by 4:00 and decided to head back home, clean up and then go to La Cantina for another nice dinner. Bob had to have the Chicken Marsalis again. This time I tried the Mostaccioli Pinnilade. We've been out of Power Bars for the golf course so we were both famished. That was a good enough excuse to order the Artichoke Dip appetizer. Talk about ricotta and mascarpone cheese coming out of our ears! That thing was rich.

Back home we sat outside and read the South Bend paper we got at the gas station in Dowagiac. Gas was $2.17, the cheapest we've seen it in this area. We're kicking back and watching CSI.

It's 9:05 p.m. and 77.2 degrees.