2007-06 Family Golf Outing

On Saturday, we went to the local par 3 course with Kara and Hailey and a couple of their friends along with our neighbors, Mike and Nancy. This is a nice course for beginners to learn on as almost everyone there has kids in their foursome, so there is not a lot of pressure for speed of play. The course is short, but there are some sand traps and water on it which provides some challenge for everyone.

The greens are not cut very close, so the ball does not roll real easily, which is good because if you can get on the green, it will usually stay. Kara was able to take advantage of this on the second hole when she had it roll up on the green from her drive and then 2 putted for par! Both LeAnn and Mike had a birdie during the round.

We had wanted to get the kids back out golfing again, but hadn't had much success, so we were glad we were able to get a couple groups together. We are hoping to get a few more rounds in with the kids during the rest of the summer so they can feel comfortable golfing in the future.

2007-06 The Bloomin' Idiots Ride the MS150

Over the weekend of June 8th and 9th, Ray, LeAnn and Mariah joined over 3000 other bicycle riders participating in the MS150 bike ride from Duluth to Blaine, MN. This 150 mile ride is a charity ride to benefit the Minnesota Multiple Sclerosis Society.

Our team this year consisted of 7 riders. Besides us, we had LeAnn's brother-in-law John, niece Heather, and two friends Russ and Sonja. Ray started riding for MS back in 1996 and others have joined along the way. The team this year has completed 45 rides between them. This represents 6750 miles, or about the distance from Minneapolis to Shanghai, China.

We placed our bikes on a truck in Blaine and boarded buses for the ride to Duluth. We camped overnight at the Proctor high school, and went down to Canal Park in Duluth for dinner. It was a very nice evening on the shores of Lake Superior, being much warmer than it normally has been. It was breezy though, foreshadowing what was to come on Saturday.

We awoke early on Saturday morning to get in line at 6:00 for breakfast. The line stretched around 3 sides of the gymnasium and took about 45 to get to the cafeteria. We were served pancakes made by the dozens on a special grill with an automated dispensing system for the batter. Heather was lucky enough to be singled out to catch her pancakes rather than being handed a plate with them already on.

We got on the road about 7:30 and were in the middle of the pack. This meant long lines at the rest stops, which are stationed about every 12 miles. They are manned by volunteers and are well stocked with fruit, peanut butter sandwiches, cereal bars, water and Gatorade. The wind also started to kick up and slowed us down. We made it to lunch about 12:20, and finally to Hinckley (the halfway point and the end of day 1) at about 4:30. We parked our bikes in the bike coral and headed off for a cold beer. John's wife Sue came up and met us in Hinckley for the evening festivities. After cleaning up, we ate dinner at one of the casino restaurants and then headed back to the hotel for the night.

We got up early again on Sunday skipped the pancake breakfast and instead opted for the quick continental breakfast at the hotel. This allowed us to hit the road at 6:30. The wind was very calm for the first 4 hours and we made very good time to our lunch stop in North Branch, making the 37 miles by 10:00. A few slices of pizza, some chips and fruit, and we were ready to hit the road for the last half of day 2. We kept up a good pace the rest of the way, and brought the whole group through the finish line around 2:30. Sue had been working her way to Blaine, meeting us for lunch and at the afternoon rest stops before catching up with us at the end. Heather's husband Jason and son Reed also came to the finish line to celebrate with us. We had some sore bottoms, tired muscles and bodies, one busted spoke, and a close call to a collision, but we still were talking about making plans for next year.

After completing the ride, everyone feels a sense of accomplishment, not only for themselves, but also for those they are riding for and who will benefit from the $2 million raised for the MS Society here in Minnesota. You can check out the MS Society web site and still make a pledge for any of the Bloomin' Idiots at Bloomin' Idiots Team Page