After working all day uploading Items to our new retail Store ,I decided to meet up with a couple I had met at the park a few weeks ago around 6:00
Greg and Trudy were in town from Oslo, Norway visiting his parents and wanted to get a few Gateway discs, a Bag and to play a disc golf course.
We took the 30 minute ride from Endicott to Woodland Park in Collinsville, IL..
This is a great park with every shot as picturesque as the last. There's a creek a lake, some woods, some hills, it was a really fun time,
Greg who was born in the states and moved to Europe at age 11 is a masters age player who has played many courses and has won a few European championships in his day had this to say about the course. " Wow,,, this has to be in my top 5 courses of all time!, I really like the terrain and the variety of shots".
The proximity of the baskets to the water seemed to spark his interest and from what I can tell, he really liked the challenge.
Early in the round both of our discs wound up in a dingle berry patch, but we both came out smiling and saved par :)
Trudy, who is new to the disc golf scene, seemed to be in need of a lesson.
Giving lessons to new players is up their on my list of things I like to do in my spare time. She was quite responsive to the instructions and before long was throwing about twice as far as she was on the first few holes and getting pretty accurate on the lay- ups. Her putting from 20 and in was solid, she said it was her best time ever playing disc golf, which made me feel pretty good.
On the ride out and back we discussed a lot of different topics including political parties, gas prices and what others in Norway and the rest of Europe feel about America:
What I learned was gas is $16 a gallon ( needless to say theres not much joy riding or cruising for chicks).
There are 4 main political parties that get to vote and a dozen others that can have there voices heard in certain situations.
contrary to what the media might want us to believe, It seems Europeans still LOVE America, even if it's just to visit!
He says disc golf in Norway ( and most of Europe) is really only Played as a serious sport and there are not many who will head to the course with a 12 pack and just one disc.
So we stopped by the shop on the way back where they were in disc golf heaven checking out the tye dyed shirts and discs and cool pictures everywhere. The grand finally at the shop was when we turned off the lights to check out all the glow discs in the shop!! seeing about 1000 discs and glow stickers all over the shop when the lights went off had them oowing and aaahing like kids at a fireworks display.
It was getting a little late for most over 40, but I asked them anyway about getting some food and maybe a drink.
After a quick call to his parents, we were on our way to a cool little restaurant in Soulard called Joannies pizzeria, for some ST Louis style THIN crust and Provel cheese. They complimented the appetizers of Toasted ravioli and Stuffed mushrooms, but Gres was not to thrilled with our local micro brews, ( even though they still seemed to go down pretty fast :)). The Barbecue pizza with cilantro, red onions, black beans and chicken had their taste buds in a different place then they have ever been before.
Down the street a Grateful dead cover band called the shwag was playing to a packed house of 300 dancing hippies with another 100 outside that were just dancing in the streets like it was Haight Asbury in the 60's.
The bad rocked a Zeppelin song and a Jimmy Hendricks song between 30 minute jam sessions of a wide array of dead covers.
Ive seen the Shwag quite a few times as the lead guitarist from the Naked Groove Tim Moody (the band featured on our upcoming Ozark Mountain DVD used to play with them for the last 3 years).
The new lead guitar player wasn't too bad but IMHO he's not Tim!
We all had a really good time good time and when it was over and I was dropping them back at their car, Greg said " thanks for the groovy Tuesday" Trudy Gave me a big hug and said thanks for a wonderful time.
My Thanks go out To Greg and Judy for getting me out on the town with my newly made friends, courtesy of the disc golf world! The pleasure was all mine!
Despite the many hurdles Gateway has had to jump through to get where we are today, Its this part of the disc golf community that I enjoy the most and what keeps me going, week in, week out!
