Pickleball The States

 June 19-29 2020 This was our second pickleball tour which was the result of a canceled trip to France due to Covid-19 limitations on international travel. As planned, it was to be 7 states but ended up being 6 necessitated by a change in plans and an early return home due to Barb's mom's health. This trip combined visits with friends, stops at national parks, and connecting with our daughter and her family on the way to and during our visit to Yellowstone National Park. The worst part of the trip was the long hours spent in the car, but we haven't figured out teleportation yet so options of getting from place to place was dependent upon this form of transportation. Interstate traffic out west is much different than what we are used to. There were miles and miles of travel at high rates of speed during which we saw very little traffic. We were thankful for the fact that we also were able to visit National Parks, National Monuments, well known cities, and historic areas. Our

  June 29 2020 It was the morning we played in Rexburg ID, our furthest point west, that we received a disturbing call from Barb's mom. She had fallen the previous night and was feeling like she was near the end and was making her end of life phone calls. This was going to drastically change our plans for the remainder of the trip. We decided that we were going to head home but still attempt to play our remaining two states Nebraska and Iowa. Our schedule is dependent upon us being in a specific location on a specific day since pickleball in many places is not an every day occurrence. It also meant that we would be driving through the Grand Teton National Park rather than spending time there. I recall the night before our drive through NE attempting to locate a place to play close to our route and at a time we would be there. Unfortunately, the weather was abnormally hot and when we arrived at the outdoor courts, they were devoid of any players. Nebraska would need to wait for anot

  June 27 2020 After playing in Billings MT, we met up with our daughter and family in Yellowstone National Park for a few days of enjoying God's creation. Our next stop was to be Driggs ID where we would play outside at the elementary school on a basketball court with lines for pickleball. We had just checked into a room north of Driggs when I remembered that we were to confirm with my contact about play. When I contacted her, she asked if we had been in ID for 14 days. They were requiring anyone playing to have first been quarantined for two weeks before playing. I was hoping that maybe we could get around it by observing some other precautions like only playing with someone from our own household, only touching the ball for our team and each team serving with their own ball, no touching paddles at the net at the end of the game. Their group of seniors were adamant about their quarantine requirement. What do we do now? My contact put me in touch with another individual with court

 June 24 2020 Playing in the morning at MSU Billings with the Rimrock in the background was beautiful. While we had no qualms about the scenery, there must have been a better place for pickleball play on a Wednesday morning. When we arrived at the courts, we were disappointed. The pickleball courts were on tennis courts sharing the tennis net. This means the center of the net was 2 inches higher than the center of a pickleball net. It also means the nets were 10 feet wider on each side eliminating any chance for an around the post shot. Yes, we have both had around the post shots. There was no barrier between courts, so retrieving an errant shot could take some time. Even retrieving the ball behind the baseline was tiresome. There were some players there on one of the end courts, but it quickly became apparent they did not want to play with any other players. At the opposite end of the courts roots from nearby trees were affecting the surface of the court. I would have to say that thes

  June 23 2020 The drive from Rapid City SD to Buffalo WY was 3 hours, and we weren't playing until the following morning, so it was a leisurely transitional day. Sturgis SD where the bikers convene each year was on our route, so we stopped at Red's Grill & Pub for some lunch and also just to say we'd been to Sturgis. After lunch we determined that Devil's Tower was a short detour off our route and it would allow us to visit and get another stamp in our National Parks Passport book. This was definitely a highlight of the day. Once settled in Buffalo, we decided to drive out to TA Ranch House for dinner. For us, it was out in the middle of nowhere and our GPS was only partially helpful. For locals, it was just down the road from Buffalo. Our contact Amy in Buffalo recommended this place and while it wasn't fantastic, we enjoyed our meal. After our play the next morning, we stopped at the  Occidental Hotel  which transports you back in time to the days of Butch Ca

  June 22 2020 It had been three days since we last played. Meanwhile we had driven across SD with a stop at the Laura Ingalls Wilder Homestead in De Smet SD where we met up with our daughter and family. They spent the night in a Covered Wagon while Barb and I opted for a motel. The following day took us to Badlands National Park. Another retirement goal is to visit National Parks. We have our National Park Passport Book for obtaining park date stamps and our senior park pass. On the way out of the park we were sure to visit Wall Drug, a place Barb remembered from a trip with her family when she was a young girl. A stop at Mount Rushmore was essential before continuing on to Rapid City SD to get in a restful night before play the next morning. The outdoor dedicated courts were excellent with fencing between each court and balls were provided. Our experience was well worth the $5 cost to play. As you can see, the weather was in our favor that day. Overall the players were friendly and p

 June 19 2020 This was the summer we were to go to France with our daughter Emily and her family. Covid-19 put a stop to that. So when our other daughter Andrea invited us to go to Yellowstone National Park with them, we felt that would be an excellent replacement, and with all the states we would drive through, we could add 7 more states to our Pickleball the States endeavor. Instead of traveling with our daughter and her family, we decided to meet them at various points along the way. That provided them with family time and us with flexibility to fit pickleball into our trip. The first stop was Rochester MN where we stayed with college friends Karl and Martha and met up with a couple that evening at Cook Park to play pickleball. In our conversations with our contact, we learned there were Covid restrictions in place. Partners had to be from the same household; each team used their own ball for serving; the other team was not to touch that ball; and the tapping of paddles at the end o