Pickleball The States

 May 3-8 2021 This was our fourth multi state pickleball tour. It's essential to plan ahead, make local contacts and then be flexible. I am extremely thankful for those individuals who are local contacts, many of which are pickleball ambassadors. They are the reason these trips are successful. Originally, this was going to be an eleven state tour, but the time it would take did not mesh well with other already planned events we had in May. So, we chose to do NY, VT, NH and ME at another time. Perhaps in the fall. While we did take time for other activities which included visits with family and friends, we regret that we didn't take more time for local sightseeing.  Monday May 3rd Unless absolutely necessary, I like to limit our driving to 4-5 hours at a time, no more than 6 hours a day, and no night driving. This made a stop at Cuyahoga Valley National Park a great option. We brought our bikes with us, but the morning rain put a damper on any riding. We settled for a little w...

Saturday May 8 2021 11:00am Early in the morning we played at Edgewater Pool & Tennis in Raynham MA then drove about 45 minutes to play late morning in Bristol RI. Our original plans had us playing in Narragansett RI on Sunday morning at Clarke St Pickleball Courts, but we decided to travel home earlier than planned. I was able to connect with Cliff Tiexeira and he welcomed us to play at the Bristol Town Square. They had six courts originally built for tennis. There were enough players that the courts were filled and rotation was tracked on a whiteboard. Cliff was extremely welcoming and within minutes we were on the court playing with him and Bernard, pictured above (Bernard center and Cliff right).  Our second game was with Jon and Ellen. We had the advantage since Barb and I play as a couple all the time and this may have been the first time Jon and Ellen were partners. We had a good time playing with them. Hopefully they enjoyed playing with us. Our last game was with Tom a...