Man! What that weather can do!!

  We heard it the first part of the week - the "storm of the century" was going to hit the intermountain west on the weekend (January 8-9). Stories like that do not bode well for participation in any tournament - and even though it was sunny and relatively warm all day, only 41 participants, mostly from Idaho Falls, turned out for the tournament.

  There were some great stories of heroic travel. Ed Hodges of Missoula, Montana, called Saturday afternoon from Butte saying Interstate 15 was closed, and he was going to wait awhile to see if the roads would open and would call if he decided not to come. Ah, the decisions - go home or brave the storm.

  Well, he didn't call, and he did show up early Sunday morning at Skyline Lanes. His wife Terry had a great story: They decided to go over Divide to Highway 93 and travel down through Salmon and Arco, Idaho. Those roads were rather adventuresome, but passable. However, once out of Arco on Highway 26/20 and on the way to Idaho Falls, they hit a roadblock right where Highway 33 comes in. 26/20 was closed and had not even been plowed. So - it was off on Highway 33 through the big bergs of Howe, Mud Lake and Terreton they went - making it to Interstate 15 south of Dubois, Idaho and onward to Idaho Falls. A 10 1/2 hour adventure. 

  Dave Leisinger of Jackson, Wyoming, had a similar tale to tell as the roads over Teton Pass and around Alpine, Wyoming were closed - but he could get through Hoback Junction and take a wide loop south to the Kemmerer, turn north and head to Idaho Falls by way of Soda Springs and Pocatello - making an otherwise two hour journey into a seven hour trek.

  The bowling however was the real adventure: There were only two out of the 41 who made the 1000 mark - Don Winter of Kearns, Utah with 1034 and Wes Mills of Idaho Falls with 1005. In the cut, a 923 was low. The lanes were challenging but the scores in the rolloff weren't too bad as Larry Wasson of Idaho Falls rolled a two-game 417 and Mills had 405. Everyone in the one-game rolloff were in the 190s or 200s with Winter rolling out a 227. 

  But by the step-ladder playoffs, everyone was pretty much worn out as fourth seed Ed Hodges beat out third seed Larry Wasson 201-199, only to be eliminated by Wes Mills 190-169. Mills went on to meet Winter in the final match and the game was close - only one pin difference in the 9th frame. Mills rolled out two strikes and seven in the 10th frame, but Winter left a single pin his first throw to lose 170-153. That's not the lowest final score, however, that record is held by Howard Christensen of Kaysville, Utah whose 151 game beat John Bertolina's (Henderson, Nevada) 136 in the 2004 tournament in Elko, Nevada. See Tournament results

We would like to welcome new members Jim McBee of Dillon, Montana, and Gloria Unger, Jeff Schow, and Ray French all of Idaho Falls, Idaho.

A special thank you to Ylona Benson and Rich Pottorff and their great staff at Skyline Lanes. 

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