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.
SO!! Who's Winning the Pots?
