In Trouble

This last Thursday I was able to go to nationals in Reno. It isn't anything special, anyone can attend that wants to pay. We usually go every year, unless it is too far. Reno is pretty far, but just at the distance that taking a plane is not worth the hassle. Driving was cheaper even with gas prices being so high. I drove the whole way there on Thursday morning, we left at 3:00am. I had 4 hours of sleep previous to tackling this drive, but it wasn't an issue at all. We didn't even stop except the one time for gas. I have to drive while in a car or I get car sick. I can be a passenger in a car, but in order to not get car sick I have to sleep. I felt bad for making Greg and Mike get up so early to leave, but I love to drive and night so I took the first and only shift on the way down.
I figured Reno would be a little warmer than here but it really wasn't. They didn't have snow except in the mountains, but either than that it was pretty much the same temperature as here. They might have been a little warmer here and there, but it was pretty cold. We did a bit of golfing which was real nice because it has been since early November since I had last swung a golf club. I took a short nap that first day and Greg Furrows and myself decided to try to get nine holes in before it got dark. We were able to finish the ninth hole just before darkness fell upon us. I golfed horrible, it wasn't funny how bad I did. It was a good thing that we didn't golf 18 holes because I would have certainly scored over 100. We golfed the next day before we had our team event for bowling. It was colder than the night before, but we still went anyway. This time Henry golfed with Greg and myself. I golfed a ton better than the day before which was nice. I thought I would do better, but I did have two holes that I birdied back to back. I beat Henry by 6 strokes and Greg by 17.
It was finally time to bowl and I wasn't thrilled with that, because I have sucked all year. I am thinking of not bowling a league next year at all. I was throwing the ball half decently, but I could not for the life of me pick a spare. During team event I had 14 strikes in three games and only 4 spares. I didn't even get a spare until the 5th frame of the last game. The next day we have three games each for doubles and then singles. Those games were worse, I was able to get a couple more spares but it was all for nothing because I couldn't strike as often. I have no clue why my mediocre bowling talent left me some 8 or 9 years ago, but it really doesn't bother me anymore. It isn't fun to bowl anymore. Last night during league I averaged over a 217 for three games, but felt that I bowled better in Reno? I didn't have any confidence and wasn't throwing the ball all that good, so why I scored well last night I have no clue?
Doubles and singles for our group was at 5:30 on Saturday afternoon. We had originally planned on staying that night and leaving the next morning sometime. I talked it over with Greg and felt that leaving after bowling wasn't going to be that difficult as long as I slept well Friday night. Friday night I actually slept great and wasn't concerned with driving all night after bowling. We checked out of the hotel and also talked Mikey J into joining us on that ride home. He said that he wasn't going to get into any brackets which would be way nice because it takes like an hour after bowling is over for bracket money to be ready at a different location. So, I wasn't happy at all when I saw him in line at the bracket counter. So, if everything went right we would have left Reno at 9:30 even with Mike's bracket delay. He put in $100 and only made $20 back, he bowled good enough to probably make at least his money back, but he must have had some bad draws or something? Anyway, we were set back an hour, I was pissed. We arrived at the bowling alley a few hours early because we had nothing better to do. We learned that our start time for our squad had been pushed back as well. We started at least a half hour late, probably closer to 45 minutes. Thus we didn't depart Reno until probably close to 11:00. If the squad was on time and Mikey didn't get in brackets like he said, we would have been on the road by 9:00 at the latest. We finally hit the road and I was happy as could be. I felt great, rested and alert.
Driving to Reno on 4 hours of sleep didn't get to me at all. I figured I would have been a bit tired toward the end, but that wall never hit me. Driving back was pretty much the same, I was doing great for the first 7 of the 9 hours needed for the drive. I have no clue what happened but the wall hit me and I was tired. My mom is going to kill me after she reads this. It was actually pretty weird, my mind was fine, I was singing along with songs that were playing from my IPod. I wasn't missing a word and I made sure to steer clear of the slow songs. I understood that I needed to stay awake and simply drive, but my motor skills weren't allowing me to do that. I was fading fast. I was letting the car freeze trying to force myself to stay awake. I was pinching myself, blinking, singing and moving all over the place in the driver's seat to try and stay alert. Again, it was weird because I didn't feel tired, I was still alert it was just my motor functions that weren't working. I wasn't swerving all over the road or anything like that, but I knew something wasn't right. I stopped at a rest stop to relieve myself and I informed both Mike and Greg that I was pretty dang tired. I mentioned it while we were all out of the car in hopes that one of them (especially Greg since he slept most of the way back) would offer to drive the rest of the way. Walking back to the car I was hoping that one of them would take the keys or be waiting by the driver's side door to hop in and drive the rest of the way. This didn't happen and I knew that I had to tough it out on my own. Obviously we made it back safe and sound since I am writing this here blog, but it wasn't fun let me tell you. The last 100 miles was me fighting my brain/body to stay alive. I don't think I would have fallen asleep at the wheel because it wasn't that kind of a fatigue, but it was obvious my body/mind needed rest of some kind.
So, the trip to Reno wasn't that fun. I didn't gamble a penny which is good. I have horrible luck anyway as I complain about all of the time. I was lucky enough to make it home safe and sound so that is all I need to be grateful for.