French toast for breakfast. A long facetime call from Max — who wanted to see a cactus and hear about how I touched a pokey one. We watched our shows — CBS Sunday Morning, Fareed, and then switched to the Golf Channel for the final day of the Valero tournament from San Antonio.
Without much ado, we started packing and cleaning, big time. I took the bikes apart and started loading the van. Sue was packing kitchen stuff and clothing. We vacuumed. We dusted. We leaf-blowered the putting green. We swept out the garage. We took apart my computer corner and my TV sound system. We had lunch somewhere in there.
After the end of the golf tournament I decided to head on out to Mountain Brook Golf Course for one last walk around the front nine. And I did. Gregg was back behind the counter — we said goodbye. I kept thinking about what the other pro, Alex, had said to me a couple of days ago. Turn your hips, and you’ll get more distance. So that’s what I did. And it worked! I though I was hitting the ball well, but now I was getting another 10 or 20 yards out of my drives. I was on the par 4 greens with my second shot, and on the par 5s with my third. So that’s what I’ll take away from our winter of golfing in Gold Canyon: my drives are WAY better, my long irons are getting better, my short irons continue to work well for me, and my putting is WORSE THAN EVER! That’ll be my project this summer.
I got home from the course and Sue was all ready to finish packing the van. So now I could put MY clubs in there too, and a couple of crappy $5.00 pull carts and even that cheap useless stroller we hauled down here for when Max came. And it all fits. Amazing. Okay, it looks like we’re the Beverly Hillbillies, but at least we won’t feel bad about not picking up any hitchhikers along the way.
After we’d packed the van I showered and Sue threw one last load of clothes into the laundry. I sat and watched 60 Minutes and had a couple of G&Ts and listened to the dryer clanking away.
And then it was time for supper. So at around 7:30 we headed out with our packed-to-the-roof van to the Outback Steakhouse on Power Road. It’s going to be my ‘birthday supper’. Tomorrow I’ll be turning 59! That’s pretty old for a young guy like me. And I’ll be on the road all day, trying to make it to somewhere around Colorado Springs. (So, if you want to wish me a happy birthday, why not wait until I get home and you can buy me one of those great Canadian beers that they serve on tap at Smitty’s.)
When we got home we finished up the little bit of packing left to do — and watched a bit of TV, and left some notes for the Bishops (who are arriving here Tuesday night).
It’s been a great 5 months here. We’ve really come to appreciate the house and the location. Lots of positives. And the weather and the vegetation here is about as good as it can get right now — we’ll miss that a lot.