Frozen out

Sunday 21st

The weather prediction for today has been getting worse all week. Early on, they predicted sunny but cold - 64 deg. The temperature gradually decreased all week and in today's prediction it is supposed to be 56. Winds were also predicted to be 25mph or more in the afternoon. It looked quite pleasant after breakfast but I called Lee and he said he wasn't playing but that some of them would still go out. He also said the wind chill factor would make it seem much colder than it was, so I decided to give it a miss as well.

Next weekend is back to 70 plus, so assuming that doesn't change, I'll get 2 more games in before I leave. At nearly $90 per game, I really want to enjoy it when I do play.  A big storm swept through the US from the East yesterday with snow in a lot of the states north of Texas, so just being cold and windy isn't so bad.

I decide to drive up to Conroe, the next town North on the I-45. It didn't take long to get there but I had set the hotel as "home" on the GPS and then click on Go home so as soon as I was under way it started nagging me about how to get back to the hotel. IN the end I had to reset the target address to Conroe and just picked a street at random. This turned out to be in the middle of nowhere. In fact Conroe in general is pretty non-descript with most of the shops lining the I-45.

I had lunch at a Chinese buffet which was quite tasty and fairly cheap and then decided to head to Lake Conroe. This was about 10 miles away and Tony had mentioned having a picnic there last weekend. Agin in order to program the GPS I had to select a destination and picked Walden on Lake Conroe, which turned out to be a golf course. On the way I stopped at a marina and took a few shots. However the lake was very choppy, the wind was blowing a gale and it was overcast so not very picturesque.

I drove on the the golf course and pulled in at the pro shop but didn't even try to get a game becuase the wind was really ripping along. However I got a card and the guy there talked about "the point" and showed me a pic. I decide to have a look myself. There are 3 really nasty holes there, even on a good day. A par 5 with a narrow fairway between 2 lakes curls around to the green, followed by a par over water to a green right at the edge of the lake, then back over the water. At the time the wind was blowing at right angles across the par 3 so it would have been very difficult not to finish in the lake.

As it turns out the father of one of the guys in the office is a member, and I might be able to get a game if I want.

I headed back stopping at a resort course on the way (Tragic isn't it) and the guy at the pro shop there said there were only 6 people on the course.

I picked up some nibbles and drink at the Walmart on the main road back to Conroe and then headed home. There was a major traffic jam, with (I think) fire engines blocking the road but I did a U-turn before I got close enough to see. I then headed away till the next major intersection and followed a farm road back to town. I nearly got cleaned up when I stopped at a red light and the women some 100m or so behind me decided she was going to run it (or maybe she just wasn't paying attention). She finished up in the turn left lane with her car further ahead then mine. I also saw one of those huge utes they have here with the double back wheels.

Once I got back to the I-45 it was a quick run back to the hotel.

I was able to call my client in Perth and discuss the mods, coming up with a simpler plan.