Blogging from the road is harder than I thought...

My first real chance to update this blog comes over 20 days into the adventure. I am writing from the Bibliotek in Råå, Sweden on a sunny day, the first sunny day we can remember in over a week. Internet access is not as readily available as I had hoped while careening through Europe on a biking/camping trip.

The trip started on June 10 when we landed at Malpensa airport near Milan, Italy. We drove from Milan to Genoa, Italy to start the trip officially. Four scientists on bicycles, plus my linguist daughter Molly, my one year old grandson August and I packed neatly into the Eurocar VW Passat station wagon. We said goodbye to the warm Gulf of Genoa and headed north toward Gotenburg, Sweden.

Over the past 21 days, we have alternately camped out in tents on the side of the road (10 times), enjoyed paid camping sites (7 times) and REALLY enjoyed the 3 or 4 nights at various quality of hotels. 

My focus has been to stop at tennis clubs along the way. Two great little clubs in Italy, three in Switzerland, five in Germany, zero in France (don't ask) and a few scheduled now in Sweden.

Without a doubt, my favorite tennis club experience was just outside of Lucerne, Switzerland. We were welcomed by the club president (who spoke zero English) and Jacque, who has been at this club for over 25 years running the food operation and generally keeping order.

With very good English, he showed me around the club, then invited my daughter, grandson and I to have lunch at the club. He would not take no for an answer. We gladly accepted. He brought over a liter of ice cold apple juice and a beer. He personally cooked up some pasta and sauce, plus fresh vegetables.

During and after lunch he spoke with me about the club, its operation and members. The really important thing is that he made us feel not only at home, but really glad we were at that club. I gave him my card and invited him to visit on his next trip to the U.S. I would be very pleased if he showed up at my door for a visit!

I have photos and notes from the visit with Jacque and all the other clubs. I will post them here as internet, weather and travel demands allow.

European Tennis Club Programming

Another line of inquiry I will be following on this trip will be about tennis programming at tennis clubs along the way. What is offered for members? What works for them? Who directs the programming...staff or members? 

Tennis programming at clubs in the U.S. typically includes league play, instructional programs, camps, social mixers, non-tennis socials, member-directed free play, sometimes fitness, swim, spa and other racquet sports, sanctioned and club tournaments, special events and several other categories.  Is the same true in Europe? 

Let's see what we can find out...

The worldwide "tennis community?"

You have to know me only a little bit to know that I am really a closeted introvert, even though I have lived much of my public life as a professional extrovert. Credit that to a life as a USPTA tennis teaching professional, active USTA volunteer and tennis club manager. My four amazing children, my infatigable wife and a host of mentors and friends also figure into that mix. I have tried to carry the lessons, disciplines and joys learned as a tennis professional to other parts of my life. Conversely, I have tried to bring the joys of my personal life and faith into my professional career. 

Even though this statement is likely an invitation for psychiatric examination, I tend to trust a newly met person who identifies himself as a tennis player. That person becomes a friend quickly. I tend to be "aggressively friendly" with that guy sitting next to me on the airplane who is wearing a Wilson logoed shirt or the young lady in front of me in the grocery store checkout wearing the red clay stained Nikes. That person becomes part of my community, the tennis community. Equally important, I somehow become some small part of their community.

Is this a universal trait among tennis players? Do we recognize and trust each other quickly? 

Are we mystically connected as tennis players, even though we may have barriers and chasms of language, culture, race, age, religion, politics and interests? Or, is this just another of my lifelong optimistic illusions? 

Those are the central questions I will explore on my slow-paced tennis jaunt through Europe this summer. With hat and racquet in hand, I will knock on the doors of tennis clubs in Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Denmark and Sweden asking for their guidance in getting to know their areas, but really trying to determine if we share the DNA of a worldwide tennis community. 

What are your experiences with the "tennis community?" Does it really exist? Do you tend to trust tennis players more than, heaven forbid, golfers? If you aren't a tennis player, do you recognize similar traits among those in your field or area of interest? Do meeting planners, history teachers, cyclists, runners, marriage and family therapists, physicians, linguists, preachers, bloggers, web designers, postal clerks, contractors and research scientists consider themselves part of a special community that binds them together? 

I would love to get your input prior to the June 9 start of my trip. 

Traveling linguist

Here is Molly Rowan, traveling linguist.

Scientists and one cute baby

Here are the scientists :
TOP: Rob, Haley and August Nelson
RIGHT: Louise Fornander
BOTTOM: Jonas Stenstrom

Why this crazy trip?

Every Good Blog Needs TWO Theme Songs: CLICK #1

Every Good Blog Needs TWO Theme Songs: CLICK #2

As a last minute tag-along, I am accompanying my daughter Haley and her hubby Rob, their one year old son August, my daughter Molly, plus Jonas and Louise (Swedish friends/ associates of Rob & Haley) on a well-planned cycle-and-camp-out-across-Europe trip from June 9 to July 2.

This European jaunt is a warm-up for a similar but wildly expanded trip planned to start within a year or two in northern Alaska and end at the southern-most point in Argentina. So this European trip should be easy, all things considered.

Easy for me, especially, since my primary jobs will be assisting with the driving of the VW Passat station wagon, helping my daughter Molly with the logistics of selecting and setting up camp sites, entertaining and being entertained by August, and, along the way, conducting a few noble tennis experiments. I will be sharpening a few pencils to write magazine and online quality content for tennis and travel publications.

Imagine four young and ultra-healthy cyclists (Rob, Haley, Jonas and Louise) as they start their cycle adventure from Genoa, Italy. They wind through a part of Switzerland, then follow the Rhine through Germany, all the way to Gothenburg, Sweden. Now imagine me serenely riding in the comfortable VW Passat, enjoying the scenery and the company of Molly and my grandson August. Molly, August and I will have racquets in hand, ready to hit some clay court tennis balls at tennis clubs along the way.

Rob, Haley, Jonas and Louise are all scientists. Rob, Haley and Jonas are partners and producers in Untamed Science, a company that produces science videos throughout the world. Louise is a Ph.D. candidate and smart as a whip. My daughter Molly is a degreed linguist actually working in her field in Minneapolis! I, alas, am a tennis club consultant, "seasoned" tennis professional, club manager and frustrated, unpublished novelist.

As the scientists bike across Europe, they will be creating content for their varied film and online productions. As I cross Europe in the comfort of the VW Passat, I will stop at every tennis club I can find and test the "small world" hypothesis about tennis players. Will tennis clubs and tennis players in Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Denmark and Sweden help our motley crew as we amble along? Will we be welcomed into homes, clubs and hot showers because we are tennistas? Also, are European tennis clubs programmed differently than U.S. clubs? What works for them? In the words of Cat Stevens, we are on the road to find out.

I will also be scouting eligible tennis players who might be interested in tennis scholarships to my undergraduate Alma Mater, McNeese State University in Lake Charles, Louisiana.