Every Good Blog Needs TWO Theme Songs: CLICK #1
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 I, alas, am a tennis club consultant, "seasoned" tennis professional, club manager and frustrated, unpublished novelist.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.
Randy! Come on in ~ the water is semi-tepid indeed! OK....it's fine like wine, what else can I say? What a wonderful opportunity to volley and lob a few every which way! I am very excited for you.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great experience, I will be following.
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