Day 43 - Saturday, October 1 - California << Index

Anticipated: Play golf at Needles Municipal Golf Course in Needles, California.

Travel:   Itinerary: Leave Las Vegas for a 10:30 tee time at Needles Muni Golf Course. After golf we will drive to a Holbrook, Arizona motel. casino   States/Provinces Played:

Web: www.homestead.com/blythegolf/

Actual: (Photos and text)

Click on the photos below to enlarge Welcome to California sign and Blythe Golf Course signs Scenes from the golf course Jim attempting a 1-foot “Birdie” putt after a near hole-in-one on hole 18 (2nd time around) Scenes of Arizona from the road: (upper left) Colorado River, Arizona is on left, California on right Arizona sunset from the balcony of the Comfort Inn motel where we spent the night.

We were ”up and at ‘em” early this morning hoping to get ahead of the desert heat. We arrived at Blythe Municipal Golf Course just before 7:30AM and were able to tee off right away. The front nine was being aerated so we played the back nine twice. There was a foursome teeing off on #10 just as we finished our first round. They waved us up at the second hole and we finished the 18-hole round in 2 ˝ hours! The temperature when we finished was already 88 degrees with bright sun. We were happy to get off the course before the predicted high of 100 degrees. We both played quite well. Jim shot 85 (yardage = 6520) and Pat shot 108 (yardage = 5704). Blythe Golf Course was a long golf course and Jim was not able to reach any of the par 4s in regulation. A real thrill was an “almost ace” by Jim on the last hole. He hit a driver to the uphill blind 170-yard par 3 18th hole to within one foot (see picture)--- yes, he made the birdie! We enjoyed the golf course. The golf professional, Willie Getchell apologized that we were not able to play the front nine. He said that it was rolling as compared to the back nine which was flat. The golf course is surrounded by several “double-wide” homes as well as RV parks for the many “snow-birds” who frequent the area. The “snowbirds” are just now starting to migrate to this part of California. Willie stated that the course is generally crowded January through March. We left Blythe Golf Course at 10:00AM for Holbrook, Arizona where we will play our 44th round of golf at Hidden Cove Golf Course. Blythe Golf Course is as far west as we will go on this journey (not counting Hawaii). Our route took us on all freeways; I10 to Phoenix, I17 north to Flagstaff, and I40 to Holbrook. The drive today was 390 miles (650 km) and took six hours. We arrived at our motel at 5:00PM, which was nice because for the past four days the earliest arrival was 8:00PM. To date we have motored 9180 miles (15,300 km). Our son Bill who lives in Bali (Indonesia) suggested that we give the metric equivalent for our Canadian friends as well as his friends in other parts of the world who are following our journey via the WEB site on a daily basis. On our trip north to south (Kimberley, BC to Blythe, CA we traveled 1500 miles (2500 km). Our friend Andrea Rogers asked us to list gas prices around the US and Canada. The highest we have seen in $1.12 per liter in the Atlantic Provinces. This converts to about $3.70 (American dollars per American gallon). We paid $3.50 in New England right after hurricane Katrina. The highest we have paid elsewhere was $2.99.9 all the way down the west coast. Pictures We normally have a picture of the golf professional in his pro shop. However, due to our failure to SAVE the pictures taken in the pro shop, they were lost. We apologize to Willie.