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Author Topic: Bowling road trips  (Read 1319 times)

MSC2471

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Bowling road trips
« on: September 11, 2004, 06:31:34 AM »
Ever decide just to pack up your bowling balls, get in the car and make a trek to a bowling center you either haven't been to in awhile or a bowling center you've never been to at all? Well, since my youth coaching seminar got cancelled (lack of attendance), I decided to head to Strikers East in Raymond, NH anyway and bowl a few games. Nice 30 lane center, wood approaches with synthetic lanes. I found a good shot outside of 5 on an angle with my Hot Wire, the Animal and Eraser Pearl Particle would hook too much from there. I could play the Animal inside around 15-10, but had trouble kicking out the 7 pin from that angle. Bowled 8 games, high being around 226...

I went to the pro shop there afterwards and had him check my grips on my Animal, as they felt different than my EPP and Hot Wire. Sure enough, my ring finger insert was 25/36 instead of 23/36. That would explain my need to squeeze the Animal on the downswing to stay in the ball...

About 20 minutes down the road was Merrimack Ten Pin in Merrimack, NH. I bowled in this house a long time about when it was a couple miles further down the Daniel Webster Highway. This is a very cool 28 lane center, all synthetic. I bowled 4 games there, had a great inside shot around 17-11 with the Eraser Pearl Particle and Animal. High game was 228, shot 3 out of 4 200 games there...

Tell us about some of your bowling trip adventures when you've gotten the urge to do so...

Matt
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baltimora

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Re: Bowling road trips
« Reply #1 on: September 13, 2004, 09:37:33 PM »
yeah i would like to do this if i had someone to do it with. my knee won't hold up bowling alone as i end up bowling too fast. i love hitting the tiny or ancient bowling alleys in small towns. they are disappearing quickly. i have been told there is a two lane center in a small town north of me (new york state) and i am going to try to go see it next week on vacation.
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SrKegler

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Re: Bowling road trips
« Reply #2 on: September 13, 2004, 10:45:46 PM »
I have been known to take a road trip bowling occasionally.  Someday I'll have to make a list of each state/country I've bowled in.  Unfortunately I get off work in about 3 hours, don't have time to list all of them now.

When the wife & I plan out our trips, I try and fit a gas stop/lunch break around a bowling alley.
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~~~SrK - Have balls, will travel

Spending the kids inheritance one tournament at a time.
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Ernie McCracken

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Re: Bowling road trips
« Reply #3 on: September 13, 2004, 10:59:05 PM »
I went on a bowling outing once to Fort Wayne, Ind. to see a fully functional 4 lane bowling alley still set up as it would have been in the 1920's or 1930's.  They still had pinboys and chalk dishes on the approaches.  They had original above ground ball returns.  There were no arrows or dots to speak of.  Oil was put out with a rag.  It was the most rough bowling alley I had ever seen and also the most beautiful!  It was so cool to see how the game was played back then.  I could close my eyes and see men dressed in their best clothes and wearing a tie while bowling.  They had benches behind the approaches for spectators.  It was great!  Not sure if this place still exists, but it was in the basement of St. Pauls Lutheran Church and School in downtown Fort Wayne.  Maybe you're familiar with it too.  It was the best!
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MSC2471

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Re: Bowling road trips
« Reply #4 on: September 14, 2004, 03:35:17 AM »
SrKegler:That would be one of my plans, to see if I could bowl in as many states as possible. Right now my list throughout my 29 years of bowling would include:

Connecticut
Kentucky
Maryland
Massachusetts
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New York
North Carolina
Ohio
Rhode Island
Utah
Vermont

Matt
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MonkeyBoy

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Re: Bowling road trips
« Reply #5 on: September 14, 2004, 04:22:43 AM »
Me and the missus are planning a big trip, gonna fly out to America and travel from somewhere like Chicago or Michigan (just somewhere to the mid east) and for a couple of weeks, go from alley to alley, all the way to Las Vegas or Reno...

But it is only a dream so far... should happen in about 2006...hmmm
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MichiganBowling

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Re: Bowling road trips
« Reply #6 on: September 14, 2004, 10:15:03 AM »
The favorite part of running my business includes visiting around 320-330 of the 370 or so bowling centers in Michigan.  My goal is to get to all of them before the end of 2004.  There are so many cool bowling centers out there and interesting stories behind them.  There are a lot of interesting people that work and bowl in those centers too.  I have made many new friendships throughout my travels and am super glad that I've been able to run the business this way.

Anybody remember or see this website?

http://www.bowlingroadtrip.com

That guy bowled in every single state!  Pretty cool!
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Brian
MichiganBowling.com
http://www.MichiganBowling.com

Famous Last Words of a Pot Bowler--"Ok, but this is my last game!"

Debina

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Re: Bowling road trips
« Reply #7 on: September 14, 2004, 10:56:40 AM »
About nine months after we started bowling in 2002, my husband and I took a trip east to visit family.  Our goal on the trip was to bowl in every state we drove through, and we ended up bowling in 23 centers in 12 states on that trip. We bowled in bright new centers, ancient dingy alleys and every type in between.  We used seven different types of scoring systems, bowled on wood, synthetic, and hybrid lanes, and met some of the greatest people in the world.  On our return trip, we also made a visit to the International Bowling Museum and Hall of Fame in St. Louis.  We plan to do it again in 2006.  We highly recommend bowling road trips, and like SrKegler, we plan gas/meal breaks around towns where we can find a bowling center.

States we bowled in on the trip:
Texas
Oklahoma
Missouri
Illinois
Indiana
Kentucky
North Carolina
West Virginia
Virginia
Maryland
Pennsylvania (11 centers during our stay, including one bearing our last name)
Ohio

Other states we've added:
New Mexico (of course, since that's where we live)
Colorado
Utah
Arizona
Nevada (North and south, 4 towns)
Kansas

Not a bad start considering we've only been bowling for two and a half years!

A favorite weekend trip is to Amarillo, Texas, where there are two centers with great proprietors.

Deb
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SrKegler

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Re: Bowling road trips
« Reply #8 on: September 14, 2004, 10:58:59 PM »
Well, off the top of my head, here’s the places I’ve bowled.

Ohio
Indiana
Michigan
Nevada
Florida
Georgia
Alabama
Tennessee
Kentucky
Mississippi
Louisiana
Kansas
Colorado
North Carolina
Montana
Iowa
N Dakota
S Dakota
Oklahoma
New Mexico
Arizona
Calif
Washington
Oregon
Virginia
West Virginia
Illinois
Missouri
Texas
Germany
England
Malaysia
Hong Kong
Japan
Okinawa
Korea
Thailand
Australia


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~~~SrK - Have balls, will travel

Spending the kids inheritance one tournament at a time.
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RIP Thongprincess/Sawbones
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