Mr. Troutbend is in Las Vegas, where it is 15 degrees hotter than normal. That means it's still around 100 degrees every day so he is checking into hotels so he can spend time by the swimming pools. Plus save on air conditioning at home. Another advantage is the hotels are closer to his bowling leagues so he can avoid the rush hour traffic.

He has been bowling really well lately, had a perfect 300 game in one of his leagues last week, and then placed third in a regional tournament (for once), so he'll get back more money than the entry fee cost him. In the course of the tournament he had this three-game series: 269 269 268 (806). An 800 series is a bowler's dream, harder to accomplish than a 300 game. He won't get any special rewards for it because it was a tournament, but it will warm his heart for many months to come just knowing that he did it. It's his third or fourth, and he's had more 800s than 300s, which says something about his consistency as a bowler.

The most encouraging thing in Mr. Tbend's emails about the tournament was this statement: "I stayed and watched 'till the end because there were some interesting people to talk with and some good games being bowled." You can't know how touching it is to me that he is interacting with people and enjoying himself. My heart is full.

This is 1976 when he was single and living in Louisiana. He worked for Martin-Marietta on the space shuttle external tank program.



This is when he bowled his first 800 series (read the words in white) in Littleton, Colorado.



This is in Indiana in 1998, an actual huge bowling pin lying in a field. How lucky we were to see it and I was able to trick him into walking over to it so I could snap a picture.



Going to a tournament. Note the bowling shirt, rolling/stacking bowling bag holding 6 balls, bowling car selected specifically to carry the bowling equipment: the whole package.