President's Message by Martha Erwin June is busting out all over….all ready! But back to May a minute, thank you to Kathy O'Toole for arranging the ice-cream social celebrating our end-of-the-year dancing and end of the 2nd, 8-week session of Newer Dancer classes. Ice cream and bananas were ably dished out by helpers, Joe Z., John W., and Milan G. For the bananas and toppings that made good, better, a big thanks to all of the club members. Would you believe, Kathy even brought Sorbet for those who can't eat dairy products. Now isn't that just like Kathy to be so thoughtful! Yes, Terry L., you were setting up the campout and missed the ice-cream social. But just to set the record straight, the Erwin's brought ice cream and fixings to the campout. Terry & Lynn Leonard again planned and executed a fun campout at the Lake of the Springs Thousand Trails campground near Marysville. Thank You, Terry & Lynn. We may have been few in number but we had a great time. Did I count that right, four potlucks? Must be a record. The California State Convention and Golden State Round-Up were attended by several of our members, including several of our Newer Dancers. I understand the fashion show put on by April and Liz was a well-attended success, congratulations. As our Club's contribution to door prizes for the Golden State Round-up breakfast, Milan & Mary G. made a basket of goodies and delivered it to the Round-Up hall. Thank you Milan & Mary. Now on to June, and the rest of the summer. We will have started dancing with the Diablo Doubles & Singles on June 10 by the time you get this newsletter. If you are confused or need any questions answered or a problem arises, please call me or another club member. For the past few years we have been joining their club in Pacheco on Thursdays - their hall has air-conditioning! and with so many travelling over the summer it is more fun to dance with the additional people. We usually dress very casually (sans petticoats, opting for slacks & shorts) for the summer. There will not be a Record in July so look for the summer and early fall schedule elsewhere in this issue. Our next Board & General meetings will be August 4/5 and publication of The Record will resume in August - after THE Kratz's grandbaby is born. You hadn't heard about this grand event? - bet they'll be most delighted to tell the story! Also take note of the Demonstration Dancing on July 24th at the Mormon Church's Pioneer Days at the Martinez Marina Park, thank-you to Bonnie Jo & Joe Z. for this opportunity as we look forward to another Newer Dancer class in January of 2005. Gary is offering his services to call for this event au-gratis, since it is for the purpose of promoting square dancing. Thank you to Gary (and April). Tracy & Lisa Woodward found this neat web site for square dancing, with the dance calls demonstrated in motion. It is: . Click on Basic2 for the basic movements, or Main Stream, or Plus, or whatever. Thanks Tracy & Lisa. By the way, I heard they could barely scrape together enough people at the New Dancer hall at Golden State. But Tracy & Lisa weren't going to let that caller go home early, even if they had to dance with a few vacant sides in their square. Way to go Tracy & Lisa! And speaking of web sites, our web master, the one and only Bob Phelan, has us published. Thank You Bob P. Look for the address in this newsletter. At the top of this page I almost wrote this was going to be short and sweet. You guys are so busy it just doesn't fit into short! See you in Pacheco with your dance shoes on. Pres. Martha You Can't Miss This. July 24 - 10:00 am be there and be square. Where can you find 500 potential square dancers? (Well, maybe only 50 really interested in active participation. But how many can we fit in a new dancer class?) At the Pioneer Days regional get-together on July 24 at the Martinez Waterfront Park. There our own Gary Kendall, the most charismatic caller this side of anywhere, will be the square dance pied piper, bringing in the multitudes to follow the ways of square dancing. Bonny Zehrung's church is hosting the festival, attracting people from all over the area for this annual event. Members of the Zehrung's church have long asked us for a demonstration dance and many are interested in square dancing. This is our chance to demonstrate the joy of our craft and attract new dancers. FREE FOOD. ( Do I have your attention now?.) Breakfast and lunch will be served on, I understand, a continual basis from 9:00 am, and you are invited. We have been lead to believe this food is every bit as wonderful as Clutch Buster pot lucks. We need to be there just to verify this startling claim. Dancing will start at 10:30 so arrive by 10:00 ( or 9:00 for the FREE Pancake Breakfast). We will be dancing at a basic level and up, and inviting festival attendees to join us (yes you get to drag them out of the audience). Our new dancers should feel very welcome to this fun event and we hope to see the there.. There is a sign up list, so sign up please, for your self, your club, and your country. Who is this Clutch Buster 1. There was a time I was truly stage struck 2. I took a long walk in the forrest. 3. When my partner said "your birthday present is in the driveway", it wasn't what I expected. 4. You have to admit, I've got balls. 5. "I can't imagine a day without music, I would like to, but I can't" Answer on last page of paper From your Official Halloween Headquarters- by Bob Phelan Guess the theme contest and clues: Clue 0: Definitely larceny. - December Clue 1: Your cold logs. - January Clue 2: It Slices, It dices, It shish kabobs too. - February Clue 3: Pittsburg has 'em. - March Clue 4: Moving across the board.- April Clue 5: Have you seen an eye doctor lately. -May Clue 6: These boots are made for walking. - June If you're ready for a guess, contact - Dorothy Evans , Elizabeth Phelan or Bob Phelan. Spooky.... guessing....... There will be a pumpkin carving contest this year. There have been 6 correct guesses as of the May Newsletter Summer Dancing We will be dancing with the Diablo Singles and Doubles tomorrow night, assuming you get this on Wednesday June 9. If you read it on Thursday, it's tonight and if you read it on Friday, it will be next Thursday. Please come and visit the Clutch Busters Web Page by Bob Phelan At: http://free.hostdepartment.com/B/Bobliz/CBWEB.html We could use any feed back you might have. Is there anything you would like to see here, something that could be different. Let us know. I try to put 1 calender event on the front page each month, but the the whole calender is there , and the monthly news letters. We hope to do more with this page but need your input. Is this site something that is useful for you? Golden State Roundup by Dorothy Evans Last Saturday, John and I navigated through the heavy holiday traffic to the Golden State Roundup in Pleasanton. Even though we were only spending one night at the hotel, our bags were packed with more clothes than probably most of the cars we passed heading out for a week away from home. Now before you men scoff, please remember that I needed an outfit for that day, another for that night and another for the following day. Then, I needed a fourth outfit in case I spilled something on that day's, night's or following day's outfit. Also needed were all the accessories, four pairs of nylons, five pairs of shoes and enough underwear to allow for (Heaven forbid) any unfortunate occurrence. Plus, we had all those matching ties of John's. When we arrived at the convention, we headed straight for the clothing vendor, Tamarisk. This was because April and Liz drafted me to be a model in the fashion show, and I needed to pick out my outfit. It turned out to be an easy task as there was a blue, red and gold little number on a mannequin that seemed to call out, "Dorothy, wear me, wear me." We added a shiny gold petticoat, the gold shoes I brought, a bunch of safety pins to make it fit properly and there I was, a vision of square dance finery. April moderated the fashion show with all the poise and aplomb of a pro. Her first model was Peggy Brock, who, by the way, did a tremendous job of chairing the convention. Peggy wore the official Golden State Roundup skirt which had colorful hot air balloons on a teal background. (Liz sewed the same skirt for both herself and me, so you'll be seeing us wear them on Thursday night sometime. For those of you who don't know, Liz is a marvellous seamstress.) Next was Liz's turn. She, along with Caroline and Rachel of the Diablo Singles & Doubles, each wore a solid color outfit of either red, black or white and then demonstrated several ways to mix and match. They also displayed various seasonal aprons that gave the outfits a holiday flair. Then came Helen - wow! She wore a frilly red and purple ensemble that was a knockout. It had rows and rows of ruffles, and to top it off, she wore matching red and purple dance heels. My outfit also elicited lots of "ohhh's" and "ahhh's." When our name was called, John and I strutted our stuff around the ring, with graceful (hopefully!) spins and twirls. I had enough people tell me I looked like I was having fun to make me believe I might have been hamming it up a bit, but that's OK because I felt like a queen in that gorgeous outfit. I won't bore you with the details of the chartreuse and purple outfit that was modeled next because as garish as it might sound, it looked even worse. Remember Michelle and Neal who danced with us several times towards the end of last year? Well, Michelle modeled a black print skirt with lace and fringe that was made by Neal. Yes, Neal sews all of Michelle's outfits. After the show, I regretfully handed my outfit back to Carol at Tamarisk and off we went to dance. There were three featured callers, all good, but the one from Georgia, Tim Marriner, was excellent. He was easy to hear, very lively and lots of fun. After a while of dancing, we headed over to the mainstream hall and danced with Kim and Tom. Kim told me they had intended to go to the convention the previous night, but she needed to buy nylons and wound up spending 90 minutes trying to find some, so they just went back to the hotel. It's obvious she never attended the Dorothy Evans school of packing, but then the trunk of her car probably doesn't drag on the ground due to the weight of her luggage either. Back in the plus hall, my fashion show outfit was calling to me, "Dorothy, buy me, buy me", but I resisted. Then the devil, disguised as Liz, sidled up to me wearing a Southwestern gold and brown design and asked me if she should buy it. She looked so great, I had to say, "if you buy your dress, I'll buy mine." And that's how I wound up heavily in debt. Now, you're probably thinking, "What about poor John? Doesn't he get anything?" But, don't feel sorry for him because he got another matching tie to add to his collection. That evening, Liz, Bob, John and I went to the Hungry Hunter and had a nice, relaxing, artery clogging prime rib dinner. Thanks to our club, we have so many great friends, and for that I'm grateful. From there, it was back to the hotel to change into our club outfits, and then on to the plus hall for dancing. The first tip after the speeches is always my favorite because all levels dance together to the three callers either harmonizing or taking turns with the stanzas. The songs are always very fast with lots of whooping and a hollering. After that, everyone went to their respective halls. Bob and Chris were there that evening, as well as Tim and his lady friend, Dolly. Bob and Chris said that Jo, Lisa and Tracy attended on Friday night. I hope they enjoyed themselves. We stayed until the final tip at 11:00, but were too tired to continue on. We heard the next day that the after-party was lots of fun, as well as the after-after party back at the hotel which lasted until 3:30 a.m. The next morning we feasted on a reasonably priced, yet well stocked breakfast buffet at our hotel. It was back to the plus hall by noon where Gary was calling a tip, his talent equal to that of the featured callers. We danced until about 2:45 and then headed for home marveling at how many of the dancers would continue on until the close at 10:30 that night. Conventions are a great time to laugh with, dance with and get lots of hugs from our club and other club friends like the Tam Twirlers, Concord Stompers, Rip Snorters and Diablo Singles and Doubles. It's also a good way to meet new friends, forget the rest of the world for a short time and just take pleasure in the simple joys of life. Spring Campout Could we be heading back to the good old days of Clutch Buster camp outs? Once again our master camp out hosts, Terry and Lynn Leonard, created an entertaining and fun weekend at the Lake of the Springs campground. Joining the Leonards were the Erwins, Snodgrasses, Kratzs Erna Beutel and Shirley Helmich. It was great to see the vibrant Shirley again since she lives too far away to join us on Thursday nights. The Leonards and the Kratzs arrived on Thursday afternoon, had dinner and a quiet evening of cribbage. Chris and Terry won the first game because Bob and Lynn gave them a large lead in the beginning and allowed them to keep it, building up a false confidence for the second, and most important, game. In this second game, Bob and Lynn kept the opposition in check, letting them remain in the lead, until the final hand when this obviously superior duo surged ahead and stole victory by three points, devastating Terry and Chris in the process. The rest of the gang arrived throughout Friday. Everyone examined the Erwin's new motorhome and found it to be not at all wanting. A beautiful home on wheels. That evening we played Mexican Train dominoes and cribbage, had the usual delicious cocktail hour goodies and a wonderful potluck followed by more games. Saturday started with a potluck breakfast complete with Mimosa's (champagne and orange juice) but we missed Jack Giolitties liquid eggs. Then it was on to Terry and Lynn's games. First was Toss the Ring on a Stake. Brass rings with about a 1 1/4 inch hole had to be tossed over a 1/2 inch diameter stake from about 5 feet away. Lean way over, stand on one foot and lean further, what ever it took. Terry and Bob K tied with three rings each (out of ten). Then there was the old tip up the bottle game. A wine bottle was placed on its side on a level piece of plywood. The contestant had to put a ring attached to a string, attached to a pole, over the bottle neck and lift the bottle to an upright position. Wynell won in the women's division at 36 seconds and Terry won the men's challenge at 39 seconds. Erna kept practicing and practicing. yinell demonstrated her skill once again in the bucket toss. Here three plastic tubs were placed about 3 feet, 5 feet and 7 feet from a line. Standing at the line the player tossed 10 rings at the first tub. Those rings in the tub were worth 1 point and only those rings were tossed at the second 2 point cup. The rings making the 2nd cup ( if any) were then tossed at the third cup and successful throws were worth 5 points. Wynell won with 18 points and Bob K was second with 11. The games finished with a Brain Game Aptitude Test. Bob K. won with 15 correct answers out of 17 questions. Chris and Wynell came in second with 9 correct answers. Then there was the camper who, after receiving his score, wadded his test paper into a ball and threw it at Terry. We do not want to embarrass this person by name, but you would think the president's spouse would know better. After a deliciouis potluck dinner Terry handed out candy prizes to the winners and hugs and kisses to all (candy variety). AND THEN THERE WAS BOCCE For several years now, the teams of Terry L. and Chris K. vs Bob E. and Bob K. have had a grudge Lawn Bocce tournament. Earlier Saturday morning, Terry and Bob E squared off in a practice match. Terry, not realizing Bob E was just sizing him up and not concentrating on the game, spent the rest of the morning boasting of his 15 to 3 win. Bob E. just smiled. Then came the big match. Bob squared (Bob E. and Bob K.) took the first points and at half time lead 11 to 6. Not wanting to completely demoralize the opposition. Bob, sq. allowed the opponents a few more points before trouncing them 21 to 15. The highlight of the day was a toss by Terry that landed squarely on the top of a water sprinkler head attached to a hose. The blow severed the sprinkler head and it jumped about 5 feet in the air. Being four mature adults, we laughed our heads off. Then the realization of punitive measures for the damage caused set in. After a lengthy discussion it was decided to carefully place the broken head back on the sprinkler base and vacate the area. Later that day Terry challenged Bob E. to another match. Bob smiled and went along, knowing the real game was over. Terry won by a large margin (ask him, he knows the scores) and Bob smiled. Winners can to that. Upcoming Hoedown Events by Martha Erwin July 9-11 California's Family-Fun Festival Nevada County Fairgrounds, Grass Valley Mainstream - A-2, Lots of Games, Vendors Das Boat Preparing for the big CB boating trip in October, Terry and Lynn Leonard have made a few short shake down cruises. Such a voyage was scheduled for Sunday May 16 with a few CBers. Since your publisher had to work that day, Chris and I went out on Saturday the 15t for his Coast Guard (CG) Inspection. We were given the grand tour of the yacht, its two bedrooms, two baths, living room, galley, bridge, aft deck and engine room with the two huge diesel engines and marvelled at the improvements Terry has made to the vessel. We then left the Pittsburg mooring with ease and Lynn and I hauled in the thingees that hang over the side so the boat does not bang into the side of the dock, and proceeded about 200 yards to another dock to meet the CG inspector. Lynn and I tied the thingee's rope to a rail and tossed them over the side to keep the boat from banging this dock. The inspection went well leaving Terry with only a couple of minor repairs to make before his final inspection. We found out the Inspector is a former square dancer and invited him to visit our group which he may in the future. We left that dock and headed out into the delta for a short test run. Lynn and I were on the fantail (back end) of the boat after hauling in the thingees. Terry and Chris were on the bridge and Terry told Chris "watch this". Terry then pushed the throttles full forward and the boat leaped ahead in the water. Lynn and I were thankful there were rails on the back of the boat we could grab onto to keep from going over board, but it was exciting. Terry promised to make sure everyone on board received a warning before he "floored it" ever again. We returned back to the original mooring and Terry decided to back the boat in, making it easier to off board. Unfortunately strong winds kept pushing the boat away from the dock and toward a boat tied up next door. But with Terry's skill, two guys on the dock and my pushing his boat away from the neighboring boat with my foot, the boat was eased into place. The next day the Erwins, the Evans and others went on a longer cruise. They spent a good part of the day eating good stuff, sipping beverages of choice and enjoying the sights and sounds of the delta. The return to port was another test for Terry when one engine quit because of a bad fuel filter. Even John Evans, who detests camping, trailers, motor homes and the like thought the boat was great and had a good time, as did everyone else. Faced once again with strong winds at the dock, Terry nosed the boat in with great success. Despite minor problems the shake down cruises were a success and all will be in readiness for the CB cruise. If you miss this you will miss a very special CB October outing. More details later. News From the Alley by Don Snodgrass Ed note: While Avis Walker was away on vacation Don substituted for this column. When Avis returned she condtinued on. Avis's work continues after Don's ends. Bowling May 11, 2004 Well back to regular bowling. The luxury of 'No Tap' is behind us and so were the deluge of strikes even if you discount the no tap strikes. We had a couple of winners in the 'No Tap' tournament. Janet Lococo won 3rd place in Women's high series and Pat Pardee won 2nd. Bill Farry, an occasional visitor, had high series at 487 with a Turkey in the first game and second high men's game at 176. Allen Wesdorf had a Turkey in game #2 and Tom Lococo had 2 in game #2. Tom also had overall high score at 197 - 54 pins over his average. Pat Pardee had high game for the women at 174. Janet Lococo had 2nd high women's score at 149. After we put our shoes away, most of us adjourned to Coco's for lunch where we were joined by Lois and Ruth. Don Orton and Don Lollich got into a conversation about all the airports they had flown into for a meal. Sounds like they pretty well covered Northern California, but they did not ask the rest of us to go with them for lunch next week. Bowling May 18, 2004 We had a short crew of bowlers today. Due to travels and other commitments, only 7 bowlers tempted fate by trying their luck with balls with finger holes in them. After the "No Tap" week, we continued the sparcity of strikes, with only Allen Wesdorf making a "turkey", 3 strikes in a row in game 2. This "Turkey" helped Allen garner both High Game, 173, and High Series, 424, for the day. Ken Wygal started out slow, with a 99 but came back strong with a 149 and a 158 for a series total over 400. Wynell Snodgrass had a good day, beating Hubby, Don, with a 364 to328 series. Milan Gregovich and Don Lollich both had 'so so' days at 363 and 341 series, both with 2 good games and one not so good. We were joined today by Wally and Bill Everette. Bill was able to bowl some and Wally filled in for him when he got tired and the 'team' wound up with a decent 307 series. Welcome back Bill. Don Snodgrass had a unique, although poor, day. In game 1, he managed to get a strike without hitting the 'head pin', followed by throwing a gutter ball on a spare, 'oh shame'. Then trying to pick up a spare of the 10 pin, the ball bounced of a pin in the gutter and hit the 10 pin, thus scoring a spare. Afterwards Lois Lollich joined us for lunch at Baker's Square. News From the Alley by Avis Walker I want to thank Don Snodgrass for covering the Alley News for me while John and I were on vacation. Sounds like they all had a fine time without us. How I don't know!! It must have been much quieter at the alley those Tuesdays. The alley also reinstated a NO TAP Tuesday while we were gone. We are very glad to have that fun day back. We had a wonderful time on our vacation but it was really great to get back with the bowling/lunch bunch. Our first week back bowling was May 25th. John and I had been debating all across Virginia, Tennessee and Alabama who should be considered the days bowling winner: the one who took 2 out of 3 games or the one with high series of the day. On our return needless to say we had NO votes from the Clutch Busters on our email. Pat Pardee settled the issue by saying that in league play you get 1 point for each game won and 1 point for high series of the day so I guess we had been tied all of this time. John still didn't buy that theory. He insisted high series won the whole day until I beat him high series on June 1st. On Tues. the 25th we had Pat and Ray Pardee and their son Tyler and their friend, Margaret bowling with us. We also cheered the return of Bill and Wally Everett to the alleys and celebrated Bill's birthday with a candle on a bowling alley doughnut. In our first game Ray Pardee took the honors of high game with a 160 followed by Allen Wesdorf with a 158 and Pat Pardee with a 155. Ken Wygal's game took a great turn for the better when he rolled three strikes in a row to turkey out in the 10th frame. In the second game Tyler Pardee took the honors with a 199 followed by Tom Lococo with a 190. Third game Ray Pardee topped everyone by rolling a 202 followed by Tyler's 190. Allen had to leave early and asked John Walker to finish his game for him. John obliged by rolling two gutter balls and then three strikes to turkey out for him. John could have used that turkey on his own score because although our scores were not in the top winners of the day Avis managed to beat John 2 out of 3 games; once by 10 pins and he last game by one pin. He took one game and our high series so according to Pat Pardee we tied: according to John he was Top Dog. June 1st found 14 bowlers on the alleys ready for a fun NO TAP DAY. This is SO much fun and we can end up with some pretty wild scores First game John Walker rolled 9 strikes in a row and missed his perfect 300 game by one open frame. He ended up with a 276 followed by Janet Lococo with a 225, Allen Wesdorf with a 208, Avis Walker with a 194, and Don Snodgrass with a 181. Oh if only these were all for real strikes!! The second game Allen Wesdorf took high score with a 222 followed by Avis Walker with a 207 and Bob Erwin with a 202. Third game Ray Pardee took high game of the day when he also rolled 9 strikes in a row but missed out in the last frame and ended up with a 287 followed by Bob Erwin with a 221 bowled with his new $3.00 garage sale bowling ball that he is getting quite fond of. Don Snodgrass eagled out (4 in a row). Wynell Snodgrass picked up a 2-7-8 split and Avis Walker picked up a 1-2-6-7 split. But the icing on that day's cake was that according to John's rules Avis came out TOP DOG as she beat him 2 out of 3 AND took high series by 9 pins. HOORAY FOR NO TAP!!! Come join us bowling some Tues. and I promise I won't pick on you in the column as I do John. The Wandering Walkers by Avis Walker The wandering Walkers have returned from their 3-week vacation back East. We managed to wander thru parts of Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, Georgia, Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama covering about 2200 miles and making about 55 Johnny U-turns along the way. Some of these were due to the very poor signage in that part of the country. When you see a sign for the exit to the highway you are looking for they are not kidding or giving you advanced notice and you never can be sure which side of the highway you are going to be exiting from. It sure keeps you awake and on your toes. The rest of the u-turns were for something interesting we glimpsed as we passed or a change of mind as to where we really wanted to go. The scenery was gorgeous and restful and the weather pretty good with the exception of a couple of cloud burst that caught us on unfamiliar roads and unable to see the line (pretty scary!!) or in the middle of Nashville Zoo looking for nonexistent Giant Panda Bears and no place to get out of the rain. Therefore, we arrived at Nashville Airport ready to fly home and soaking wet. Luckily you dry out pretty fast in that climate. A wonderful surprise while we were waiting for our plane was seeing Ray and Pat Pardee walk up to the check-in counter for the same flight. We had a wonderful chatty flight home together. Our wandering started when we flew into Baltimore/Washington Airport and picked up our rental car. Next morning we headed for Harpers Ferry and were pleasantly surprised at how they have kept it so well restored and not commercialized. You felt like you had stepped back in time with the beautiful Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers flowing peacefully by. A little further down the road we had another wonderful surprise in Old Town Winchester where there is one street in particular that is closed to auto traffic and is a tree lined, cobblestone lane of beautifully restored historical buildings and homes. We had arrived there 2 days before their Crabapple Festival and as we ambled around town we got to watch all of the civic organizations setting out their chairs in roped off areas. They rent the chairs out for the 2 days of parades as a fund raiser for their organization.

From the looks of things you do not get to sit and watch the parade unless you rent a chair because every street of the parade route was roped off. We wandered further south and got onto Skyline Drive at Front Royal which leads you onto The Blue Ridge Parkway and then into the Smokey Mountains. We came down off the Blue Ridge to get out of some really heavy rain and lightning and to see the Luray Caverns and Natural Bridge both of which were well worth the time and detour. We missed the mass blooming of the rhododendrons on the Blue Ridge; we were about 2 weeks too early but you could certainly visualize what a breathtaking scene it would be. The Dogwood and Mountain Laurel were in splendid bloom and it is so lush and green and restful just to cruise along. We were a little startled when at the highest point of the Smokey Mountains we got out at a rest stop and it started snowing lightly. As we came out the west side of the Smokey Mountains we spent the night in Pigeon Forge (Dolly Parton Land) so we could attend the Dixie Stampede. Unfortunately they put this New York Girl on the side that was supposed to cheer for the Rebels. As we wandered our way on toward my sister's in Alabama we found a couple more gems well worth your time if you travel that way. The Chattanooga-Chickamauga National Military Park; a tribute to both sides of the Civil War is a huge, beautifully kept and restored drive-thru battleground with some of the most awesome monuments I have ever see. We also found The Snodgrass House on Snodgrass Hill smack in the middle of a battlefield. Off Interstate 59 in Walker County; while taking a short cut and pretty lost we chanced across The DeSoto State Park and Lookout Mountain Parkway where we did see the rhododendrons in full bloom. Along Lookout Mountain Parkway is a section called Little River Canyon, The Grand Canyon of the East. Very interesting and quite beautiful. Also very impressive if you haven't seen the REAL thing. We finally made it to my sister's in Eastaboga, Alabama on the Lazy R Farm. She and her daughter's family have been working together for 6 years now breeding, raising and training quarter horses. They have made a very nice start and we got to see their newest addition a 2 months old colt, "Little Bit of Magic". After leaving them we drove across the corner of Mississippi to Memphis, Tennessee and visited Graceland; to be saturated with Elvis and his music (wonderful!!), Beale Street; (which John refused to visit after dark so it was a bust) and Mudd Island, an island in the middle of the Mississippi River which contains a 5 block long miniature of the Mississippi River from it's headwaters to the Gulf of Mexico. I showed true love and compassion when I walked from Memphis to New Orleans and back to get John some lunch while he sat in a swing and watched the Mississippi River roll by. We braved the truck traffic (which is terrifying, 15 trucks to 1 car) and took off for Nashville. On our way we attempted to visit the Hatchie Wildlife Refuge only to turn off into it and find the dirt and gravel road was almost underwater with floods from upstream. Another famous, but this time hazardous, Johnny u-turn and we continued on and explored part of the Natchez Trace State Park instead. We did find the largest Pecan tree but only the cement filling in it is keeping it upright at this time. We saw the Kudzu (mile-a-minute) Vine which was imported from the Orient, has a taproot up to twelve feet long, grows up to twelve inches in twenty-four hours encompassing every thing in it's way, is very herbicide resistant, and fire will not kill the tap root. It was planted in the Southeast for erosion control and the Tennessee Conservation and Environment Department admitted in 1998 it was probably a mistake but it is here to stay. We continued on into Nashville for our 6 day stay. We had wonderful accommodations in Brentwood a few miles south. The area of Brentwood and Franklin is beautiful with huge estates with open meadow like grounds. Everyone seems to need a riding lawn mower there. Franklin is a very picturesque, historical town where we found The Snodgrass Gallery right across the street from the Walker Gallery. During our stay in Nashville area we visited the Hermitag; Home of Andrew Jackson, The Gaylord Opryland Hotel and Resort (probably the most impressive man made landscaping I have ever seen under a roof), The Grand Ole Opry Theatre (8th row seats and a great show) and their Museum next door, The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, The Ryman Auditorium; original home of the Grand Ole Opry, Belle Meade Plantation, The Parthenon, The Capitol Building and grounds, The Snodgrass Building; a 6 story glass fronted office building, and the Nashville Zoo. As I look over some of the brochures of our trip while I write this article I find out why we couldn't find the Giant Pandas in the Nashville Zoo. It's because they were in the Memphis Zoo. I knew we had seen them advertised somewhere. Oh well, maybe next time. Even without the pandas the Nashville Zoo is well worth a visit. Their natural habitats are very well done. We had a great trip but are glad to be back home with our family and friends. Yellow rocks to all Avis and John Walker Coffee Assignments by Carol Giolitti No more coffee duties until the end of summer dancing. Soda Assignments by Jack Strickler No soda duty this summer, but please sign up for fall CBers Got The Spirit CBers sold 2,359 raffel tickets for the Ca. State Sq. Dance Convention. We will receive a check for our potion of the sales soon. More tickets are available at $1.00 each.. Contributors to the Record The following Clutch Busters have graciously contributed their time and talent in submitting articles and information to the Record this Month Editor Chris Kratz Contributors: Martha Erwin Dorothy Evans Chris Kratz Bob Phelan Don Snodgrass Avis Walker Who is that Clutch Buster? Bob Erwin 1 Fell off the stage at a past Golden State and dislocated sholder. 2. Retired from theU.S. forest service. 3 Got a truck load of dirt for the garden. 4. Plays golf, bowling and bocce. 5. Wife teaches piano to children.