Winkie Convention Countdown: 19 Days to Go

Today's post will not be about the convention itself. Rather, it will be about the adventure after the convention. In 1990, the stars lined up just right, and the Goodwill Games were going to be in Seattle, right after the convention. I had some vacation days saved up at my drugstore job, so I went ahead and ordered tickets for the two days after the convention, with the intent of flying down and back, seeing the Games, and then back to work. It would have worked out perfectly — until I got the call from my mother. She wanted to drive, and have spend some time with my aunt (her sister) while I was doing my Oz thing. If it hadn't been for those Goodwill Games tickets, I would have jumped at the chance, but I was not sure if that would be possible, getting from Pacific Grove to Seattle in one day. But my mom wore me down and talked me into it, and I relented.

For the first and only time, I actually missed part of the convention, as we had to take off early Sunday. I had breakfast and said my goodbyes, and mom and I were off. We dropped my aunt off in the San Francisco Bay area, and by noon we were on I-5 heading north. We kept going, and going, and going, playing silly word games and just talking about life and stuff for several hundred miles. We finally made it to Seattle around 3:00 in the morning, and I immediately hit the hay, as I had tickets the next morning! Dad and I made it to that morning's team handball doubleheader (that is a wild game that Americans need to watch and play more!), where the Soviets beat Japan and the United States tied Czechoslovakia. Then we went to track and field that evening. I was fine and awake and alert the whole day. It was the next day, during the second basketball game, that road fatigue finally hit, and I barely made it through that game (fortunately, it was the second of the doubleheader) and to my folks' place awake and upright. I crashed on their couch for about three hours, but then I was refreshed and ready to head home and face work the next day.

I don't think I could do that now, but I came close a few years later. I'll tell you more about that in an upcoming post.