As the morning temperatures plummeted to freezing during the early morning, it became apparant that no traveling outdoors should be included in the travels today. Besides for us it was Palm Sundsy and that meant a time for worship . We did that at the Trinity United Methodist church right here in Grand Island. It was a traditional service in the Methodist tradition, complete with a chancel choir and a handbell choir. The handbells played two numbers with ten members on three octaves. This church in the middle of Grand Island was established in 1888 an the new church built some 50 years ago, although the members I asked didn't know the date. One key item we heard was that this church will be establishng a JFON center for the surroundng area as there is a great need. Many immigrants are working in the meat packing industry here and in the public schools 75 perent of the students are minorities.
Then it was time for breakfast and we returend to "Tommies" , a popular 24 hour breakfast spot near the motel. This time it was very crowded although the wait time was about the same as when it wasn't crowded a few days ago.
We returned to the motel for about an hour waiting for the Fonner Park Race track to open.The first race was at post at 1:00 Pm. We arrived at the track (a few blocks away) just as the first race was starting, so there was time to make our selections for the third race and beyond if necessary. By this time it was snowing quite hard and even though the pavement on the roads was still warm, it looked quite bad.
We made selections for the third race, while we watched the second race start (See pictures) on a very muddy track with the wind at 35 mph. No one payed much attetion to the few geese on the infield until at the first turn after the race started, one of the geese was on the track and got clobbered as the horses made the turn. The man next to me threw his rolled up program on the floor in disgust as his horse must have hit the goose and the horse slowed to a walk. In the middle of the same race a rider was thrown off his horse. Even though that race finished that was the LAST race of the day, for about 10 minutes later they announced…"Due to the conditions of the weather and track, there will not be another race today". We had placed our bets and so our $4.00 was returned and we can anounce that we did not lose any money on our bets today! They even gave your money back for your partially used program.
When we returned to the truck the ice pellets were stinging the face so I picked Ruth up at the door after a painful walk to the truck in the parking lot.
For a light meal we chose a sports Bar on the northwest side called "Whiteys" that had a good sandwich and burger menu as well as salads and soups. I settled for chicken noodle soup and a mushroon and chicken sandwich sans Swiss cheese.(not on my recent diet list.) There were a dozen TV screens so many activities were being watched.
What a day!
Needless to say , we spent the rest of the day in the comfort of the room watching both the Detroit Red Wings (won 3-0) and the Masters Tournament fom Augusta. (Bubba Watson won that.)
Tomorrow we had planned to revist some sites, but if it is still this cold and nasty we will wait it out, Tuesday is supposed to be better so heading back to Michigan it mght be better weather.
One more post tomorrow at least so we will see you then.--Jim
Our trip was timed perfectly as we did see many of them.
to the post began. The favorite "Beefy and I No it" won this
'Maidens, Three Year Old and Upward' race.
It was 82 F yesterday.
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