// BONUS ONLINE-ONLY COVERAGE Love for the game isn’t limited by conditions By Guy Scholz, U.S. Curling News contributing writer
Columbus Curling Club, Beers of the World Open: Columbus Ohio 2013 Tey call me the wanderer, yeah the wanderer
I roam around-around-around - Dion and the Belmonts Winter Storm Dion
dropping snow and ice from Texas to the New England States. “Dion is bar- reling in like a freight train,” said Te Weather Channel. “1,650 flights were canceled nationwide. Hundreds more flights are already canceled for Mon- day and Tuesday morning.” So, why did Sandra Block (born Cherry Point, Alb.) and I (born Langen-
T
burg, Sask.) travel from Leiper’s Fork, Tenn., and join forces with Sandy Jennings (born Saskatoon, Sask.) and Dan Ivers (born Austin, Minn.) from Indianapolis to make the trek through Winter Storm Dion to the Beers of the World Open Bonspiel in Columbus, Ohio? Because we were all having bonspiel withdrawals! American-based curl-
ers will wander all over their country to get a ’spiel in. For a team to travel 6-8 hours to a bonspiel is not an unusual occurrence. Te normal six-hour trip from the Nashville area to Columbus took a
he Weather Channel dubbed it Winter Storm Dion, the worst storm of the season, on the weekend of Dec. 6-8. Temperatures hit minus 40 F/C on both the Canadian and American prairies,
couple extra hours as we drove through rain, sleet, snow, and ice to get to our first draw on Friday aſternoon. But we had entertainment thanks to modern technology. Te Canadian Olympic Trials were on. Sandra’s brother-in-law Kurt Balderston was coaching Renee Sonnenberg’s Grande Prairie team. Sandra is Marcy Balderston’s sister (multiple Scotties appearances) and is married to 14-time Grammy winner Ron Block of Alison Krause and Union Station fame. We brought Sandra along just because she has access to some pretty good music, and she can still throw the high hard one on occasion. Marcy was back in Sexsmith, Alb., texting us end-by-end descriptions
of the games on TSN, plus sending pictures from her TV set to show us the situations taking place. We were getting these pics and updates somewhere in the middle of Winter Storm Dion on the interstate between Louisville, Ky., and Columbus, Ohio. Te only problem with that was it created some debate between Sandra and me on what strategy the teams should be using. To say Sandra misses curling would be the understatement of the day.
Back in 2006 her husband Ron was in Los Angeles to receive another Grammy. Where was Sandra? At the Saville Center in Edmonton watching her brother-in-law Kurt at the Alberta Men’s Curling Championship. So ... Winter Storm Dion was not going to slow down Mrs. Block and my cohorts from Indiana as we wandered our way into Columbus. Te Columbus Curling Club
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