I’m back in Russell following the 117-mile drive from Norton. No snow to worry about this Sunday–not with the mercury at 60 degrees (16 Celsius) and climbing by time I pulled into the garage at 1224 North Brooks. I got out of Norton early so I could be home in time to eat lunch with my parents. My mother is cooking chicken fried steak and mashed potatoes.

It was a strange Saturday to say the very least.

I got to Phillipsburg a little late. I thought the tournament didn’t start until 9:30, which it had in previous years, but it was scheduled to start at 9. I didn’t get to the school until 9:05, but the action had not started.

Just as the tournament was ready to begin, I discovered my iPhone wasn’t working. I couldn’t type in my passcode to unlock my phone. Also, my Bluetooth keyboard was not working.

Great. This was one of the last things I needed. Since it was still early and I figured there would be a lot more wrestling, I made the decision to drive to Hays to see if I couldn’t get it fixed, or barring that, get anew phone. I was so panicked to get to Hays I actually blew through the stop sign at Seventh and Santa Fe coming out of Phillipsburg High. Lucky for me, nobody was coming either way. It could have been very ugly.

It took me an hour to get to the Verizon store on Vine Street in Hays. It took all of a minute to get my phone back in working order. The associate showed me how to do it, by pressing the home and power buttons simultaneously for 10 to 15 seconds. Sure enough, the phone came right back to life. As embarrassing as it was to waste all that time and gas going to Hays, it was a far bigger relief to have the phone back in order.

I made it back to Phillipsburg by noon, although I had to park a long way away from the gym entrance. I stayed at the tournament until 6, mostly to see Peggy Cox, who came late to pick up Caitlyn, since she was playing in a club volleyball tournament in Lincoln (not the one in Kansas) today.

Abilene ended up winning the team championship of the Panther Classic. Norton was third, Phillipsburg sixth.

I was tired by time I got back to Norton. I filled up with gas and picked up some snacks at Love’s, then went back to the room. I was in bed by 8:30. I got up for a little while just after midnight, but went back to sleep. But it didn’t take me long to pack, shower and shave, and get back on the road.

Not much going today. Going to try to get some work done later, because I have an appointment with  Dr. Custer tomorrow at 10:40 a.m., and then I hope to go to Buffalo Wild Wings in Salina.