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Last summer I had the pleasure of mixing business with pleasure traveling from St. Louis to New England on my motorcycle. Along the way I met with darts players and business associates outlining expansion plans into new markets for the ADA and the American Dart League. It was a very successful trip resulting in new market areas in five states. During the winter months I developed another trip this time profiling the great southwest. The following is an account of this trip that started on May 9th, ending May 19th
I took the trusty old '79 Honda CB 750 out of winter storage and head southwest out of St. Louis on Interstate 44. My first stop is Springfield, MO located near the Oklahoma border in the southwest corner of the state.
Springfield is a great college town and also home of Bass Pro (the place is huge!). I met with the management team of Wil Fischer, the local Anheuser-Busch (AB) wholesaler. With their support we can look forward to launching the American Dart League here this fall. After the meeting I meet with transplanted St. Louis ADA member Wes Justmann for lunch at Buckingham's (THE place for BBQ ribs). A little bit early for darts but Wes tells me the Fox & Hound is one of the best locations to play.
 Back on I-44 I'm off to Tulsa, OK. It's a nice ride on a beautiful spring day and I roll into town at 6:00 to prepare for my meeting with Eric Harrison. Eric contacted me late last fall and we discussed plans to expand the ADA to Tulsa. It's been a long time since I've been to this city. As the Director of Marketing for Merit Industries I introduced Pub Time soft tip darts here way back in 1988.
We meet at the Friendly Tavern on 31st Street and the establishment lives up to its name! Eric is a good shot, we trade wins in 501 (28-38 ppda's) & Cricket (3.5-4.5 mpr). For a Monday night there is a nice group tossing darts on the three Arachnid Galaxy II's in this spacious location. I pull out some AmberBock "premiums" from my travel bag and put together a couple of quick contests. Jim Gann wins the AmberBock darts and Erich Biddle won the AmberBock shirt.
 Eric tells me he'll have no problems meeting the minimum 12 Tulsa darters to get the American Dart League started and I don't doubt it. If the Friendly Tavern is indicative of the other dart pubs in Tulsa we can look forward to many new members from this great dart town soon!
The following morning I meet with the Anheuser-Busch wholesaler and they agree to support the program. This wholesaling area is HUGE covering over 16,000 square miles! Sales Manager, Scott Stilwell looks forward to working with the ADA to expand the American Dart League to dozens of locations in the Oklahoma “prairie”.
In the morning I’m off to Oklahoma City, another great area for darts.
 Oklahoma City is less than 100 miles west on Interstate I-44 and upon arrival I meet with Gabrielle “Gaby” Smiley, who manages The Dart Shop. This is “darts central” for OKC. With two walls of darts supplies plus pool, poker and table games it doesn’t surprise me this shop has been in business for almost 20 years! Gaby tells me there are two large soft tip leagues in the city and steel tip is all but non-existent! After outlining the American Dart League program she assured me there would be no problems in recruiting the minimum 12 players to get started. She’s a great lady and I look forward to working with her this fall.
Gaby provides me a list of places to play but with my next meeting 250 miles away in Amarillo, time prohibits me from visiting any of them. Logging onto my laptop for a quick weather report I see only scattered clouds and with temps in the 80’s I look forward to an uneventful journey to Amarillo.
Unfortunately that is not the case, as I did not allow for the high winds across the flat plains of western Oklahoma! I fought them as long as I could at a top speed of 50 miles per hour (the passing of 18 wheelers were my biggest challenge) and I finally pull off the Interstate to wait for the winds to calm.
After a two-hour rest it was back on the road again. Crossing into Texas I pulled into, Shamrock a small town 120 miles east of Amarillo, to end the days travels. I check into the Best Western and it was off to a restaurant for a Texas steak and a cold beer. To my surprise (and disappointment) I had entered into a “dry” county! The waitress informs me the only beer served locally is at the Irish Inn a short walk down the street. After being seated and placing my food order, Marcie informs me beer is served only to guests at the Inn or to members of the lounge! I’m pleased to report I am now an official member of the Irish Inn Lounge! Welcome to Texas!!!
The following day I finally roll into Amarillo for my scheduled meeting with Budweiser Distributing Company. Amarillo is located in the Texas “panhandle” and has grown since my last visit as a welder over 30 years ago. AB Sales Mgr Mark Barrow and his staff pledge their support and we now look forward to launching the American Dart League here this fall.
I left town traveling on a stretch of famous Route 66 visiting several of the locations with darts Mark provided to me; Stumpy’s, Route 66 Roadhouse, Polly’s Pub and the infamous No Dogs Allowed Saloon! I’m really looking forward to adding these great darts locations to the American Dart League this fall!
Next stop: Clovis, New Mexico and a meeting with my old friend from our military darts program, 1st Sgt, Glen Pugh at nearby Cannon AFB.
With just over 800 miles on the reliable Honda my business trip to expand the ADA here in the great southwest is going very well. After traveling due west for the past couple of days I head southwest onto US 87 to Clovis, New Mexico and Cannon Air Force Base. It is just over 100 miles and with a speed limit of 75 mph the trip took takes over an hour (unfortunately my speedometer broke so I must gauge my speed by rpm's on the tachometer).
 There I meet with 1st Sgt. Glen Pugh. Glen has arranged a meeting at the End Zone (an enlisted club) to launch the AF "Dart Leagues in the Military" program. Glen transferred from Sheppard AFB in Texas where he played in our program there and also competed in the Military Cup Challenge. For you National Championship members you might remember Glen as a member of the Honor Guard that presented "Old Glory" during the Opening Ceremonies.
After dinner we're off to the End Zone where manager, Dan Brewer greets us at the door. In my 36 years of playing darts I've been to many great locations. The End Zone certainly makes my top 10 list! This spacious place has everything; four big screen televisions, pool, foosball, tons of video games, six Internet stations and of course, darts! After the meeting to introduce the league a blind draw followed. AB wholesaler, Premier Distributing delivers to almost the entire state of New Mexico and provided AmberBock "premiums" as prizes. Every participant walked out with  something!
After a great night of darts, Mark Jacobs & Teodoro Espinoza took first place over Kevin Lewis & Ricky Sain. Mark is a veteran in our sport and we met many years ago at the Cleveland Extravaganza. It was great to see him and he's a good shot. Glen did an outstanding job to make the night a success and we look forward to adding Cannon AFB to the Dart Leagues in the Military program in June.
The next day I'm off to Albuquerque with Glen along my side. As luck would have it, Glen rides too and he took time off from his active duty to ride half way with me. He's got a beautiful Harley and the ride on Route 60 is a pleasant one  where we stop at Fort Sumner for a rest. Turns out it is also the final resting place for Billy the Kid! Glen alerts me that we are not far from Roswell the infamous New Mexico town where some say aliens were shot down by the Air Force back fifty-years ago!
No unusual sightings as we take Route 64 north to Santa Rosa where I bid a farewell to Glen. Route 40 will take me into Albuquerque.
Another great ride through the mountains as I ride 7200 feet above sea level! I roll into New Mexico's largest city at 6 PM and upon checking into the hotel and a quick shower, Brian Spieker picks me up for a night of darts and a couple of cold AmberBocks! He takes me to Sneakerz just one of the great places to toss steel tip darts in Albuquerque. Brian plays in the New Mexico Dart Association (NMDA) and looks forward to working with me to recruit the 12 members required to expand the ADA here.
 Sneaker's is a huge sports bar with a back room dedicated for darts. Manager, Tavake Misailegalu greets us and I outline my plans to bring the American Dart League (ADL) to Albuquerque. Tavake plays himself and we look forward to bringing the ADL to Sneaker's this fall. It was casual darts for the remainder of the night with Brian assisting me in organizing some contest to distribute AmberBock premiums to those playing darts.
The following day (Friday, the 13th) I'm off to meet with Premier Distributing in the states capitol, Santa Fe, just an hour north where I experience some "bad luck". A major accident has closed Interstate 27 turning it into a five-mile parking lot! During the wait, I meet fellow biker Steve Johnson on his Harley. He is from Costilla, NM located north on the NM/Colorado border. With over an hour to get acquainted Steve tells me he competes in Rodeo's on weekends in cattle roping events. We swap tournament stories until the accident clears. Unfortunately I miss my meeting with the Premier management team and make a U-turn heading back to Albuquerque. Not all is lost as the Premier agrees to support the ADA this fall and we will develop plans by teleconferences over the summer months.
 My next meeting is with Donna Burkholber owner of Donna's Dart Shop. If you want to know anything about darts in Albuquerque this is the place to be. Donna has served on the Board of the New Mexico Dart Association for over 10 years and her shop has been in the same location for the past 15 years!
Between the two of us we have over 50 years invested in our sport and I easily spend most of the afternoon there! Later Leon, her husband, and NMDA member Brian Mazor join us. A good time and it is a pleasure to invest time with people who love and are dedicated to our sport. I promised to keep them informed on our plans to expand the ADA to Albuquerque.
At 4 PM I'm back on the road headed for Gallup a small western NM town for the evening. There I find Good Fellas, a tavern on the main "drag" with two Valley soft tip dart machines. There is a great Friday night crowd watching the Suns beat up Dallas in the NBA playoffs and Don Good (his Dad is the owner) tells me the dart league fell apart when the president moved! He believes he can recruit the minimum 12 players to bring the American Dart League to his location and will work with us to expand to other Gallup locations. AB wholesaler Premier Distributing serves this community so I will seek their support to assist us both.
 I leave Gallup, NM the following day for Flagstaff on Interstate 40 and then my final stop of this Southwest Odyssey, Phoenix. With just under 400 miles to go this leg of the journey is my longest.
Crossing over the Arizona border I stop in Holbrook for fuel and a stretch of the legs. After conversing with locals they convince me to take Route 77 south bypassing Flagstaff. Yet another good decision as 77 takes me through the Fort Apache Indian Reservation, the rolling landscape of the Arizona desert where I turn onto Route 60 at Snowflake. This beautiful route takes me to the Salt River Canyon, better known as "the little Grand Canyon" and appropriately so! Route 60 is carved into the side of this canyon as it winds down to the Salt River and then up the  other side. A spectacular view!
I roll into Superior, the first town on the other side of the canyon, riding on fumes. Next to the gas station is Los Hermano (The Brothers), a tavern with many bikes outside so I stop in for a cold drink. I meet local Harley riders, Bob Zache & Margie Lopez, who provide me an interesting background of the reservation and the canyon. We swap contact info and they look forward to riding with me on my way back later this summer.
 Phoenix is just an hour away and I roll into Arizona's capitol and largest city at 6:00 PM. I'll spend the next four days here staying at Rick & Deb's my brother & sister in-law's... no hotel! After a quick shower I'm off to meet my friends in darts, Dan & Linda Rocchi. They followed my trip on the site and invited me to the draw doubles held that night at Kirk's Korner on the west side. Originally from New York they moved to Phoenix several years ago. They attended many of the tournaments I directed in New England back in the late 70's. I hadn't seen them since! I arrive too late to enter the draw and we talked darts for hours at the bar.
The next day I meet with Jeff Loisel owner of Shoot the Bull the largest dart shop in Phoenix. Jeff and I worked together back in the mid 80's when I brought Merit's electronic darts to Phoenix.  Shoot the Bull is the oldest dart shop in the country and, with the exception of being closed Sunday's, it has been open every day for the past 25 years! Trust me this shop has everything, if you can't find it you don't need it!
Darts is huge in Phoenix with multiple soft and steel tip leagues. I’ll invest my remaining time here seeking a location for the Southwest Regional (held in early July or late August), meeting with Hensley, the Anheuser-Busch wholesaler, the AMF Bowling District Manager (there are 15 AMF Bowling Centers in Phoenix!) and the Recreation Director at Sun City West (an adult community for those 55 & older). I'm looking forward to working with them to launch our first "senior league".
This 1600 mile, ten-day Southwest Odyssey comes to a close as I store the Honda at Rick & Deb’s and board a flight back to St. Louis. This trip was certainly as memorable as the Northeast Odyssey last year. I'll spend the next couple of months developing marketing plans to expand the American Dart League in this vast market for a fall season start up.
Speaking of the fall, stay tuned for the Northwest Odyssey!
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