Road Trippin' - Season 2, Episode 7

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Donate that. Don't need that. [00:00:02] Speaker B: Checking out all the buttons. This road caster is awesome. Speaking of road, we were on the road. You ready for this number? 3,232 miles. [00:00:12] Speaker A: Oh, my goodness. [00:00:13] Speaker B: 32, 32, 32, 32. You know, I love numbers. [00:00:17] Speaker A: You do? [00:00:19] Speaker B: 2 to the fifth power twice. [00:00:24] Speaker A: Wow. [00:00:24] Speaker B: 32 to the fifth power. 2, 4, 8, 16, 32. Come on. 64, 128, 256. I mean, every knows these numbers. 5, 12, 10, 24. Nerd is showing 20, 48, 40, 96. It comes from my telecom background. Those numbers are very important in telecom. [00:00:39] Speaker A: Oh, interesting. [00:00:41] Speaker B: Well, we are binary. Everything is light on or off or. Or pulses of electricity, on or off. So everything's done in twos. [00:00:48] Speaker A: When I was in sales, I didn't have to know all that stuff. [00:00:53] Speaker B: Well, some of the clients I met with needed to know. [00:00:57] Speaker A: Sure. So it was much deeper than I needed. That's why I think it was much deeper than I needed to know. [00:01:02] Speaker B: Yeah, that's right. [00:01:03] Speaker A: I brought in somebody else for that. [00:01:05] Speaker B: Let's. Let's go back to the. To the road. [00:01:07] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:01:08] Speaker B: Roadshow. [00:01:09] Speaker A: Roadshow. Scouting. [00:01:11] Speaker B: Let's not bore our listeners, but let's quickly go through our last two weeks. Okay, first of all, we already recorded this podcast, and we completely lost it. Don't know where it went. Oh, we found it right when we were starting here in the office tonight. We're like. Like, you know what? We're here anyway. We didn't love it. [00:01:26] Speaker A: We didn't love it. So I was exhausted. I didn't feel good. [00:01:30] Speaker B: Yeah, we just got back and we. [00:01:32] Speaker A: Didn'T really have a plan, but then. [00:01:34] Speaker B: I had to stay up till midnight editing it, and then that was a waste because it didn't really matter. [00:01:38] Speaker A: You didn't find it. Yeah. [00:01:39] Speaker B: Yeah. Well, we left here two weeks ago, folks. Today's Thursday the 26th. You'll probably hear this on the 27th or later. This is June 2025, and we hit the road early, and we went to St. Louis. [00:01:52] Speaker A: That was fun. [00:01:53] Speaker B: Which has some great facilities. [00:01:54] Speaker A: There's a lot of pickleball in St. Louis. [00:01:57] Speaker B: There's a Missouri pickleball club, which is pretty popular. They had three locations. [00:02:00] Speaker A: Three locations. [00:02:01] Speaker B: I feel like one of them was like a 24.7fob type. Yes, one of them. We went and saw their courts were a little narrow. [00:02:07] Speaker A: Yep. [00:02:08] Speaker B: But they said their third location, which we did not get to see, was the largest. Was the largest. Then we went and met a really cool dude that has like an old Home Depot or something. [00:02:18] Speaker A: Yes. He took. I think it was an old Home Depot based on the coloring that was on the curbs and poles and such and turned it into a big pickleball facility. [00:02:29] Speaker B: Phenomenal. 20, what I would call real courts. Dedicated five more real courts, but they are roll down or roll out surfaces, but they're permanently in place. Okay. It's not as good as the other ones, but it's not horrible. No space where he's going to put in two championship courts. Now, folks, the minimum size we recommend for a Pickleball court is 30 by 60. 30ft by 60ft. His championship courts are going to be 50 by 80. That adds 10 more feet on each side next to the post and 10 more feet on the back on each end to a standard 30 by 60 court. That's a lot of space. [00:03:07] Speaker A: And I think he did a lot of the work himself. [00:03:10] Speaker B: And he's adding in. Didn't he say he was putting in, like, all kinds of stadium seating and everything so people could. [00:03:14] Speaker A: That was his dream. Yeah, I think he's working his way up to that. But he also has space outside. [00:03:20] Speaker B: Yep. [00:03:20] Speaker A: Where, like, lumber was, like where garden center was. [00:03:23] Speaker B: Yeah. Where he would have maybe driven back to pick up something that he has. [00:03:26] Speaker A: The ability to add more quartz. [00:03:28] Speaker B: Yeah. I think it was 10 more. And almost all those were underneath. A big, like on. [00:03:32] Speaker A: Exactly. Just like you would at Home Depot. [00:03:34] Speaker B: Yeah. Really cool. [00:03:36] Speaker A: Very cool. [00:03:36] Speaker B: Definitely planning on doing a tournament there. [00:03:38] Speaker A: I hope so. Yeah. [00:03:39] Speaker B: Yeah. He. He welcomed it. He wanted us. [00:03:41] Speaker A: Yep. [00:03:42] Speaker B: All right. So we left St. Louis sky and we headed down to Branson, Missouri for Father's Day weekend. And while there, we got a chance to play outdoors at some brand new courts. [00:03:50] Speaker A: Yes. Way to go, Branson. [00:03:52] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:03:53] Speaker A: Parks and rec. [00:03:54] Speaker B: We played there. Yeah, we played there two years ago, but not at the same place we did. And it was okay. [00:04:01] Speaker A: It was. Yeah. [00:04:02] Speaker B: We absolutely weren't complaining. But it was a long, tiny little court. Big walk, a couple quarts. Two or four. It wasn't a lot. I think it was two. Yeah. And they were okay. They were in decent condition, but they weren't like these. These were. It was six quarts. Brand new. Brand new tennis courts right next to them. Completely empty, of course, but we'll worry about that later. [00:04:23] Speaker A: The only challenge is that the maps sent us to the parking lot. [00:04:27] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:04:28] Speaker A: And it would have been a nice hike. [00:04:30] Speaker B: Yeah. Two parking lots that sent us. The one it sent us to was. [00:04:33] Speaker A: The park parking lot. [00:04:34] Speaker B: We had to walk a long ways. [00:04:35] Speaker A: If we stayed there, but people were. [00:04:37] Speaker B: Like, you don't want to park here for the pickleball. Go over here. So we, like, drove 19 more minutes, it seemed like, over hills and. I mean, those arcs. Right. So all over the place. Yeah. But we ended up on the other side of the park, the other side of the river, and, man, they were gorgeous courts. [00:04:51] Speaker A: It's fantastic. And what. And what happened there that you want to brag about? [00:04:55] Speaker B: Well, my favorite shots. The Nasty Nelson. Yeah. [00:04:59] Speaker A: So we're playing with my family. [00:05:01] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:05:01] Speaker A: A nice, relaxing recreation. [00:05:03] Speaker B: Totally just for fun. [00:05:04] Speaker A: All of a sudden, he was losing. [00:05:07] Speaker B: Well, I told my partner we wouldn't. [00:05:08] Speaker A: Lose the game he was losing, and I wasn't paying attention because I'm talking to my family member I was playing with. And what happened? [00:05:17] Speaker B: I whacked you with the ball. Nasty Nelson, point for us. Rotate. Let's keep going. [00:05:23] Speaker A: Meanwhile, my parents are like, what's happening? [00:05:26] Speaker B: I'm abusing your daughter. Are there any other questions? After Branson, I'm gonna hop off of this topic before I get in any trouble. She was not mad at me that day, folks. [00:05:36] Speaker A: She was funny. [00:05:38] Speaker B: Perfectly. Wonderful competitor. Who knows? It's just part of the game. [00:05:42] Speaker A: Yep. [00:05:43] Speaker B: Just like Mariana. [00:05:45] Speaker A: You just have to. You have to be ready. You have to pay attention. [00:05:48] Speaker B: If you're not and you get whacked, it's on you. [00:05:50] Speaker A: Exactly. [00:05:51] Speaker B: And is a good shot by the server. [00:05:53] Speaker A: It was a good shot. [00:05:55] Speaker B: I hit you smack in the middle, didn't I? You did, like, dead center body. Dead center mass. [00:05:58] Speaker A: Center mass. [00:06:00] Speaker B: It was a bullseye. I hadn't nailed it. So we went to Springfield, which had a lot of pickleball. I. I think probably, you know, having Cassandra Gerke probably helped drive some of that. I don't know for sure. Um, I think that's. But there certainly is a good community there. Pickleballers. She used to run a lot of drills there. We went through in 2020 before COVID exploded. [00:06:22] Speaker A: We just. You and our friends did well. [00:06:25] Speaker B: You were there too, but you did in the hotel. Yeah. Weren't you working? Oh. Were you relaxing? [00:06:30] Speaker A: I was just. I was just taking it easy. [00:06:31] Speaker B: It's like you told me you had to work. [00:06:33] Speaker A: I didn't. [00:06:34] Speaker B: A little liar. No, just chilling. Didn't want to do the drills. You weren't into pickleball? No, not at all. And this was Robin's favorite pickleball player at the time. [00:06:43] Speaker A: Yes. [00:06:44] Speaker B: So I reached out to Cass. She's like, yeah, come through. Join us. We're doing drills and league or Whatever. And so we jumped in and got into her on her drill session for free, which was really sweet of her. [00:06:54] Speaker A: Nice. [00:06:54] Speaker B: Had a great time. [00:06:55] Speaker A: It was really sweet of her. She's a sweet lady. [00:06:57] Speaker B: Anyway, Springfield was good, but the challenge there, which we did experience in multiple places, and it's not a challenge. Like it's a really big deal to pick a ball. Great facilities. A lot of em had eight quarts or less. And we're just looking for 12 plus courts. That's. That's why it's a challenge. Otherwise, no big deal. Yeah. So Oklahoma City, that was next on. No, Tulsa was next on our list. Tulsa. Yeah. [00:07:22] Speaker A: And I don't know if we stayed. I don't know if we stopped in Tulsa. [00:07:25] Speaker B: We totally stopped in Tulsa. [00:07:26] Speaker A: I don't remember. [00:07:28] Speaker B: Brocanera. Yeah, we stopped in Tulsa at two or three locations. Saw what we needed to see. Eight courts, six courts. Not bad. Oh, I should go backwards. We hit chicken and pickle in St. Louis. [00:07:43] Speaker A: Great chicken and pickle. [00:07:44] Speaker B: One of the nicest ones we've seen. Huge. [00:07:46] Speaker A: It's big. [00:07:47] Speaker B: I feel like there were 11 quarts, maybe five outdoors and six. [00:07:51] Speaker A: I believe there were 11. And it's right there near like a bunch of other stuff like the riverboat casino. Riverboat casino. Fun shops and eateries. [00:08:00] Speaker B: Movie theater. [00:08:01] Speaker A: Movie theater. [00:08:02] Speaker B: It would be a great place. And it's so big. There's just a ton of room for you to like spread out and have your stuff there. It's like having a gymnasium in between your course. [00:08:10] Speaker A: Yeah. Walking distance from hotels. [00:08:12] Speaker B: And you can play, can jam or beanbag toss. Gamey, I always say. What's that called again? [00:08:18] Speaker A: It's called cornhole. [00:08:19] Speaker B: I say that every time. Every time we do it. [00:08:21] Speaker A: At least in Indiana we call it cornhole. [00:08:23] Speaker B: They don't actually have kanji on there. They have cornhole. They have ping pong. Yeah, the big giant battleship. Did they have shuffleboard there? I can't remember. [00:08:32] Speaker A: Shuffleboard, maybe. But they also had Connect 4. [00:08:35] Speaker B: Anyway, just a fun, fun, fun place. Big fire pit. Great place to have an outdoor concert during your. During your pickleball. Six indoor courts, five outdoor courts. Four of them were covered. [00:08:46] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:08:47] Speaker B: So really you're looking at 10 courts covered. So you could do a tournament there a lot of the year. Eight or nine months for sure. [00:08:53] Speaker A: Or if you're looking for a fun place for a staycation. [00:08:55] Speaker B: Oh, gosh, yes. It'd be a blast. [00:08:58] Speaker A: You could have everything. [00:08:59] Speaker B: Yeah. Good people, a lot of fun, great staff, great food. All right, so back to Tulsa. We move on from Tulsa to Oklahoma City. And in Oklahoma City it's family. And we were there for game five of the Pacers Thunders game, which sucks because that was a big game for the Pacers and didn't turn out the way we wanted it to. Lost that game, went back home, won a game and then couldn't pull down the finals. No happens. But Oklahoma City had some great courts and we need to talk about two in particular. First of all, we went to Chicken and Pickle. [00:09:30] Speaker A: Yes. [00:09:31] Speaker B: We had every chicken and pickle we could on the way. We did also go the one in Denver that's brand new up in Thornton. We'll talk about that in a minute. Great food. Oklahoma City is also a big court. It was also 11, but it had two uncovered outdoors instead of one, otherwise six indoors. It was a wonderful facility. But there's a YMCA and you got to tell the story. [00:09:53] Speaker A: Yes. So when I worked with pickle play, we connected with the OKC YMCA and some wonderful YMCA member donated money to install outdoor courts that were dedicated to pickleball. [00:10:10] Speaker B: That person might just say, that's right. Ymca, which doesn't normally make me think tournament, but sky. [00:10:23] Speaker A: No. And they're covered. So I think it's like six outdoor. [00:10:29] Speaker B: No, I think it was. Maybe it was eight outdoor or 10 even out. [00:10:32] Speaker A: No, it wasn't 10. I think it might be eight. Eight, eight outdoor. They're also building four more at a different location. So they will have a. I think 12 eventually. Plus there's the ability to play inside on the gym floor. But it would be a great place for a first time tournament and for sure. And such great people to work with. [00:10:53] Speaker B: For sure. They were the best. They gave us a tour of the whole facility, invited us to join them for their open play at noon. Yep, we played at open play at noon. I just said twice. But hey, we did play. We had a blast. They. They said please come over here and play on the advanced court. And then we kind of got stuck on the non advanced court because of the number of players. And I just left it afterwards and went over and watched the advanced court and then they finally let us on. They were like, oh, we should have had you here earlier. You guys are not too bad. Yeah, we didn't kill it, but we had a blast. [00:11:25] Speaker A: He and I beat you. That was fun. [00:11:28] Speaker B: I don't remember that. [00:11:29] Speaker A: Nasty Nelson. [00:11:30] Speaker B: Don't remember that at all. [00:11:31] Speaker A: Oh really? [00:11:32] Speaker B: Nope, it's not ringing a bell. [00:11:35] Speaker A: Short term memory loss, something Pickleball memory loss? [00:11:41] Speaker B: Yeah, for sure. Yeah, I skipped a place. Was it Ryan that we met in St. Louis? I want to go back to that for a second. Wasn't that Padell and pickle? [00:11:50] Speaker A: That was St. Louis. Yeah. So Ryan is the GM for paddle or Padel and Pickle. First time I was able to play on a Padel court, that was fun. [00:12:01] Speaker B: That was fun playing Padel. [00:12:02] Speaker A: And that really messed with my brain a little bit because I am not a racquetball player. So I think if you've played racquetball in the past, it would be an easier transition. But it was fun. I really enjoyed it. [00:12:15] Speaker B: Yeah, for sure. [00:12:16] Speaker A: And they had just had the Padel Midwest tournament. [00:12:21] Speaker B: Regionals, I think. [00:12:22] Speaker A: Regionals there. [00:12:22] Speaker B: Yeah. And by the way, they called it Padel. I asked him the question. I go, well, hey, we hear paddle. We hear Padel. He goes, look, it's called paddle. But there's this worldwide movement, apparently, to change the pronunciation to Padel because paddle tennis is so popular, and it's called paddle, and they didn't want to compete with that. I get it. Pickleball's never gonna have that problem. [00:12:44] Speaker A: No. [00:12:44] Speaker B: Can't imagine somebody else calling their sport pickleball. [00:12:46] Speaker A: Right. [00:12:47] Speaker B: Um, anyway, so back to Oklahoma City. It was fantastic. Met some great people. We have plans for a tournament there. We move on to Amarillo, Texas. [00:12:56] Speaker A: First time in the panhandle for me. [00:12:59] Speaker B: Yeah, you've been in Texas before, but first time in the panhandle for you. Amarillo, Texas, was fantastic, but again, another one of those cities where it's just not quite big enough. And most of the places with courts were eight or less. Although we know that at the one location, which was Amarillo Netplex National Tennis Club. [00:13:20] Speaker A: Oh, National Tennis Club. [00:13:21] Speaker B: Right. That they had six or eight outdoor tennis courts and another eight or ten outdoor pickleball courts. So we really could have. [00:13:29] Speaker A: If we wanted to risk. [00:13:30] Speaker B: During outdoor. During the. Yeah, exactly. So like May or September. Maybe October. November. [00:13:36] Speaker A: They said September. October would be the best if you wanted an outdoor tournament. [00:13:40] Speaker B: Yeah. But it was great. And then we did. We saw other places in town. At the very last place we went, which was a golf club. Met with a great lady there, Corey. They had some nice indoor courts and outdoor courts indoors was. [00:13:56] Speaker A: Golf club. [00:13:57] Speaker B: Well, not Toscano, because toss. [00:14:00] Speaker A: Toss. I don't know. I'll have to look it up for you guys and put it in the notes. But really great facility that was going to have to close down, and a group saved it. And it's really fun story to share. And they've added more pickleball, and it's doing really well. Really pretty place. [00:14:19] Speaker B: Was given a free zucchini while there. [00:14:22] Speaker A: No, that was at the national in Emerald. Oh, yeah. People are. [00:14:26] Speaker B: And I was like, thank you. [00:14:27] Speaker A: Yeah, Pickleball. People are friendly no matter where you go. [00:14:30] Speaker B: Yeah. They were scared to come over toward me because I was sitting in a car next to theirs, and there's only two cars in the parking lot. [00:14:35] Speaker A: Dark car. [00:14:36] Speaker B: Yeah. And they got near me. I started rolling down my window, and they were like. In fact, the second one behind turned around and walked. Started walking away. And the front lady was. I was like, can I ask you a question? He's like, sure. So after she answers that, she leaves and then she comes back and I'm looking the direction. She kind of freaks me out because I see this reflection in my. In my window and I look over and she. There she is. And she's holding this big green cucumber. I'm like, oh, don't hurt me. [00:14:57] Speaker A: Big. Yeah, big. [00:14:58] Speaker B: She goes, you want. Oh, d. C. Yeah. She goes, you want a zucchini? I'm like, yeah, sure. Gave it to my sister. I have no interest in a zucchini. [00:15:05] Speaker A: I. Well, if we hadn't been traveling, it would have been easier. [00:15:08] Speaker B: Sure. We could have made zucchini bread or something good out of it. [00:15:10] Speaker A: Fried zucchini. [00:15:11] Speaker B: So we head from Amarillo to Colorado Springs, which I think we can both. Wouldn't you say that's probably a place that we want to have our next. Not our next, but a tournament soon. Because. Wow. [00:15:21] Speaker A: It was. It's definitely on our yes list. And obviously we still have much to go. And I. We're not trying to, you know, advertise all of our terms. [00:15:31] Speaker B: It's fun trip, great places, but what. [00:15:33] Speaker A: We want to share. What we want to share. [00:15:35] Speaker B: I'm not editing it. This is. We already did that once for this week, so that's. [00:15:39] Speaker A: Yeah, I'm done editing. [00:15:40] Speaker B: Yep. This has been edited already. [00:15:42] Speaker A: There are so many places that you can travel to. You could literally travel from pickleball facility to pickleball facility. Because most of these do have a drop in rate. [00:15:51] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:15:52] Speaker A: And you can play. And that way you can say that you've played in every state. I know that was once a goal of yours. Still is in every state. [00:16:00] Speaker B: Still is. But Covid really slowed it down. I got to 25, and I don't think I've done any new ones since. [00:16:05] Speaker A: COVID But we've already played in Missouri. We've already played in Oklahoma. We've already played in Texas. Yeah, we've already played in Colorado. So we haven't really visited any new states that we should have played. [00:16:16] Speaker B: That's the problem that we. [00:16:17] Speaker A: Yeah, we did. [00:16:18] Speaker B: I have to drive to North Dakota to do that. [00:16:22] Speaker A: We did get the corner of New Mexico. So I got to say, I've been in New Mexico. [00:16:27] Speaker B: I've played in New Mexico. [00:16:28] Speaker A: It was really just a drive thru. [00:16:30] Speaker B: I actually played with a lady whose name is Chris Best. [00:16:34] Speaker A: Really? [00:16:35] Speaker B: Yeah. Only meaningful to us because Chris Best was my best friend growing up, but not this. [00:16:39] Speaker A: And his wife is named Chris. [00:16:40] Speaker B: A chick. Anyway. She's a real sweetie. [00:16:43] Speaker A: Oh, that's fun. [00:16:43] Speaker B: And I played at like 4, 000ft. I also played in Flagstaff, Arizona, which is like 7, 000ft above sea level. And I was like, I was hurting. [00:16:53] Speaker A: For a sea level people. That's a lot. [00:16:55] Speaker B: That's for sure. New Mexico did not hold any pickleball for us. We just kind of drove through the corner of it, went across Raton Pass. 7,000, 8,000ft above sea level. Awesome. Gorgeous. Stunning. [00:17:08] Speaker A: I got to see a mule deer, huge herd of antelope. [00:17:13] Speaker B: That's what put us into Colorado Springs, which we already mentioned, candidly. We saw a few places in Colorado Springs, but nothing matched peak pickleball. [00:17:23] Speaker A: Peak pickleball in Colorado Springs took over. [00:17:26] Speaker B: Burlington Coat Factory spot. [00:17:28] Speaker A: Another really great redemption story for an empty location in a mall. [00:17:33] Speaker B: In a mall that's still going like an indoor mall. People that. If you don't remember those. We used to have indoor malls, which. [00:17:37] Speaker A: Is more common in colder temperatures anyway. [00:17:40] Speaker B: Sure. [00:17:42] Speaker A: And there is like 11 or 12 on the first floor and then like 11 and 12 on the second floor. [00:17:49] Speaker B: I think there was 13 on the top floor because they had that private one in the back that was completely enclosed. [00:17:53] Speaker A: That's right. They use for lessons. [00:17:54] Speaker B: I think there was 12 on the second floor where they did not have that spot. So 25 total chords plus 2 dink. [00:18:01] Speaker A: Quartz for warming up dink walls. [00:18:04] Speaker B: No, they would Dink Quartz. [00:18:06] Speaker A: Yep. They both had a little lounge area that you could use or rent. They had a boardroom that they. Or a party room that they called the kitchen. [00:18:16] Speaker B: Well, and it's attached to the mall. [00:18:18] Speaker A: And it's attached. [00:18:19] Speaker B: And you can go straight into the mall from the pickleball place, which takes you right to a bunch of seating area that's all branded Peak pickleball. Yeah. So pretty cool. In fact, so cool that we were like, we found our place in the Springs So we head up to Denver, and I mean, people. There's like five picklers in the Denver metro area. Picklers. Not just pickleball. Places to play picklers. There's pickle. Pickleball Hub Pub. There was. I don't. We went to a bunch of places. Third shot. We went to third shot. Which we have in Indy as well. [00:18:54] Speaker A: Yep. And they're building another third shot there. [00:18:57] Speaker B: Correct. And they had just moved into this one from another facility. And it was nice. They did a good job. [00:19:01] Speaker A: It was a great area, too. [00:19:03] Speaker B: We found some great people and great spots. I'll tell you what. Everyone was just so welcoming, and it's always that way. But we talk about community. It's just continues to bear itself out over and over and over again. [00:19:14] Speaker A: There was a couple of people that kind of were skeptical about why we were there and thought we were like a spy for another. [00:19:22] Speaker B: So you're here to run a tournament. [00:19:24] Speaker A: Yes. [00:19:24] Speaker B: I'm like, look at my license plates. This is Indiana. We're not here to build another court to compete with you. [00:19:28] Speaker A: But because people don't do things in person much anymore. [00:19:32] Speaker B: True. [00:19:33] Speaker A: It was very out of the box, which is kind of your thing. [00:19:36] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:19:37] Speaker A: Out of the box thinking. And what is valuable about feet on the ground? When you're looking at a venue, it's because they. You see what's around it. You get to see how much parking there is. You can see how many hotels are nearby. And yeah, maybe I could have seen that from a satellite image. But you can't see how easy it is to get to. No, all of those things were also. [00:20:03] Speaker B: The pictures on the web are always nice, but when you get there in person, you're like, oh, they found a nice little remote corner to take that picture, didn't they? Because the rest of it's like, exactly. [00:20:11] Speaker A: Or, you know, is there a temperature issue? Like, we found a place that was really fine. Did Aurora, Colorado and it. [00:20:19] Speaker B: And we want to have a tournament there. [00:20:20] Speaker A: We do. And there was a temperature issue at the time, but it was a really great community of people. [00:20:28] Speaker B: And wouldn't you have called it pretty minor? Like, we didn't feel like it was that bad back there. [00:20:31] Speaker A: I didn't. But we're from Indiana, so we're used to humidity. [00:20:34] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:20:35] Speaker A: So true. We didn't dry. But if you were from the area, you might have thought it was bad. [00:20:41] Speaker B: Yeah, that's fair. [00:20:42] Speaker A: And the only challenge with that location for a tournament, not just for. For membership, but for tournament, is two of the courts had an AC unit or some. Something hanging down from the ceiling. [00:20:53] Speaker B: One court did. Other courts had it up above, but it was as high. As high as the rafters were. Yeah, the beams were. So it's not a big deal. But one of them was low enough that. And it was like not in the middle of the court, but a third of the way into the court. So right over the net. And we saw people try to lob. They hit the thing, so. [00:21:09] Speaker A: Or they just mishit and it hit them. Well, that'd be a bad four for a tournament that. That could be. [00:21:15] Speaker B: But there was still like 11 courts there. [00:21:16] Speaker A: Yep. [00:21:17] Speaker B: So decent size. [00:21:18] Speaker A: I mean, it was. [00:21:19] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:21:19] Speaker A: And it was in an old manufacturing area. So that. And again, pickleball has taken over spaces that were unused and now beautiful again. [00:21:30] Speaker B: That's why we have making tennis courts great again hats. [00:21:32] Speaker A: Yeah, true. But this is also like unused spaces. Making unused spaces and making them great. [00:21:37] Speaker B: Again, unlike tennis courts. Unused spaces. [00:21:40] Speaker A: You're hilarious. [00:21:40] Speaker B: I know. Thank you. But you're right. And here's the problem in Denver, because everywhere we went, other than this one place really was more like 10, 8, 8, 6, 5. It's just really expensive there. [00:21:54] Speaker A: It's so expensive for. [00:21:55] Speaker B: I mean, to open a 25 court place would be a big undertaking. Oh, but let's go back to Colorado Springs. It's an underserved area. You want to know how we know that a thousand people have joined as members there in the first, like five months. [00:22:10] Speaker A: Yep. And they're paying for the most expensive version of the membership. [00:22:15] Speaker B: And then the same thing was true in St. Louis with that 25 location place. [00:22:18] Speaker A: Yep. [00:22:18] Speaker B: His. And he also had badminton. [00:22:20] Speaker A: He did. [00:22:21] Speaker B: He did. [00:22:21] Speaker A: It was pickle and badminton. [00:22:23] Speaker B: Yeah. Anyway, we wrapped up in Denver with another trip to Chicken and Pickle. As I alluded to earlier, three chicken. [00:22:30] Speaker A: And pickles in one week. That's the first time that's happened for me. [00:22:33] Speaker B: That was a little low for me, but I did five one time in five days. [00:22:37] Speaker A: Yeah. You call it the Chicken Ball. Chicken and Pickle Run. [00:22:40] Speaker B: The Chicken Ball Run. Like the Cannonball Run, but the Chicken Ball Run. Yeah. [00:22:42] Speaker A: It's fun. [00:22:43] Speaker B: I wanna. I wanna popularize that. We'll see what we can do. So here's the thing. This Chicken and Pickle was the tiniest of them all. [00:22:51] Speaker A: Again, I'm not slamming them. Yeah. [00:22:54] Speaker B: It was a phenomenal facility. [00:22:56] Speaker A: Great staff. [00:22:57] Speaker B: Loved them. We got there for a VIP dinner night, which was before they opened, because they opened on Tuesday this week and we were there last week on Friday. And so that we walked in, we kind of got a smaller menu, but we were able to. 19 of us. [00:23:10] Speaker A: 19 in our free. [00:23:13] Speaker B: We could order a shared app for the table of four and then we could order one of the main courses for all each of us. For each of the four of us. Which included a side. [00:23:24] Speaker A: And a beverage. [00:23:25] Speaker B: And a beverage. Wow. And you know what, Sky? They didn't. They didn't miss a thing. [00:23:31] Speaker A: No mistakes. [00:23:32] Speaker B: Not one mistake. Yep. Everyone got exactly what they ordered as they ordered it. Well, that's pretty impressive for a before you open event. [00:23:40] Speaker A: It definitely was. And it was crowded. It was because they were serving new groups every hour. [00:23:45] Speaker B: Every hour we were rotating. Yeah. But they had like four indoor courts and the website says three outdoor courts. I only remember two. [00:23:52] Speaker A: I think I remember three. We'll have to look at pictures. [00:23:55] Speaker B: Six or seven. [00:23:55] Speaker A: They also had like a fire pit. They had all the outdoor games. [00:23:58] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Beanbag toss. A game. [00:24:00] Speaker A: This one was a little unique compared to the other two that we visited. They had a little bar inside the area where the. Inside the. With a chicken pickled quartz where normally this. The pickleball staff would be with like. [00:24:14] Speaker B: Walking back and forth. Yeah. [00:24:15] Speaker A: Yes. They had a counter toward the entry wall for the pickleball team. And then they had a bar inside. [00:24:23] Speaker B: And that might be their new design because this was the newest one open. [00:24:26] Speaker A: And then the one in St. Louis had a new ice cream place. [00:24:31] Speaker B: Yes. That was a test. They said yes. And it worked for us. [00:24:35] Speaker A: It did. [00:24:36] Speaker B: We had ice cream and we liked it. [00:24:37] Speaker A: So it. It. It's just fun. I know. There are more and more chicken and pickle type facilities going in. Some of them are more music focused as well as pickleball Focus. [00:24:49] Speaker B: Right. Entertainment. [00:24:50] Speaker A: So it. It is fun to. To combine the two. [00:24:53] Speaker B: We had a blast. And folks, we're getting ready to do another road trip. We leave on July 4th for our next one. I think we shared that in the last podcast, but we wanted to give you an update on how this one went. We had a great time, met incredible people. Even the small towns we didn't even talk about that we drove through on the way. A lot of them had pickleball courts like it is. Guys, it is everywhere. [00:25:12] Speaker A: It's everywhere. [00:25:13] Speaker B: We own this world. [00:25:14] Speaker A: So many neighborhood courts in every town that we went to. [00:25:19] Speaker B: So awesome. Now, I think we might disagree here. If I compare every place I went to to the place I think is the best that I've been yet that could hold a big tournament. Piccolo Noblesville. Still has my heart. I think it's the best one we've seen yet. Now, you might disagree with one of the new ones you saw, but for me, that place is pretty stunning. The mezzanine in the middle is awesome. The three championship courts are awesome. There's a lot of space between the courts and the walkways. Pretty decent lighting, really good back wall look. You know, I mean, I don't know. Overall, for me, if I had to vote, I'd say that's still my favorite large court location. What. What about you, though? [00:25:57] Speaker A: I. I definitely love the Noblesville. Pickler. [00:26:00] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:26:01] Speaker A: I love the mezzanine. I love the space in between. [00:26:04] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:26:04] Speaker A: Made it really easy to run a tournament there. The court spacing was nice. [00:26:09] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:26:10] Speaker A: The championship court was super special, especially. [00:26:13] Speaker B: The Drew Brees one. Huh. [00:26:14] Speaker A: The staff was fun and they participated. So not only did they work, but they also played. So it is very. They're kind of the standard for us now. They're. They're our top notch. [00:26:24] Speaker B: They're our model. [00:26:25] Speaker A: They're our model. Not every Pickler is like them, though. So the ones in Denver, true. Same decor, same setup, kind of, but they were small. And when we talked about the championship court, when we talked about the mezzanine, they were like, ooh, that would be nice. So it was. [00:26:43] Speaker B: Yeah. I'm not saying Pickler overall. I'm just saying if I picked one facility, I would choose the Pickler. Noblesville. [00:26:47] Speaker A: Yes, definitely. And it's also hard to compare any of the others that we saw because. [00:26:52] Speaker B: We didn't actually play a tournament or played. [00:26:53] Speaker A: We haven't played on those services yet. [00:26:55] Speaker B: But I'm feeling good about the one that's at the Home Depot in. Well, now it's, you know, it's in St. Louis. It's. What was the name of that one? [00:27:03] Speaker A: Arch. [00:27:04] Speaker B: Arch, yes. Great name. [00:27:05] Speaker A: Yep. [00:27:06] Speaker B: And then I felt really good about that one. It sounds like the Missouri Pickleball Club, one we didn't get to see is also awesome with 20 plus courts. [00:27:13] Speaker A: He had a lighting issue there that he was telling us about, and it didn't really strike us while we were touring because we weren't playing. But he was in the midst of fixing that, so I'm excited to see what it looks like the next. [00:27:25] Speaker B: Well, it's just such a long facility that the. That the lights are in rows. [00:27:29] Speaker A: Exactly. [00:27:29] Speaker B: And so there's kind of like not just one light, but a whole string of lights that kind of can block your view. But he was putting up really, some really creative Stuff to block it. [00:27:37] Speaker A: It was working, which it didn't even dawn on me to think that way. But not many in. In fact, most of the facilities that we visited did not have the upward facing lights. [00:27:49] Speaker B: Oh, I don't remember at any of them. Do you remember it at any of them? [00:27:53] Speaker A: I feel like one of them had partial. Maybe. I don't know, maybe Ryan. Maybe Ryan. Yep, I think it was Ryan. [00:28:03] Speaker B: Yeah. P. And Pickle. [00:28:04] Speaker A: Padell and Pickle. And that is. That was shocking to me because it is such an important thing for any type of sport where you're lobbying. And he had both Padel and pickleball in there. And I don't know if it's because our friend Jenny was. Is the head of the game when it came to lighting, but. So any facility that's being built. If you listen to this podcast, please look at upward facing lighting. If you have racket sports. [00:28:33] Speaker B: Yes. [00:28:33] Speaker A: Racket and paddle sports. [00:28:37] Speaker B: Well, that really wraps up our trip pretty well. [00:28:39] Speaker A: I think it was fun. [00:28:40] Speaker B: But I will say that my other place is definitely Peak in Colorado Springs. Like those arch and Peak. I was like, yeah, I can't wait to be here. [00:28:46] Speaker A: Most impressive. [00:28:47] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:28:48] Speaker A: Of all of our scouting, not just. [00:28:49] Speaker B: Because of their size. They just did it right. [00:28:52] Speaker A: Nicest people. [00:28:53] Speaker B: I will say this last thing. There were a couple places that said they had pickleball. And when we went, we were like, well, this is not what we expected. One of them was an academy sports place that ended up having no pickleball. Except for you could see some lines on, like, the wood basketball court that potentially could be for pickleball. [00:29:09] Speaker A: There's more of a field house. [00:29:10] Speaker B: Yeah, for sure. And then one of them was, hey, come check out, you know, Littleton Pickleball Club. Here's our facility. And you go and it's three courts in somebody's neighborhood. [00:29:19] Speaker A: It was like an hoa. [00:29:21] Speaker B: Yeah. And you're like, I don't think this is what I expected. [00:29:24] Speaker A: So obviously our intel wasn't always correct. [00:29:28] Speaker B: Nope. [00:29:28] Speaker A: So we had a little bit of. [00:29:30] Speaker B: Exploring to do, but it did help us make decisions. [00:29:34] Speaker A: It did. [00:29:35] Speaker B: So, folks, we. We are so grateful for you and that you would take the time to listen to us drivel about our travels. But if you want to go with us, Barcelona 2026. I'm just going to say it again. Plan to go to Barcelona in August of next year and we'll do it. [00:29:50] Speaker A: Upright or help our new friends that we just made and do some travel this summer and visit some of these fun places. [00:29:56] Speaker B: I hear there might be more coming near us in a county near us very soon, too. Yeah, so we'll see. Maybe we'll have a surprise guest on the next few weeks to talk about that. [00:30:06] Speaker A: That would be fun. [00:30:07] Speaker B: Yeah, we'll have to reach out to that person. [00:30:09] Speaker A: Okay. [00:30:11] Speaker B: All right. Well, listen, tell your friends that we're ahead of the game and so are you.