RV
PICKLERS
Two golfers
turned to RV
pickleballing
BY NANCY WHITEMAN
I
n 2007, Denise and I moved to The Villages in Florida to play
golf. Denise was a retired nurse in United States Navy and
a member of the Ladies Professional Golf Association. I was a
single-digit salesperson. It was going to be a great place for us
to enjoy the warm weather and, if we wanted, play golf every
day of the week. However, a funny thing happened on the way
to the golf course…we found pickleball. As we all know when
you’re hit with the pickleball bug, it’s hard to stay away. Our 4
or 5 rounds of golf per week quickly dwindled to 1 or 2. At the
same time, our love for pickleball grew.
When Denise fully retired in 2010, we both got more serious
about pickleball. We are fortunate to live in The Villages, a
wonderful place that now has over 180 dedicated pickleball
courts, a myriad of clinics, leagues, pickleball teams and a large
number of nationally ranked senior players. Denise quickly rose
to the 5.0 level and I was a competitive 4.0. We combined our
love of travel and pickleball. What could be better?
We learned it could get even better when we met OLGA;
I should be clear, OLGA is a 2015 Renegade Villagio, a B+
motorhome. We named her OLGA because...“Old Ladies Get
Around.” Frankly Denise had wanted a motorhome for years.
I equated camping with not being on the concierge floor of
the Hilton, and was not so inclined. But when we qualified for
the 2015 National Senior Games, I figured if we hated it we
could probably just turn around and sell it. Turns out, after
five weeks on the road, we didn’t hate it; and after spending
a wonderful week with other RV picklers in Minneapolis, we
traveled through South Dakota and Wyoming. We saw buffalo
in Custer State Park, we were left speechless by the engineering
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marvel known as Mt. Rushmore, we made stops in Yellowstone
and the Grand Tetons, and ended our journey competing in
the National State Games of America in Omaha before heading
home. Of course, along the way we played pickleball as often as
possible.
With the USAPA Places to Play as our guide, we met
wonderful, welcoming people. We happened upon an indoor
facility the day Wyoming was having its Senior Game Qualifier.
As we watched the locals play, a couple from Ft. Myers, Florida,
walked in. Suddenly, four Floridians were playing a pick-up
pickleball game in Wyoming. We created a makeshift court
between our campsite and the next in Yellowstone and taught
two young boys how to play the game. It was really a fun
experience. We played in Jackson Hole on courts surrounded by
the County Fair, complete with the smell of livestock and kettle
corn.
Despite what our Villages neighbors say, we are not full-time
RVers. We know many pickleball fanatics who spend all their
time traveling from one tournament or pickleball destination to
the next. I recall friends telling us they would be spending six
months on the road before returning to Tampa…I believe that
was three years ago. We are fortunate to call many of them our
friends and always look forward to our mini-pickleball rallies. If
this sounds like a lot of fun, we document our travels, including
places to play, places to stay and all things pickleball, on our
website RVPicklers.com and on Facebook. You should check us
out. It has been a blast! •
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