Franjolorada

These were all taken by one of the staff photographers yesterday! In the first picture, Trey and I are high diving for Joy Kelly, the other Tennessean here, a GREAT skier and a veteran of 12 Worlds! She set a new World Record in Skalom on Wednesday! She is amazing and she and her husband Dennis have been so supportive of me. I’m humbled and proud that these great people are friends of Trey and myself!
The other shots are of me getting ready to jump and lugging the equipment back up the stairs after my 3 ride away jumps! (It’s bad enough that we throw ourselves at a solid incline plane that is 14 feet wide, 22 feet from bottom to top and five feet high! That gets you MOTHING unless you ski away! I did just that all three times!)

In response to several request, I am posting I’m From Tennessee, the song that is the background music for Trey’s splendid video that I have watched before each set. It is an incredible boost to me and I can’t begin to tell how great it makes me feel every time I watch it!
I actually wrote the song one morning on my home lake, Center Hill in Smithville, Tennessee. I STILL believe it is the most beautiful place I ever ever been!
Here’s the link! Enjoy!

11 I'm From Tennessee 1 I wrote this in answer to why I still live in Tennessee and not the Caribbean which I love so much. I played it down there many times and people from all over the world told me it reminded them of the

Opening ceremonies in Toledo (pronounced
toe led do), Spain! An incredibly beautiful city!

OPENING CEREMONY IN TOLEDO 2024 IWWF +34 WATERSKI WORLDS 🎥 Samuel Sanchez

First leg of the trip to Spain for the Over 35 World Water Ski Championship Tournament is over! After my van overheating due to a leak in the radiator (which was checked and misdiagnosed on Thursday as no leak and “worn out” antifreeze) before we got out of Lakeland! We went back to Florida Southern and swapped my vehicle for Trey’s. Believe me when I say it took an engineering degree and a shoe horn to get the water ski bag in a Toyota Camery! It cost us about two hours total, so no big deal!
Trey moment was, “Well, Dad, we “Rolled with the punches” very well! Considering that yesterday was the first Jimmy Buffett Day, I was so proud of my young Parrot Head for quoting that line from Jimmy’s Cowboy in the Jungle. A great song and a great way of life!
Getting to the gate at MIA was a breeze. TSA was easy, polite, and rapid especially considering that I set off alarms due to the titanium plate in my chest (which I had actually forgotten about!) This was my first flight post Bipass surgery! AND I got “caught” trying to “smuggle” sun block on the plane in my carry on (yes, I knew better, just in a hurry!)
Also, Trey was lucky enough to get “chosen” for extra screening! Is t he lucky?
So, a short flight to Charlotte, NC, a four hour layover, then, onward to Madrid and the Worlds!
One Love, Y’all!