Big Boy Toys

While in Orlando for a business seminar recently, I took some time to go Dream Build with some of my friends. This is one of the all time coolest places ive ever been to. Its called “Muscle Cars and Handlebars” and it is as close to Heaven a Gearhead can get. What better combination can there be?

Here is one of their projects. A 1969 Road Runner. Yes, it has the Big motor. Yes they hopped it up. Yes it is putting out over 700 HP. Yes its faster than you want to go!

Pure American Muscle, in perfect condition !

This Plymouth Challenger is only  $250,000  New it was 3,900.00

Ah Yes, the Handlebars part. The 2 guys between Campbell and Toby are 2 of the very best metal fabricators and painters in the World. these guys can restore, or create Anything you can find or dream up. They are Artists that work in a shop.

Camero anyone? With a Big Block 427?

Yep, its the famous Holly 4 Barrel. Gas guzziling at its fines! This is the polar oposit of a Prius.

Vintage is cool, but New is Awesome. Here is the Ferrari 458, arguably the best sports car the public can buy. A true Supercar.

Stephen, 23, taliking about Driving one of these by the age of 26, how cool is that?

This baby is only $280,000 and its not even packed with all the options you can get.

Here is longtime friend and business partner Herb Eply.

Stephen, Herb, Campbell with the Ferrari California Spyder ( convertible )

All this Dream Building made us Very hungry. So we went to one of my top 5 Steak Houses anywhere, Charley`s in Orlando. Gary, Toby and Roger with wives had an awesome dining experience.

After we toured Tobys new digs, we went to see Gary and Nancy`s Estate. What a way to live. What a Life, LW Livin the Dream

Advertisement

Pebble Beach Golf Course Part 2

LW, hitting of the 7th hole tee box. Check out the beauty of this hole in this and the following photo.

#7, par 3

Joe hits a bomb on #6

How perfect is this hole? There All like this. It’s so beautiful, its hard to concentrate on Golf, which doesn’t help my game much.

Greg with a great chip shot for a easy par.

Joe and his caddy Casey

The 18th, from the end of the fairway. 

teeing off on the 18th

Me and Dean. He made golfing a much better experience. He was fun and helpful.

Done, check it off the list. we just walked the 18th fairway at Pebble Beach. A dream come true for Me, Joe and Greg.

Now I want to play this course with you.

Pebble Beach Golf Course Part 1

I am not much of a golfer. If its perfect weather, a great course, im in. I’ll play 9, maybe 12 holes, and im good to go. However, on a course like this its much Different! I love playing World Class, World Famous courses, the same ones we all watch the pros play on TV. Courses like this are inspiring. I will tell you, hitting off the famous 17th tee box here, knowing the history it holds in PGA tournament play is awesome! For me, it would be like standing in the batters box at historic Fenway Park in Boston, but thats not a possible, and this was. Walking down the 18th fairway, side by side with two of my best friends is a memory ill never forget. Standing on the green, with a Caddy, and my friends Joe and Greg, is what makes a great life. For all of you who Love golf, you play any course you can, anytime you can, you Must experience this course, as well as SpyGlass and the Links at Spanish Bay. Until then, I hope you enjoy these images and words. LW

Walking thru the gate, 7 am, preparing for our 8am tee time.

How many times have you seen this clock while watching on TV. Its better in person.

Real golf. My caddy Dean, the official PB starter, and my golf partner Greg.

Joe, LW, Greg, teeing off on the 6th hole.

Joe with one of his Patened Bombs!

Joe, with a 5 iron to the green. Greg captures it for Joe on Joes camera.

This golf course is all you expect it to be, and more!

Greg, watching Joe sink a 3 footer, side entrance.

Joe, overlooking the famous 7th hole with his Caddy Casey.

Video: Baja

Just back from San Diego, Ca. Went out there with a bunch of friends and business partners, all who were top Achievers in their business.
A few of us headed out into the high desert for some 4 wheeling, dirt bike riding. Beautiful wide open country. Perfect weather. My riding partners were
Toby Ayers, Tom Miller, Edmund St. John, Kelly Brimmer and Bill Faudel. Although some of the guys were off road challenged, we had an absolute blast. Faudel was our “Guide” and he was following a hand drawn map, made with a crayon! Do you have any idea how lost we got? But, he did lead us to the 2010 Baja 1000 Trophy truck champ testing his new 2011 ride. It’s a 850 HP Trophy Truck that goes 120 mph in the desert for 1000 miles thru Mexico. (Check out how close up and personal Toby got to the truck! But, he got the shot with his trusty Iphone!)

Click HERE to see a quick video of our day in the Desert. Enjoy, LDub

Oakland, CA Video

All Access with Coach K

One of the best opportunities I`ve been blessed with the last few years is getting to attend a closed, private practice session with Legendary Coach K. By supporting Dukes Childrens Hospital, Pam and I are invited to attend a closed practice every October, hosted by Karen McClure and Coach K`s daughter Debbie. Well, Pam loves the work Duke Childrens Hospital does, and Coach K, but she gladly gives up her invitation to let someone else attend this very rare and unique opportunity. This is total access to the Duke basketball program, and the incredable Duke facilities, giving us access to many things only the players themselves ever see. Wel, L-Dub Style now gives you a all access tour. Enjoy, L-Dub

Greg, Jake, LW, SW, Toby

Coach K only opens his practice to non players once a season. This was my 6th session. Now you get in to see it…

How cool is this? The Duke locker room.

Andrew, on hallowed ground !

Talk about all access. The players lounge, and the 08-09 ACC Championship trophy.

Standards. This is what seperate teams from programs.

Without a doubt one of the coolest parts of the tour. This is what Duke is Always known for, Defense. This is the Defense room, the last place the players go before they hit the court. Here, Debbie explaines the tradition.

Greg in the media room. This is where the team watches tape, videos and motivational messages Coach K has made for the team. We saw,” This is our House”, it was insane!

Coach K taking questions and talking about leadership. Thats Stephen and the Etheridge boys on the front row.

Coach K and WoJo talking to the team about their blue white scrimmage.

The Crew: Shawn, Stephen, Ricky, Chris, Greg, Aaron, Andrew, Danny, LW, David. Jake is stalking WoJo.

WoJo coaches the white team. He is somewhat Intense. Just like he played.

These guys are Pretty good!!!

This is the Team that won the NCAA Title this year. Minus Curry, who was Red-Shirted. Duke will be even better this year than last. Curry will dominate.

This is everyone at the private practice. My crew was 1/3 of the people. It dosent get much more intimate than this. Thats Stephen on the Left of Coach, Ricky on the Right.

This is called Quality Time. Up close and personal.

Greg holds the Duke Rock.

Ricky, with a few of Dukes championship banners. Ricky appreciates excellence, and theres plenty of it here.

I love sharing my life with my friends, blessing them with cool opportunities like this. Andrew and Danny with Coach.

Jake Loves basketball, and Coach K.

After practice, we have dinner with Coach and he talks and answers questions, all in the shadows of the Championship banners.

This is absoutley one of the top events of my year. I love sharing it with my kids and friends. And now with you. This years event is in 3 weeks ! Pam and I were at the Championship game, so this will be the best private practice ever.

PNC Park, #22, Pirates

I don`t think i`ll be able to write words to describe these photos. Wow dosent do it justice. What a view, skyline?

#22 along the way to 30, but maybe #1 ? This is a spectacular ballpark. they dropped it right into Downtown Pittsburgh.

A thunderstorm rolled thru about a hour before the game. Once it cleared out, it left a postcard quality sky.

My ballpark guests for this trip were Son in Law Matt, and friends and business partners Blake and Chelesa.

Its difficult to watch the game with the scenery so spectacular. And, its the Pirates and Nationals playing, so…

This view almost looks fake?

The skys darkened up, but night fell, so it didnt matter much. We already got to see the beautiful sky.

Blake and Chelesa.

This is me asking Matt which team is better, Pirates or the Orioles? Yes, very funny…

Ok, there are many facets to a great ballpark experience. The food is one of them. Well, this food was a good as the view.

I love New Ballparks !

The Bridge in centerfield is just outside the wall.

If you ever get near this park, you must check it out.

Ballpark #21, Miller Park Brewers

21 down, 9 to go. Here are some shots from my 21^st ballpark stop, Miller Park, home of the Milwaukee Brewers. I caught 2 games with some good friends. a Friday night game with 3 good friends, and a Sunday afternoon game. Friday night we sat Front row, 3^rd base right behind the dugout. Sunday I was with 20 friends in a suite, first base side. As for the ballpark, all I can say is WOW. Absolutely awesome. A work of architectural art. The retractable roof is huge, and not your standard opening roof. This one is fan shaped. The other thing that makes this so nice is the 2 huge windows that run along the first and third base foul lines. The light that enters thru these windows gives the park a special light and look. The large centerfield scoreboard is very informative, and there isn’t a lot of advertising in the outfield to distract you. The concourse is wide and well laid out. There were no lines, but there weren’t many people there either. I’m used to sold out Phillies games, this was like a minor league crowd. The other thing that made this a nice place was the people were very nice. No Seat Nazis ! We saw 2 great games, if you can have a great game between the Brewers and Pirates, but the Brewers won both, and there were lots of hits, home runs and great plays. Friday night’s game produced the ESPN top Web Gem. Excellent. Sunday Ryan Braun hit a line drive round tripper, and hit the Pirates pitcher with a line drive in the solar plex and dropped him like a prize fighter. I had a great time at both games, and really like this ballpark. It is in my top 5 so far. I’ll try to rank them after I’ve seen all 30.

Here are some images from the Nikon D700, enjoy

This is a Big, impressive facility.

The weather was perfect, so the roof was open. Early evening light was beautiful. We got here early for Batting Practice. Its my favorite part of any game.

The windows let so much light in. The shadows and lighting is unlike any other park i`ve been to.

Friday`s game we sat front row, directly behind the dugout. Right here…

21 visited, 9 more to see. This one is special.

The best part of seeing all these facilities is enjoying them with good friends. Nate, Mark, L-Dub.

Me and Mark, Bill and Nate caught Friday night game.

How cool is this? This was my first domed stadium with a retractable roof. The engineering is extremely impressive.

Deep right field. what a view. We didn`t sit much, or see much of the game. We had more fun exploring and seeing all the different views.

Nate, representing with his” Live the Dream” tee. www.golivethedream.com

Bill, enjoying another ballpark with L-Dub. Last one was #20, Oakland A`s.

What a spectaluar evening.

Sunday game, we were in a suite. Derek and Mark, Club Level is Sweeet.

Im at work !!!!

This is the view from our suite.

Bill, center field camera stand.

Friday, we entered the park early thru TGI Fridays, sat front row, watched batting practice. Nice set up. we had to be careful during BP, as Braun was pelting us with HR`s.

This is the Sunday crew. To many to name. All on the Francis business team, except Brandon and Eric, and they might as well be!

Brandon and Eric. You should see what I photoshopped off Brandons shirt!  Hint, hes from Kentucky…

The boys came out for a photo after all the Food was gone in the suite.

Oh yea, the Brewers were playing the Pirates, playing them like a fiddle! Won all 3 games this series.

The light coming in thru the windows created beautiful shadows.

We saw Future Hall of Famer Trevor Hoffman save # 599 in his illustrious carrer.

This is a really nice ballfield. First class all the way. I, we all, had a great time. 9 more to go…

Do-Over Ballpark #17

The quest to experience all 30 MLB Ballparks isn’t as easy as you might think. Even with Time and Money, there’s more to it than that. Like, old parks going away, and new ones opening. This happened with Yankee Stadium, Shea, and now the Metrodome and Target. The Twins played at the Metrodome last year, and was #17 for me. Well, the Twins don’t play there anymore, they have a brand new home, Target Field. So, I had another Do Over. Straight from this year’s All Star game, I flew to Minneapolis to check out the Majors newest park. I actually enjoyed the Metrodome, but we did have the best seats in the building, front row, Twins on deck circle. However, the new place is so very nice. I attended two game at Target Field. Thur night we sat front row 1^st base side, just past the edge of the infield. The next night we sat front row, club level directly behind the Twins dugout. The beautiful skyline was to our right, so I recommend if you go, sit on the first base side. Then the city skyline will be directly in front of you. Overall, this is a great ballpark. Oh yea, I went to the park in July, and the weather was excellent, both nights. The weather always improves the experience. Might not be qite as nice in October for the playoffs?

The Metrodome was my 17th ballpark visited. Loved it. Front row, right at Twins on deck circle.

My crew in MinnesOta. Nice shirt Ross !

Matt could start at first base for Morneau …

You gotta bring your glove when you sit this close!

Twins moved to brand new Target Field. First class. Beautiful, right in downtown.

Game one, Mark, Me, Matt, in Minneapolis Minnesota. Lots of M`s….

Do-Over #17, entering another new park.

The beautiful downtown skyline from the first base foul line.

Dusk, a beautiful time at any park.

Jim Thome, 580 HR`s and counting.

Joe Mauer, second game he went 3-5 with 3 doubles and 5 rbi. Not bad.

As Bob Ucker would say ” Front Row “.

As seen on Diners Drive Ins and Dives, one of the best burgers you can ever experience. The cheese is in the middle of the burger. Nothing like Cheesey goodness.

Another great ballpark tour experience, culminated by a great food experience, with great friends. LW, Blessed and Living the Dream

MLB All-Star Game

I had a chance to attend my second MLB All-Star game this year, which was held in beautiful sunny Anaheim Ca. I love SoCal, by the way.

Lifestyle is” time and money”, and good friends to share it with. Since weve been blessed with both, I decided to attend this years game, and went with good friends Toby Ayers, Gary Newell and we were hosted exceptionally well by Anaheim local, Rod ” One Punch” Collins.

Our trip included beautiful beaches, great food( that will be a recuring theme in all my posts), the Home Run Derby, and the All Star Game. Here are 26 images out of 2000 plus taken over the 3 day trip.

Our seats for the HomeRun Derby were front row, end of first base dugout. For the All-Star game itself, we were 3rd row, just to the right of the first base on deck circle. Truly, some of the very best seats in Angels Stadium.

Toby (baseball clueless), L-Dub( Lifestyle Expert), Rod”One Punch”(baseball expert), Gary”Hollywood”( Everything Expert)

You can`t go to the game in regular clothes. Gary and I picked up a couple ASG items! I think his ASG pajamas were a little over the top?? This is his load, I couldnt hold mine!

Home Run Derby baby! Toby caught on quick, he “garbed up” also.

Front Row !!!!!

The opening ceremonies were Excellent. Colorful, beautiful. Toby enjoyed the band “Train” more than the game??? Rookie….

This is our view from the 3rd row.

3 very young budding Superstars, the future of the game.

Here’s a shot taken from the second level.

Future Hall Of Famer Derek Jeter of the NY Yankees.

Future Hall of Famer Albert Pujols of the St. Louis Cardinals.

Future Hall Of Famer Joe Mauer of the Minnesota Twins.

Future Hall Of Famer Roy Halladay of the Philadelphia Phillies

Sold out Anaheim Stadium

After the game, its time for Tommy’s. This is a tiny little burger place in LA that has some incredible burgers.

We also hit the beaches. Rod took us to Laguna, and Huntingon Beach.

One of the most famous beaches in the world. Its easy to see why its so popular.

What a view.

Which one of these beach houses do you want? Its yours for a cool 7 to 10 Mill, or more….

We stayed at the MLB host hotel where all the players and VIP’s stayed. There were players and media people every where. Here is Bob Costas, one of the top sports broadcasters of our era. He was very nice to all of us.

Here is the MLB World Series Trophy. This is what the players play for. What are you “Playing For”? There will be another ASG next year, who’s going?