Author: Craig Franke, Brother
Location: Big Cedar Lodge
The movie Planes, Trains, & Automobiles with John Candy and Steve Martin is a story of perseverance to get home for the holidays. It’s a classic comedy highlighting the difficult circumstances that can potentially plague all travelers. Our first official foundation event had its moments of travel hiccups but thankfully we made it through!
Our flight was scheduled to leave O’hare on Sunday afternoon, headed for Springfield MO to attend the opening dinner of the 2026 Internet Invitational! We arrived 2 hours early to ensure we made it through airport security (mom always gets worried we won’t make it).
On the way down we were tracking severe weather approaching and 15 minutes before boarding the plane our flight was cancelled. What a predicament mom, dad, & I were in!
With no other flight options, we quickly decided that we were going to drive 8 hours to get to our destination. Thanks to National car rental we were finally on our way. We ultimately checked in to our hotel at 4 am and grabbed some much needed rest.
The next morning we had the opportunity to tour Payne’s Valley, the Crow’s nest, the Cliffhanger course, and the Historic 19th Hole and Clubhouse! What an experience for us as a family to tour the grounds! Special shout out to Kenny “Roger’s” Carmona from Big Cedar for showing us around on Monday!
Monday afternoon / evening was an experience we will never forget! As many of you saw we got to present some thoughtful remarks about Cody’s foundation to the 64 players that were in attendance at the Internet Invitational opening dinner! What an experience for us to be around so many people that loved Cody. Our family was and is extremely thankful for the opportunity to meet them.
We finished our evening enjoying a lovely dinner at Top of the Rock while watching the sunset cannon ceremony amongst the bagpipes.
