Rock the Vote!

As if our blog wasn't cool enough already, we've added a new interactive feature on the sidebar. In preparation for the next phase of our road trip, MB and I have started planning the design of our new road trip shirts. We will definitely be including our itinerary on the back, but we've decided to change things up a little bit. Instead of putting our initials on the front, we're going to embroider appropriate road trip nicknames.

That's where you come in. You get to vote on what our road trip nicknames should be. Whatever nicknames win will appear on our shirts and be seen by thousands of baseball fans throughout America. We've included handy explanations for each name below, because some of them, while hilarious, aren't obvious. Once you've decided, please place your vote in the poll to the right. Happy voting!

Susie:
Line Drive...because if it's a straight line, I can drive it.
Sleepless...because I can function normally on very little sleep.
Tolstoy...Could my blog entries BE any longer?
Mooch...because it's my job to flirt in order to get free stuff, seat upgrades, whatever.


MB:
Egg Salad...for my ingenuity in creating lunches (because pb & j gets boring)
Napster...because I spent 80% of my passenger-seat time sleeping!
Stats...because my scorekeeping skills are unparalleled in 49 out of 50 states.
Ansel (Adams)...Uh, have you seen my stateline photographs?

Calling All Angels...

We have been blessed by the graciousness and generosity of friends and strangers alike on our journey. Some have given us a place to stay, others tickets, still others, words of advice. We express our most sincere gratitude to everyone who helped us along the way. You made our experience that much more amazing!

In keeping with this spirit of camaraderie among baseball's greatest fans, we extend an invitation to anyone who reads this blog. If you see your home town on our route, or if you consider yourself an expert on your team/ballpark, please leave us a comment. In an effort to do a better job of planning next time around, we are looking for tips on where to sit, where to eat, how to get there, what to do, what to avoid, and where to stay in each baseball city. (Rule #1 still applies, though: Only baseball-related stops.) If you can offer us a guest room/bed/couch/futon/floor to sleep on, we wouldn't turn you down (if we know who you are).

If you can help us out in any way, or if you have a great piece of advice to share, please post a comment under this entry. We will make sure it stays at the top of the blog so you can find it easily. We look forward to hearing what you have to say!

Road Trip, Parts Two & Three

We gave ourselves our entire 30th year to accomplish our mission, which means we must visit all ballparks by MB's birthday in 2009. We are leaving the biggest chunk for next summer's road trip, which will cover the Midwest, Colorado, and Arizona. In between now and then, we are planning on making two mini-trips: one weekend flight to Florida to hit the Marlins and Rays, and a shorter road trip to knock off the west coast (SoCal, NoCal, and Seattle). We have no idea when these trips will happen, but here are the tentative itineraries:

West Coast: San Diego Padres, Los Angeles Angels (Anaheim), Los Angeles Dodgers, Oakland A's, San Francisco Giants, Seattle Mariners

Florida: Florida Marlins (Miami), Tampa Bay Rays

Midwest: Arizona Diamondbacks (Phoenix), Colorado Rockies (Denver), Kansas City Royals, St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds, Cleveland Indians, Detroit Tigers, Pittsburgh Pirates, Baltimore Orioles, Milwaukee Brewers, Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Minnesota Twins, the Field of Dreams (Dyersville, Iowa), and the Louisville Slugger Factory & Museum.

Of course, our itinerary depends on when the teams are home. After our whirlwind adventure this summer, we plan to give ourselves more time to relax in between stadiums. Since the majority of next summer's ballparks are located relatively close to each other, we hope it will be a much easier trip.

Box Score

Part One Final Summary

Ballparks: 9
Museums: 3
Ballpark tours: 1
Hot dogs: 8

Miles: 8,518
States/Provinces: 29
Rain delays: 1

Big-screen marriage proposals: 3/3
Tickets: $904…damn Yankees

Best Ballpark: Rangers Ballpark at Arlington
Best Ballpark Tour: Rangers Ballpark at Arlington
Best Mascot: Philly Phanatic
Best Hot Dog: Fenway Frank
Best Fans: Fenway Park
Best Souvenir Pencil: Houston Astros

...

Suz & MB's highlights:
-Texas Rangers’ dugout on the ballpark tour
-great FREE seats at Arlington
-Cask & Flagon after Fenway
-Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown
-great seats in Philadelphia
-(sneaking down to better seats in KC)
-Louisiana/Mississippi scenery
-home-cooked meals at Guarinos’/Cathy and Jim’s
-Philly cheesesteaks in Philly
-eating in New Orleans
-taking state line photos
-Oprah yelling

-Toronto, eh?
-Arlington, Fenway, Citizens Bank

Part One Itinerary

Due to popular demand, here is the itinerary from Part One.

Sat 26-Jul Albuquerque

Sun 27-Jul Dallas

Mon 28-Jul Arlington
Rangers vs. Mariners @ 7:05

Tues 29-Jul Houston
Astros vs. Reds @ 7:05

Wed 30-Jul New Orleans

Thurs 31-Jul Atlanta
Braves vs. Cardinals @ 7:00

Fri 1-Aug Washington, D.C.
Nationals vs. Reds @ 7:35

Sat 2-Aug New York
Yankees vs. Angels @ 3:55

Sun 3-Aug Boston
Red Sox vs. A's @ 1:35

Mon 4-Aug Cooperstown
National Baseball Hall of Fame

Tues 5-Aug Toronto
Blue Jays vs. A's @ 7:07

Wed 6-Aug New York
Mets vs. Padres @ 7:10

Thurs 7-Aug Philadelphia
Phillies vs. Marlins @ 1:05

(unofficial)
Fri 8-Aug Baltimore
Orioles vs. Rangers @ 7:05

Sat 9-Aug St. Louis

Sun 10-Aug Kansas City
Royals vs. Twins @ 1:05

Mon 11-Aug Denver

Tues 12-Aug Beaver, UT

Wed 13-Aug HOME

Send 'Em to the Showers

Well, the scheduled activities are finally over. The only thing that remains is the drive home from Utah. I feel a bit like the losing team at the end of a hard-fought battle on the baseball diamond. It’s time for the long, slow walk back to the clubhouse.

The drive home from Utah was fairly uneventful. We stopped at a Las Vegas truck stop for lunch, and let me tell you, it hurts my heart to drive past Las Vegas and not actually go there. The low point of today's travels happened when I was behind the wheel. I'm ashamed to admit it, but I hit a bird today. It was the worst feeling ever. I never saw the little guy in the road. When I heard the sound it startled me, because I didn't know what I had hit, so I quickly looked in the rearview mirror. All I saw was a stumpy round body and a puff of feathers shooting into the air. I felt sufficiently guilty, even before Tom screamed "Birdkiller!" at me and turned his back on me in the passenger seat. He didn't speak to me for a whole five minutes. The scene kept playing over and over in my mind as I drove along. Kinda makes the butterfly seem like chump change. I eventually made myself feel better by putting it in perspective--it could have been a human.


We rolled into Mom's house without further incident around 4:30 P.M. on Wednesday, August 13th. I had to drop off Tom, but we talked Mom into making dinner and she obliged. Jack and I finally pulled into my parking space around 7:00 that evening. With all the amazing moments we had on our adventure, it feels good to finally be home. Jack did a fantastic job. I most definitely owe him a service, a car wash, and a great big hug. I think I'll wait for that last one until all the dead bugs have been washed off.

Take Me Home, Country Road

We are quickly approaching the end of our journey. Tom expects we will be home in two days if all goes well. Today we are driving as far as we can in Colorado, with one side trip to Mount Evans Scenic Byway near Denver. Case in point #2: Tom has dragged me to two (so far) nature areas to birdwatch. After driving nearly 30 miles up the mountain at 25 mph and very nearly running over a yellow-bellied marmot (I think I nipped his tail), I was perfectly content to sit in the car while Tom explored the great outdoors. Besides, it’s cold as a coal-miner’s arse outside. And so here I sit, with a singular view of Summit Lake at elevation 12, 800 feet, writing notes and munching Pirate’s Booty. I have no clue where Tom is right now. I haven’t seen him for at least 45 minutes. Hopefully he wasn’t attacked by a pack of angry marmots seeking vengeance for their injured comrade.

When Tom had seen all he wanted to see at Summit Lake, we decided to head on up to the top of Mt. Evans. After all, it is the highest paved road in North America, and Jack wouldn’t want to miss that opportunity. On our way we came across a herd of mountain goats grazing by the side of the road. They couldn’t have been more than eight feet away from the car. And I thought I wouldn’t see anything cool on this mountain! That was just a preview apparently, because when we reached the top of the mountain, the lookout structure was completely overtaken by mountain goats. You haven’t seen anything until you’ve seen mountain goats going up- and downstairs at a visitors’ center. We drove down the mountain and picnicked at Echo Lake, where Tom and I rehashed the white bread incident of earlier this morning. I think it’s funny, but Tom is still a little bitter about knocking his white bread onto the ground. And since there was no sign of marmot in the road at the scene of the close call, my conscience is clear.

We said goodbye to Denver and pointed the car towards Utah. Entering Utah, Tom and I had fun reminiscing about the last time we were in Utah together, on the way to Denver for World Youth Day in 1993. We stopped for dinner in Green River, which looks much smaller in person than it does on the map. Then we picked our destination for the night: Beaver, Utah. The Utah landscape provided many beautiful scenes, though the highlight of the drive was when Tom, in response to road signs reading “Slower Traffic Use Flashers,” flashed a passing truck driver. Later, Tom sniffed his own crotch to determine the scent of a fart. I think it goes without saying that I miss MB. A lot.

We arrived at Beaver’s two exits and randomly selected the Comfort Inn. Five minutes later we were at the Quality Inn. Ten minutes after that, we pulled into the Rodeway Inn. Shout out to Kathy at the Quality Inn for calling another, cheaper hotel to find us a non-smoking room. You rock! Reverse shout out to the flipping marmot that ran out into the road as I approached at 15 mph and then parked it directly in front of my right front tire. Stupid creature.