Stone Mountain, Georgia

Thursday I drove to Stone Mountain Park outside of Atlanta, a pretty easy trip of 205 miles. The Park has some very pretty scenery as shown by Stone Mountain Lake with Stone Mountain in the background.

(Note the two-legged tower on the right side of the picture).

The flora is conifer and deciduous forest with lots of azaleas. The fauna is squirrel. Fowl include geese, robins, cardinals, and other birds I couldn’t identify.

I talked to a Park employee and asked about shuttles from the campground to the hub of the park called “The Crossroads.” He pulled out a piece of paper and saidshuttles ran til 5 and I could catch the shuttle at the registration office. Cool, the office was about a half mile away so I got Shirley all rigged up, did a week’s worth of laundry and hoofed it down to the registration office. I asked when the next shuttle would leave. Not happenin’. The next shuttle will leave on Saturday because they don’t run on weekdays. I asked how far it was to “The Crossroads” and was told 3 miles. Well golly gosh darn (or something like that).Decision time, I could unhook Shirley and drive down there or I could walk. Shirley needed her beauty rest so I decided to walk. I grabbed a cold drink at the store and set out. I figured I would just follow the signs. Not happenin’. There are no signs. Three people stopped and asked me for directions and I stopped five people and asked them for directions. We were all confused. I followed the majority of cars and came to a hub of streets and figured I must be close. I asked another person how to get to the “Crossroads” and was told to take the next right. Not happenin’.Street closed. The next person said they thought it was up by Memorial Hall but they didn’t know how to get there. A Park employee said just follow this path around and go up the stairs by Memorial Hall. Not happenin’. There were no stairs on that path. I met two ladies coming down the path and asked them if they knew how to get to Memorial Hall. They said go back down the path and … I chose to continue up the stairless path and BAM! there was Memorial Hall right in front of me with a sign that directed me to go through the Hall to the viewing area.

(Note two-legged tower over the building. That’s the same tower noted before, only three miles closer now).

I went to the door. Not happenin’. Memorial Hall was closed.The nice Georgia State Police troopers who were there investigating a fire alarm said if I went to the SkyRide building I would be able to see the carving on the Mountain. I went to the SkyRide building which houses the aerial tram which uses the two-legged towers. Not happenin’. The SkyRide building is closed. I said “Well, poop.” or something like that. That reminded me that I needed to get rid of the Diet Coke I drank on my little walk. Seems they don’t sell much Pepsi in Georgia, especially around Atlanta. Not only did I need to flush the Coca Cola (just in case the nice Kansas officer is reading this) out of my system, I needed to get rid of the plastic bottle. There were no trash cans along the three mile route. I found the restrooms between the SkyRide building and Memorial Hall and figured I could get rid of the used Coke and the empty bottle. You guessed it, not happenin’. The restrooms were closed. (No photo). I finally worked my way around Memorial Hall and found an unsigned viewpoint. I was able to see the world’s largest bas relief at last. The carving depicts Jefferson Davis (who is famous because he shares my birthday) on his horse, Little Sorrel; Gen. Robert E. Lee on Traveler; and Gen. Stonewall Jackson on Black Jack.

Note: In real life all three horses were different colors but theywere all gray on the mountain. Note #2: In all honesty I had to Google Stone Mountain to see who the figures were. There were no signs describing the carving’s characters, who carved it or when it was carved. Amazing.

As I was leaving the area I did find one area which was open. This was a circular concrete slab with 25 holes drilled in it at irregular intervals. The slab was surrounded by a white railing, had nice landscaping, and had two pedestals which contained no clue what-so-ever as to why this slab existed. But, by God, it was open!

I returned to my campsite, used the restroom which I knew was open and sat in the Georgia sunshine for a while. Life is good. If the worst thing that happens is a few buildings are closed then life is real good. I was given two very good feet and two healthy legs so if the worst thing that happens is the shuttle doesn’t run on weekdays then life is extremely good. I’m living a dream that 100 million men and boys and women and girls, would love to be able to do.

Life is very good.

Georgia On My Mind

We drove from St Petersburg, FL to Tifton, GA Wednesday.

300 miles.

Part Three

Karmagators

Headed north to St. Petersburg via I-75, Alligator Alley. Not happenin’. Not a single alligator. I did drive through the Sawgrass National Recreation Area and the Everglades. Both were very impressive. The ‘Glades are huge, even from the highway. It was only a 250 mile day so I goofed off a bit this morning and left Pembroke Pines late. I got to St. Pete about 3:00 p.m.

I set up camp at Robert’s Resort, a combo RV/mobile home park. It is very nice and another urban park. Tropicana Field was only twenty minutes away so I treated Shirley to a ballgame. She loves to go to the parks. She is such a good girl. I followed the signs to the parking lot and an attendant waved me down a road outside the lot. I followed his direction and ended up at a dead-end protected by two cops. I was directed to backup and enter the Do Not Enter area going the wrong way on a one-way street. WTFO? The cops had said “Go up that street and park,” so I did. I looked for officers with drawn weapons but there were none. I looked for yellow-clad parking attendants closing in on me with money grubbing looks in their eyes but there were none. I said “Oh, well, I guess I’ll probably get a parking ticket but life is such,” and walked to the ballpark.

Tropicana Field is an indoor park and has the world’s largest cable supported roof. I can see why the park is covered, frequent rain and oppressive summer heat, but playing baseball on carpet just ain’t right. The park is very nice and well kept. The sound system is very good without causing headaches. The fans were very knowledgeable and really supported their team. The game itself was good until about the 6th inning when the Rays blew it open. The A’s mounted a feeble comeback but fell short and lost 8-6. This was the first game that had a runner picked off 1st base. The Ray’s pitcher had a very slick move to first and nailed the first baserunner the A’s had.

I sat with some die hard Rays fans (R to L in the picture) Keith, Paul, Chris, and Tara. I’m not sure who the tattooed bicep belongs to but it is a nice ‘tat. These folks were very nice and it was a pleasure to share their section. There was a nice lady behind me but she was playing hooky from work and didn’t want to be in the photo.

It is off to Hotlanta Wednesday and I have two days to drive 500 miles. It will be nice to have some relaxing time. I have a reservation at Stone Mountain Campground near Stone Mountain, the Rushmore of the South. I will meet Marty Huczek on Thursday or Friday and we will see the Braves at Turner Field. Marty is a Navy buddy I haven’t seen in 42 years. I wonder if he will have changed? I haven’t in forty years so I guess he will still be the teenager he was in ’69.

Oh, yeah, there were no tickets on Shirley so I parked for free. Hope that doesn’t generate bad karma. There was no intent to defraud so hopefully I will be safe. Karma is complicated and I hate to get cross-wise with it.

Southern Views

What a great day! I only drove for 6 hours and a measly 300 miles. I must say they were a significant 300 miles. My journey is now transcontinental. At about 1:30 p.m. Monday, Shirley and I made it to Jupiter, Florida on the Atlantic side of the state after 4,650 miles. What a good girl she is!

I spent last night in Ocala and had the pleasure of having breakfast with my cousin Don this morning. Don is my Uncle Bill’s son. Uncle Bill was my Dad’s brother. I wish I would have had someone take a photo of us because it was scary how much we both look like our Dads. Breakfast was really nice because it was one of the few times we have gotten together and just had a Don and Bill conversation. Maybe Phyllis and I, will fly out here to visit and see the Drag Racing Museum in Ocala. That segues into the news that Phyl showed her restored ’69 AMX at the Grass Valley Car Show and won for the Best ‘60s Car. Not bad for a show with about 400 cars.

The drive down to Miami was very nice and the weather held until just before I got to Broward County of “Cops” fame. I ran into about 20 minutes of light rain and that was it. I arrived safely at Broward County’s C. B. Smith County Park which has RV sites. And just so you know, I really fooled that Kansas cop because I was able to meet my connection, unload my stash and get the payoff. Wait officer, I’m just kidding. Please don’t put out a BOLO for Shirley. The Florida authorities will be contacting Phyllis in the next few days anyway because I blew through a toll lane on the Florida Turnpike. I went through the SunPass lane without a SunPass. Toll violations ARE photo-enforced.

Tonight’s game was a good one. The Marlins whomped the Padres so that gives the Giants a chance to made up some ground in the standings after the Giros beat the Phillies tonight. Josh Johnson pitched a complete game, had a career high 12
strikeouts, had three hits and drove in three runs, a one man wrecking crew.

I met another baseball fanatic tonight. Jason Glass is from Oklahoma and is also on a quest to visit all 30 MLB parks. He will be in Tampa tomorrow night. Jason is in year two of his three-year schedule.

I had a horrible seat, right over the visitor’s dugout. The darn Marlin Mermaids kept dancing on the top of the dugout and it was very distracting. There was a pretty sparse crowd so I think every kid in my section ended up with a baseball being tossed to them by players and bat boys. What a way to recruit future fans. The park itself is old and is shared with the Miami Dolphins. The Marlins have 154 home games left before they move into their new ballpark in 2012. The fans were quite involved in the game and didn’t need silly gimmicks like flashing scoreboards telling them to make noise or the Kissy Cam searching for smoochers. The scoreboard itself was great as opposed to the one at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.

(checkout the moon over Miami on the scoreboard photo). The scoreboard tells a complete story and the out-of-town games are posted on separate scoreboards. OK, enough about scoreboards.

Tomorrow is a leisurely drive across the Everglades to Tampa, another 5 or 6 hour stint.

On The Road Again

I have been doing a whole lot of driving and Shirley has been a champ. I left Arlington Saturday and got on I-20 heading east. Texas is broken into four geographic regions. Dallas/Ft. Worth is North Texas. El Paso and Amarillo is West Texas. Houston is in South Texas and East Texas missed out on the well known cities. North Texas looks a lot like Oklahoma and Kansas, lots of grass and scrub. The country between Dallas and Houston has a few more trees and is hilly. I guess out in the west Texas town of El Paso (thanks Marty Robbins) it becomes more arid and desert-like. East Texas starts off grassy but soon turns into very heavily forested country. There are conifers mixed with lots of deciduous type trees. The terrain is quite hilly. As you get closer to Louisiana it starts getting swampy. In East Texas there are a lot of critters and they seem unable to cross 6-lane freeways. I think some conservation-minded person should develop a pedestrian class for possums and armadillos. It would appear there is about a zero percent chance of a successful highway crossing for both species.

East Texas gives way to Louisiana, America’s Wetland. My Gawd, what a swampy state! What do you call people from Louisiana? Loosers? I drove on I-20 to Shreveport, which is not a port, by the way. I took I-49 south to Baton Rouge, saw no red sticks, but I did see a port when I drove over the Mississippi River. I think that made me officially in the East. I was prepared for New Orleans and had a supply of beads in case anyone flashed me. Unfortunately I missed New Orleans because I connected with I-12 east. If anyone wants beads, let me know. I continued across LA where there are miles of highway which are elevated to get across the swamps. The highways are even rougher than California and Shirley took a beating. I guess all the repair money goes into elevated roads, not pothole repair. My Gawd, what a swampy state!

There was no real noticeable difference between coastal Mississippi and Louisiana. I spent the night in Gulfport in a little RV park on the Biloxi Back Bay. I took photos all along this section of the trip but they really suck. Sunday morning I drove to Biloxi and past Pascagoula, MS, where my first Navy ship, the USS Canopus was built. I drove into Alabama and through Mobile. There were some really nice buildings on the skyline but again, the photos sucked. I hit Florida mid-morning and drove through the capital, Tallahassee, which is home to the Florida State Seminoles. I stayed on I-12 until I-75 and headed south to Gainesville, home of the Florida Gators. The weather had been really nice until I turned south. It started sprinkling, then showering, then raining, then RAINING, then dumping so hard cars were pulling over because the windshield wipers couldn’t keep up. I finally got to Ocala and said enough is enough. I found an RV park and set up camp. One of the residents gleefully let me know the area was under a tornado watch. Great, I really want to be in a trailer park during a tornado. Don’t trailer parks spawn tornadoes?

Hopefully I will survive and will continue to Miami in the morning, a mere 300 miles away.

Last Night in Arlington

In the morning I start a three-day mad dash for Miami. Friday was a nice quiet day. I had a few minor repairs done on Shirley. The dump valves were replaced because they leaked (yuck!!), the furnace got a tune up (the 56 degree Kansas morning was not fun), and the hot water heater got a tune-up. She should be a very happy camper (pun intended).

I returned the rental car and took a taxi to the ballpark. I got the same driver that took me to Joe’s Radiator Repair, Saleem from Pakistan. It was like old home week. He gave me his cell number to call when the game ended. Actually he was waiting outside the park when I came out. He must have been listening to the game.

Ranger Ballpark at Arlington was very nice but Houston’s Minute Maid Park had a lot more character. The scoreboard system at Ranger Park is kind of screwy. The info is scattered all around the park. There is the main scoreboard in center field but it does not have the line-ups. Only one line-up is shown at a time and it jumps between teams regardless of who is at bat. You look to see who is on-deck and the line-up displayed is for the team in the field. The info for the pitchers is in the corners of the outfield and is not convenient. I like to know how many pitches have been thrown so I can anticipate the manager’s moves based on pitch count and the batters coming up. Kind of difficult at Ranger Park. The out-of-town scoreboards are also screwy. They only show four out of town games at a time and keep rotating through the games. They have pretty detailed info for the games in progress but the lapse between the display is sometimes a full inning or more. I tried to watch the Giants score but gave up.

I met a couple who were Tiger fans. They said the new Comerica Park is beautiful and that old Tiger Stadium is still standing. Tiger Stadium is one of the icons of baseball. I am sure there are still echoes of Al Kaline, Mickey Lolich, and Norm Cash bouncing around the old park. It will be a “must-see” in Detroit. I have included a photo of Darren and Cindy.

I also included a photo of the crowd. Look closely and you will see a major lack of ball caps on the fans. I think there were more jerseys than ball caps tonight.

At 11:30 it started to sprinkle, I don’t believe it! It’s been gorgeous all day and a balmy evening at the park. This is Elvis Week at the ballpark, don’t ask me why, and there was a major fireworks display accompanied by Elvis tunes after the game. The rain gods were either displeased because of the fireworks in the sky or the Elvis tunes being launched into the atmosphere. My money is on the latter. Now there is thunder and lightning! The gods are showing us what a real fireworks display is like!

The game was very good. The Tigers were down to their last strike but got two runs in the top of the 9th to tie the game at 4. The Rangers loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the 9th. I love this situation for its strategic implications. Any fly to the outfield will score the runner from third so the outfielders play very shallow to cut off the run at the plate. It is like having 8 infielders. Elvis Andrus hit a single and the Rangers were victorious. Maybe Elvis Week is for Elvis Andrus, not that other Elvis.

Game On

Tuesday I drove about 250 miles to Houston in the rental car. I didn’t realize Houston was so big. It is the 4th largest city in the US. The downtown area is a mass of skyscrapers. There is a lot of renovation going on in the downtown area and it is looking pretty good. The Theater District is very nice with lots of modern buildings.

I found a parking space on the street in downtown and was able to keep it until 6 p.m. when parking is no longer metered. The spot was about four blocks from Minute Maid Park, home of the Astros. I got to the park when the gates opened so I left a ticket at Will Call for my friend, Chris Morales. Phyllis and I met Chris and his wife Kim when we took a cruise a few years ago. They were table mates and a very nice young couple. We have maintained casual contact over the years so I invited Chris to the Astro game.

I was inside the park watching batting practice when my phone rang. I looked at the number and saw it was Chris. “Oh, crap,” I thought, “Chris can’t make it!” I answered the phone and he said “You don’t have to stand up for me.”I turned around and he was standing right behind me. It was really good to see him again.

Chris is now a Daddy to Maddy and the family has moved from Austin to the suburbs of Houston. He is a geologist for Schlumberger, pronounced Schlum-bear-jhay according to Chris. Schlumberger is a global oilfield and resources information services company. It is the largest company in its field in the US. Kim works for the State of Texas Environment Protection agency. Aren’t these careers mutually exclusive?

Minute Maid Park is gorgeous, even nicer than Coors Field in Denver. It has some quirks like a real short left field porch and an uphill pitch in center. It has a retractable roof which was open because it was perfect baseball weather.


The game was the best of the trip so far. The Marlins started fast but the Astros kept pecking away until the 8th when they broke the game open with three runs. They ended up with 7 runs so the 6-run streak has started again.

Chris suggested I go back to Arlington via Austin. He suggested I stay overnight in a town called Bat Droppings or something like that. I took his advice and drove to Bastrop. Wednesday morning I came back to Treetop RV park via Austin where I saw the State Capitol, the University of Texas Tower, and the UT stadium where the Longhorns play. Chris and I have this Longhorn-Trojan thing, hence the ugly burnt orange ball cap.

I got back to Arlington and went to Joe’s Radiator Shop to pick up Shirley who successfully recovered from a circulatory system transplant. In addition to fixing Shirley, the guys at the shop made a case of Coors Light vanish from her fridge. (They also made a huge chunk of money vanish. Ahh, peace of mind is not cheap)

I got Shirley back to the RV park and gave her a very nice sponge bath and cleaned a week’s worth of grime off her. I would have given her a complete shower but park rules prohibit it.

Thursday’s schedule includes the Texas Motor Speedway and the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth.

Off Day

If you are ever RVing through Arlington, Texas, this is the place to stay.

Treetops RV Park used to be a mobile home park but in the ‘80s they converted to an RV park. The city grew up around Treetops and now it is a cozy oasis in the middle of the North Texas Metroplex. The Metroplex is like LA because it includes a bunch of cities; Dallas, Ft. Worth, Arlington (pop. 400,000), Irving, Plano, Garland, etc. One block south of Treetops is a huge Super Target and lots of strip mall businesses. Two blocks east is the Three Parks Mall which is about 2 square miles of big box stores; Dillards, Linen and Things, Barnes & Noble, you get the picture. I am not exaggerating about the size, it is about a mile on the Cooper Street side and another mile on the Arbrook side. In addition to all the commercial conveniences, the people here are very nice.

It’s been raining here for three straight days and has postponed Saturday’s big NASCAR race just north of here at the Texas Motor Speedway. It is rescheduled for today (the race, not the rain). Yesterday I just relaxed and did my laundry, made some minor repairs to Shirley, and caught up on administrative duties. I was able to connect to the park’s cable and discovered the news of the world. It is very easy to have a disconnect when you drive from dawn to dusk with only a break for a baseball game. I must confess, I did watch the Rangers at the Yankees.

I had hoped to have Shirley’s radiator worked on today. The afternoon before I left, my mechanic found a small leak. I put some Bars Leak in it and it has been fine. Phyllis got on the internet and found a place that can fix Shirley up but unfortunately they couldn’t do it. After two more visits to radiator shops I found a place that can. They said it would take three or four days to get the radiator and another day to install it. I said that wouldn’t work and they reached into their magic bag of tricks and found one locally. I will drop Shirley off in the morning and they can replace the radiator while I drive the rental car to Houston. She should be all finished when I get back Wednesday.

I visited Dealey Plaza and the 6th Floor Museum today. The museum is in the Texas Book Depository Building where Lee Harvey Oswald shot JFK. It is very well done and if you are of the JFK generation you should not miss it when visiting Dallas. Two things really impressed me. One, how close Oswald actually was, and two, what a perfect widow Jackie was.



I plan to visit the Modern Art Museum of Ft. Worth Wednesday or Thursday.

Ardmore?

I spent Thursday night at High Plains Camping in Oakley, Kansas. Mary, the manager, left me an envelope with the directions to my site and a page on dos and don’ts. One don’t was: don’t put out the awnings due to the high winds. She was right, the wind provided a gentle rocking motion to Shirley and we both slept like babies in a cradle. I got up early enough for a couple mile walk/run which was very invigorating. I was glad I brought my neck wrap and beanie as the wind did have a bite to it. The folks driving on my running road all waved like I was an old friend. They either thought I was someone they knew or they were just friendly. Mary had told me the office would not be open before I left because she had things to do in the morning. She said leave a check in the night box at the office. Wow, this was first place that would trust a check. I had forgotten the cost of the site so I left a blank check. Mary called me while I was on the road and let me know the cost was either $26 million dollars or $26 dollars. Nice folks in Kansas, even if the politics are pretty conservative as evidenced by the very right-leaning anti-abortion signs every couple hundred yards along the interstate.

Friday, I drove to Ardmore, Oklahoma. It was a 550 mile trip across some pretty desolate country. The trip also saw my first, and hopefully last, encounter with law enforcement. I stopped at a rest area just east of Wichita on I-70. As I was entering the rest area I saw a white police car behind me. The car followed me and parked directly behind me. I got out to use the facility and the State Trooper got out of his car. He said, very nicely, “The reason I followed you in here is because one of the letters on your license plate is messed up.” I said, “Yes, the paint is scraped off the zero in two places. The previous owner must have backed into something.” The Trooper asked for my license and I was thinking “Man if I’m getting busted for a scraped license plate I am really glad I wasn’t speeding.” The Trooper looked at my license and then commented on the high incidence of smuggling and transporting illegal drugs from Mexico and California. He asked me if I had anything illegal in Shirley. Of course I replied “No” and asked if I would mind if he looked around. I said “No, as long as I don’t have to be present while you look.” My ancient bladder was starting to scream pretty loudly by then. He said I didn’t have to be there so I went to the Men’s Room while he searched Shirley. Anyway, when I came out he was finishing his search and apparently decided I was not smuggling meth in the door panels or weed in the wheel wells. He gave me my license back and I continued on my merry way.

I know, why Ardmore? I need to get to Arlington before noon Saturday because the Enterprise Car Rental shops all close at noon, naturally. I have a good layover in Texas and plan on renting a car to do some sight-seeing and getting Shirley serviced and a few minor repairs made. Ardmore is only 120 miles from Arlington so I should be able to get there before noon. I found the Hidden Lake RV Park in my 2010 Trailer Life Directory. It was very highly rated with a 9 for facilities, a 9.5 for restroom and shower cleanliness, and an 8.5 for appearance and environmental correctness. Facilities included free WiFi (a huge plus due to my on-again, off-again relationship with my Mobile virgin), security, major cable, etc. I made my reservation and showed up around 8:30 p.m. after a 6 mile detour because Exit 29 was closed. Thanks, Joe, you could have said something when I talked to you while making my reservation. I got to my site and pulled out my trusty laptop and searched for the free WiFi. Not happenin’. I then started looking around my assigned site for the nearest bathroom/shower. Not happenin’. The bathroom/showers were in the main building on the other side of the lake. I said what the heck, it’s only a quarter mile to the building with the restrooms. I got over there and there are two restrooms, each with one shower , one sink, and one toilet. Not bad for a single family dwelling, but for an RV park with 50 campsites? I hope no one needs the restroom in the morning when I want to shower and shave.

Anyway, Day 8 is coming to an end. I wasn’t arrested, Shirley purred like a kitten, I saw antelopes and buffaloes, and made it safely to Ardmore. Life is good, very good indeed. People would give their left arm to do what I am able to do and I complain about no WiFi? Get real, Bill.

Game 6

I left Fruita, CO, Thursday morning and headed east into the Rockies, destination Denver. It was a sobering trip as I approached Glenwood Springs and saw the area of the 1994 South Canyon Fire, which claimed the lives of 14 well trained firefighters. If I had more time I would have visited the actual site.

The rest of the trip through, and over, the Rockies was spectacular. I drove past Aspen and Vail, and over 10,000 foot Vail Pass. I had never driven over a 10,000 foot pass before. That record stood for less than an hour because I then went over Eisenhower Pass at 11,100 feet. Gorgeous country and lots of snow.

When I finally got out of the mountains I headed for Coors Field. I drove right to the main parking lot with no problem. The park was beautiful from the outside and just as nice inside.

Due to roadwork on I-70 and traffic delays, I arrived in the 2nd inning. Thursday was the 63rd anniversary of Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier in Major League Baseball. Every player wore #42 in Robinson’s honor. By the time I got to my seat in right field, the Mets had already scored twice. The Rockies were lackluster and just couldn’t get anything going. The final score was 5-zip. This was the first shutout game of my trip, the first game with a balk, and the first game in which the winner scored fewer than 6 runs.


I had some great seatmates. Jerren tried to be a cheerleader but the fans just wouldn’t get into the game. His girlfriend, Annie, was celebrating her birthday. They were both very nice young folks and we chatted throughout the game. The lady who sat on my right side was kind enough to snap a photo of us.

After the game I headed for Oakley, Kansas and arrived safely at about 9:30 p.m. Mountain Daylight Time.

Game 5

I am now reconnected and I think I know how to force this Virgin thingy to work with my Acer laptop, let’s hope!

I left Los Angeles at 6 p.m. Tuesday and drove 800 miles. I stopped in Vegas at 1 a.m., got a little rest and then had breakfast with my sisters. They are on a girl’s-week-out in Sin City. They had to see Shirley and she appreciated the attention. She is such a good girl and my sisters are too!

I am glad to have left California. I don’t miss the traffic and potholes. I took I-15 out of Vegas this morning and was stunned by the Virgin River Canyon. I was driving smack into a mountain and the road suddenly curved to expose this canyon with sheer sandstone walls. OMG, it was spectacular! I turned onto I-70 and drove through the heart of Utah. The mesas and buttes were gorgeous. All of this is new country for me so it made the drive very enjoyable. Tomorrow I head to Denver on I-70 and apparently go over Vail Pass at 10,000 feet (Yikes!).

I didn’t get to post a story from the front yesterday so you have to accept day-old news. The drive to Dodger Stadium was the usual LA miserable, 100 miles in a little over 3 hours. It was Opening Day for the Dodgers and their fans were fanatic. I figured discretion is the better part of valor and did not wear my Giants hat. I think I was the only person not in Dodger gear. My seat was way up on the top of the stadium and actually pretty crummy from a social viewpoint.

Lots of rowdies in the section. I did meet the “Character of the Day” though. He was in his late 30’s and sat in the row behind me. He had a radio tuned to Vince Scully and it provided a nice tinny backdrop to the noise of the crowd. He was dressed head to toe in Dodger stinkin’ Blue. His hat was totally covered with pins. The bill had 6 or 7 figurines on it. He had a couple of blue bead necklaces and a chain with 10 or 15 Dodger dog tags on it. The 5 bracelets on each wrist were Italian charms, all with a Dodger theme. Each hand had 10 or more Dodger rings. Before the game he was very social, flitting about having a grand old time. About the sixth inning his seat mates started talking about work and asked him what he did. SURPRiSE! Come to find out he was on disability for psychological reasons. He hadn’t worked since he was 18 and was put away due to a mental breakdown. He explained all his trials and tribulations and gave a complete run-down of his meds. He was quite proud that he had gone 18 years without a breakdown. His dissertation lasted until the middle of the 7th when he invented new, nonsensical words to “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.” The young lady who was sitting right in front of him looked at me and I know we were both hoping he would make it to the end of the game before he had another breakdown. He lived way out in Apple Valley so he left in the 8th, much to my appreciation.

The game was a mini-blowout with the Dodgers beating the D’Backs 9-5. I guess I bring offensive juju to the games because all five games have had six or more runs scored by the winning team.