Ohio Again

It only sprinkled a little bit Thursday.

It was very warm and humid and I decided to put Shirley’s awnings out. They were kind of grungy so I wiped them down with soapy water. The sky God considered this a washing so I was punished with sprinkles. My brother was very helpful when he asked if I had consulted the manual on what is, and what is not, considered washing. I replied in the negative and he awarded me with my 14th “Retard” of the trip.

I headed to the game at about 4:00 to beat the downtown traffic. The strategy worked and I arrived at the Cincinnati Transit Center Parking Facility just before 5. The Transit Center is located two stories underneath 2nd Street a couple of blocks from the ballpark. This facility is reserved for buses so I figured Shirley qualified. I was first on the scene and was met by Anita after paying a measly $20 to park. Anita skillfully directed me to my assigned space. Anita was very cheerful and let me know it was her birthday. She said she was in her early forties but I think she was in her twenties. I reminded her it was a full moon and that she had double reasons to howl tonight. I knew it was a full moon because I set out the amethyst crystal given to me by Shana, my CALFIRE partner. Amethysts are excellent conduits for karma but they need to be recharged by soaking up lunar rays when the moon is full. Anita was very proud of her underground queendom and told me she had never had a vehicle broken into while she was on duty. When I got Shirley put away, Anita led me to the elevators and showed me the art which was incorporated into the tile walls of the facility. She complained that no one appreciated it because visitors were mostly passengers from buses and they hustled away without seeing her treasures.

I arrived at the park, got a nice ticket and went on a walking tour. The park is actually The Great American Ballpark but everyone calls it Riverfront Stadium. The park is on the Ohio River and right across from Covington, Kentucky. One of the bridges across the river was being repainted and there were huge drop cloths draped over the bridge. They must have used helicopters to drape them. I wandered around a bit admiring the skyline and looking at all the construction going on downtown. I was also on the lookout for Lonni Anderson of WKRP.

The gates opened at 6:00 so I went in and found my seat. I got to watch some batting practice and the grounds crew, of course. The park is fresh and has electronic signs everywhere. As you know, I like to have lots of info and this park did not disappoint; pitch count, pitch speed, player bios, results of previous at-bats, and even the National League Divisional standings. I was a happy camper.

The game was over in the first inning. The PA system played the Black Eyed Peas song “It’s Going to be a Good Night” before the game but it was not meant for ol’ Charlie Morton, starting pitcher for Pittsburgh. Charlie allowed runners to reach 1st and 2nd, then balked which moved them up one base. The balk really didn’t matter because he gave up a three run homer followed immediately by a solo shot. 4 zip Reds. Luckily the Reds’ pitcher had to bat and made the third out or the inning may have never ended. The 2nd inning wasn’t much better for Charlie. An error by Andy LaRoche, third baseman for the Pirates, blew a double play opportunity and three more runs scored in the inning. Charlie gave up 8 hits and 7 runs by the end of the second. Mercifully he did not come out for the third inning and was placed on the disabled list after the game. The Reds went on to win by a score of 8-2.

I had good seatmates for this game. Jason sat on my right and Jill was on my left. I made foul ball arrangements with both of them. They would sacrifice their hands to stop the ball and I would pick the ball up after it broke their fingers. Jason was a twenty-something and agreed because he said he played defensive line in football and his hands were all gnarled up anyway. Jill, and her friend Chelsea, showed up late and was quite chatty. She was a hoot and said precisely whatever was on her mind, not always very reverent. Chelsea was quiet and kind of shook her head at some of Jill’s revelations.

Unfortunately I did not get photos of my new friends. I was disappointed that none of the “fan cams” focused on Jill and Chelsea because they were very cute and usually the cameras find the cute ones.

After the game I found my way back to Anita’s underground world. Shirley was the only vehicle in the parking area. The gate was way down at the end of the facility so Anita hitched a ride so she could lock up. I believe she is the first person other than me to ride in Shirley. I wished her a happy birthday and drove back to the RV without incident.

Friday we drove 390 miles to St. Louis. It was a nice trip but I had to go through Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois again. Glad they are behind me. I did get to add Kentucky to list of states we have visited.

My good friend Robin is arriving in St. Louis this evening and I am looking forward to some company. This solo crap is OK but some days I only speak to toll takers and gas station clerks. I am not overly social but human companionship is nice. I plan on doing some sight-seeing and cultural things with Robin as tour leader. I will try to post daily updates because I will not be on the road again until Tuesday.

Part 6

Old Milwaukee

Yes it rained and thundered and lightninged (I think I just invented a word) Tuesday. The storm passed fairly quickly but it was fun while it lasted. I headed into Milwaukee to catch the Brewers at Miller Park. As I headed east, the skies got darker and darker until it rained some more. I must stop washing Shirley. It seems that I have driven to almost every game in the rain lately. By time I reached Milwaukee the rain had ended for the day. Parking was quite easy and after the attendants extracted a hefty sum (even more than the boys in Baltimore) I headed into Miller Park.

The park is very nice from the outside and the inside was just as nice. The park has a retractable roof and it was open for the game. I arrived early, found my seat and watched the grounds crew prepare the field after batting practice. There is something soothing about watching them make the field perfect, raking here and there, tamping the dirt on the mound, and applying just the right amount of water to the infield.As I sat there, a raptor flew into the park and soared over the field supervising the work of the crew and making sure everything was done properly. He must have been satisfied because after checking it out for ten or fifteen minutes, he flew off to his next appointment.

Miller Park has some interesting features. It has Bernie the Brewer who slides into a barrel of brew after each Brewer home run. Bernie got dunked twice this night. Some sponsor pays “X” dollars per strike out thrown by Brewer pitchers and a running tally is kept in right field (147 as of the end of the game), There is a clock with baseball bats for hands if anyone is interested in non-baseball time, there are Harley-Davidson motorcycles on the ledge by the windows in left-centerfield (Milwaukee is the home of H-D), and there are windows in the outfield, mostly covered by advertisements and motorcycles. The seats are definitely “have and have not” seats. Those who have get pretty nice seats. Those who do not are way, way up in the nose bleed areas. I think they are still in Milwaukee but they actually might be in the next town over. Wow, they are far away. The tradition at Miller is the “Beer Barrel Polka” in the middle of the 7th, after “Take Me Out to The Ballgame.” The Brewer Babes and Dudes dance the polka on the dugout roofs while the fans hoist beer and sing along.

The game was a ho-hummer, the only excitement was seeing if the Brewers could keep the shutout going. They couldn’t. In the 9th, the #2 stopper gave up back-to-back doubles and Hunter Pence of the Astros scored for a final score of 6-1 in front of 27,000 fans.

The drive back to De Forest was uneventful but still scary due to the kamikaze deer population. I kept reminding myself, steer to where they used to be, not where they are going. Luckily the deer stayed in the forest and not on the highway.

Wednesday was a maximum driving day, backtracking through Wisconsin, Illinois, (only a buck ninety in tolls today), Indiana and finally Ohio. I went through the outskirts of Indianapolis and looked at a map and saw I was very close to the Indy Speedway.I took a detour and headed that way when I remembered the race was coming up and there were probably pre-race hysterics going on at the track. I found a place to park at the Indianapolis Police Department Command Post (it was vacated) and walked over to the track. It was late in the day so things were very mellow and most of the attractions were closed. There were some private cars driving the track so I asked if they let RVs drive it. They declined. There is the Memorial Day Indy 500 held at the track but there is also a NASCAR event, The Brickyard 400 held there. I didn’t get to see an actual Indy car but I did get to see the Dale Earnhardt, Jr. car. I took a few photos and headed for Cincinnati. I arrived at about 8:00 after about 580 miles and called it a day. (Oh yeah, it rained and I hadn’t washed Shirley)

In the Land of 10,000 Lakes

Sunday I drove from Osseo, Wisconsin to Minneapolis and crossed the Mississippi for the second time. Wisconsin is one of the most beautiful states I have driven through. Too bad it turns so white in the winter or it may be a nice place to live. I did notice the deer here are as dumb as the armadillos, possums, and wood chucks. Think there is money to be had in a pedestrian school for wildlife. I am sure there is grant money from our government for such a venture. Just as I crossed the line into Minnesota, Wayne Husom called. Wayne is a Canopus buddy whom I have not seen since 1968 and we had planned on seeing a game together. We discussed parking for Shirley and he said he would call back with a plan. A few minutes later he had a plan. I could park Shirley at his niece’s house in Minneapolis. He gave me directions to her house and I arrived safely. Wayne and his wife Jan showed up a few minutes later and we did the ol’ “how the hell you been” routine. Wayne really hadn’t changed that much except for the beard. He had a hitch in his git along but that was because he had recently gotten his leg out of a cast after breaking a bone for the first time in his life. Wayne and Jan are retired but they travel all over the northern states selling/renewing advertisements in magazines. They pretty much spend the entire summer in their motor home.

Jan drove us close to Target Field, threw our rasty butts out of the car, and said “Find your own way home.” Well, it kind of happened like that. We followed the crowd to the park which is well hidden downtown. I was really glad I had purchased Stub Hub tickets because the park was full with 39,000 fans. Target Field is really nice and they did a great job of locating it in the old warehouse district. They kept the right field flag pole from the Metrodome and resurrected the “logo” from the Twins’ very first park which has ballplayers from St. Paul and Minneapolis, the Twin Cities, shaking hands over the Mississippi River. The logo is prominently displayed on the wall in center field. I had two guys next to me, Ron and Scott and we chatted for the first couple of innings before they vanished. Ron has been to quite a few parks so we compared notes and argued the merits of our favorite stadiums. They left in about the fifth inning and I didn’t get a photo. When they left it gave Wayne and me some room to spread out and enjoy the rest of the game.

The game was excellent and it moved along smartly even though there were five pitching changes. The Twins were down by two in the ninth and came up with a run early in the inning. It came down to the final pitch of the inning but they were unable to tie it up and lost 4-3.

Wayne and I took a cab back to his niece’s house. We said our goodbyes and I headed east to De Forest, outside of Madison, for the night. I crossed the Mississippi again and when I cross her (him? Old Man River?) in St. Louis, it will be for the last time on this trip. I have to go back to EDT when I go to Cincinnati but I will finally leave Eastern Daylight Time as I head for St. Louis. I am a little confused as to how you guys handle these time changes. One minute you are three hours behind me, then the next minute you are only two hours behind. I hope these changes have not caused you to be late for very important dates. Just be aware it is going to happen again on Wednesday, so be prepared.

I slept in Monday morning. I didn’t get here until about 11 p.m. I am going to cool my jets, give Shirley a bath, which will probably cause it to rain, visit a grocery store for resupply and just relax.

Indian Territory

The rain ended in early afternoon and I headed for Cleveland in a cloud of doubt. I went to the wonderful MLB approved site for the Indians and was disappointed as usual. The MLB sites are horrible and offer no useful information at all. I was trying to see if there was RV parking near the park. Next, I tried the Regional Transit Authority. “RV? What’s an RV? Never heard of such a thing let alone know how to park one.” The fine representative gave me a number for Progressive Field, home of the Indians. “RV? What’s an RV? Never heard of such a thing let alone know how to park one.” The fine representative gave me the number of the parking vendor. “RV? Is that like a bus? We can park your bus-like RV for $50, it’s not too close to the ballpark but we can do it.” I gave up.

I drove to Cleveland and pulled Shirley into the second parking lot I came to. It was right across the street from the park. The vendor was happy to sell me two parking spots which is the normal price.

Progressive Field was one of the last parks built before Baltimore and San Francisco built the first retro parks. The ballpark is very nice and the downtown setting is quite attractive. By some stroke of luck, I ended up sitting in a section under the second deck overhang. This was very lucky since the rain returned in the 8th inning and soaked the place pretty good. The game was an inter-league game between Cleveland and Cincinnati and was billed as the “Ohio Cup.” The Indians are not a very good team and did not improve during the day. They lost to the Reds 7-4.

I sat with a very nice couple, Jessi and Brian. They live in the Cleveland area but are Reds fans.They are both doctors; Jessi is in the infectious disease field and Brian gave up family practice to become a medical researcher. They are both graduates of Ohio State. Brian is a die hard fan and kept score while listening to the Cincinnati play-by-play broadcast of the game. Jessi has been indoctrinated on the game so she is able to substitute as scorekeeper when Brian is indisposed.

I mentioned that different ballparks have their “traditions.” The Indian’s “tradition” is to play “Hang on Sloopy” and during the four-beat pause following “Hang on Sloopy, Sloopy hang on” the crowd fills the pause with “O-H-I-O.” Kind of corny but the crowd was really into it.

I slept late Saturday and didn’t get on the road until 10:00. I had the pleasure (NOT) of driving on the Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois Tollways. I paid well over $25 in tolls, with some booths being only ten miles apart.I was really confused by paying toll to drive on the Dan Ryan Expressway which had the express lanes closed. Shouldn’t the Expressway toll booths have been closed also? Usually an expressway means limited on and off ramps. Not the DRE, in one section there were 5 ramps within one-tenth of a mile. It took 30 minutes to travel 6 miles on the expressway. Glad it wasn’t a normal freeway, I might still be in Illinois. I finally made it to Wisconsin and the roadways were nicely surfaced and had excellent scenery. I even saw some mountains. After a 540 mile day, I called it quits in Osseo. I looked at the running total of miles on the GPS and Shirley has logged over 10,000 miles so far. She’s a good girl so I am going to let her rest tonight.

White Sox and Mud Hens

Wednesday was spent with Larry visiting Chicago and its environs.
Our first stop was in Oak Park, home of Ernest Hemingway and Frank Lloyd Wright. Wright designed a number of homes in Oak Park and there is a complete tour of the homes. Interspersed are some beautiful Victorian painted ladies. The whole neighborhood is impeccably maintained.

We then went to Chicago. What a great city. The energy is amazing and the city has done a great job of making the place nice. The streets are clean and it is easy to get around.

We visited Millennium Park, which is downtown near the lakefront. The park has a pavilion with regular seating and a couple of acres of lawn seating. Free concerts are given frequently. The plaza has a modern sculpture called “The Bean” by locals but is really named “Cloud Gate” by the artist. The attached link has a few glitches but is pretty good.

Millennium Park joins Grant Park so there is a huge green belt right in downtown. Grant Park also has the Buckingham Fountain which is symbolic of one of my favorite TV shows with no redeeming qualities. I am referring to “Married With Children” of course.

After touring the parks we went to the Chicago Art Institute. The Institute has an exhibit of Henri Matisse’s art in addition to its permanent art. The permanent art includes the iconic “American Gothic” by Grant Wood and “Nighthawks” by Edward Hopper. The Matisse exhibit was good and was another display of artistic evolution. The Art Institute also has a large collection of Monet’s works. I am utterly fascinated by the vision required to produce his paintings.

We then went to Larry’s place of work. Larry is a tenor with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Chorus. He has been performing professionally for 30 years and has toured the world. The actual symphony hall was closed but I got to see the open areas. We topped the day’s tour with a visit to Excelsior Restaurant for Chicago pizza.

We then headed to the south side and US Cellular Park, home of the Chicago White Sox. The park is very nice, quite an improvement over old Comiskey Park. The park has changed but the clientele hasn’t. The difference between Sox fans and Cubs fans is like day and night, kind of like the difference between Oakland Velveeta sandwich eaters and San Francisco quiche-eaters. The Sox fans are loud, vulgar, and definitely blue collar. One obnoxious fan close to us was threatened with physical violence unless he stopped dropping 70 decibel “F-bombs” with children in close proximity. The Sox lost to the Angels, even with a 9th inning lead-off home run by Paul Konerko. I was glad for the home run because I got to see Bill Veeck’s homerun pinwheels in action. The pinwheels were brought over from old Comiskey Park.


On the 20th I headed for Toledo, 300 miles away. I stayed on toll roads most of the way. I must be unclear on the concept of toll roads. These are federal interstate highways which were built with my tax dollars. Now I have to pay again so I can watch the traffic cones being aired out for miles while one truck with two workers tootles along in the blocked off lanes.

I holed up in a KOA Kampground in Perrysburg, Ohio and went to a Toledo Mud Hens game. The game was very good and the Mud Hens were victorious, 4-0 over the Durham Bulls. The ballpark was quite full for a Thursday night game considering the kids are still in school. And no, Jamie Farr (Klinger) was not in attendance.

I got “home” at a decent hour and was in bed by 11:00 p.m. About 1:00 a.m. the rain started and has only let up for brief periods. I hope I don’t have to do another Detroit thing by driving to Cleveland only to have the game rained out.

Saturday is backtrack day because I have to go back to Chicago to get to Minneapolis.

The Windy City

I drove from Belleville, Michigan to Wheaton, Illinois via Indiana. I can now add two more states, MI and IN, to the list of places I have been. The roads were in very good shape for the most part and Shirley just purred along for the 283 miles.

Larry Pitts, a friend I have known since 1957, gave me directions to his home and asked that I call him when I crossed the state line and was about 30 minutes out. I was using my GPS as a map and an estimator of when I would arrive. The ol’ GPS said I was about forty minutes out and I had just crossed the state line so I waited ten minutes and called Larry. I kept watching the highway signs and they were not jiving with Larry’s directions. When I saw the exit for Gary it dawned on me I had made two errors; I was in Indiana, not Illinois, and the GPS was on Central time while Shirley and I were on Eastern time. I called Larry and revised my ETA. He got a good chuckle out of that.

I arrived at Larry and Judy’s house at about 1:30 CDT. I have known Larry since 5th grade at Hayfork Elementary School (which may help explain my lack of geography knowledge. To date, HES has not produced a single Nobel Prize winner.). Larry left in our senior year but will always be a member of Hayfork High School Class of ’65.
Larry showed me around town and then decided to attend the Cubs game with me. He went on-line and tried to get a ticket near my seat. Tickets were available but not near me. He was told we could probably exchange my ticket at the box office, buy another ticket and get two seats together. Sounded good. We took the train from Wheaton to downtown Chicago then took the el to Wrigley. I am very glad Larry was there to act as the FIG (faithful Indian guide) . I would still be wandering the streets of Chi-town. We got to Wrigley Field, did some ticket magic and ended up with two seats directly behind home plate.

I have been doing the “best park so far” thing but the last three parks just don’t fit into a “best park’ mold. Fenway is charming, even though I had a horrible seat. Yankee Stadium is awesome in the classical definition of the word. Wrigley is a park all unto itself. There is no big scoreboard, and there shouldn’t be. If you don’t pay attention you don’t know who is at bat, who is pitching or what the count is. And at Wrigley that is the way it should be. I kept looking around at the park and the fans and felt like time had stood still for a few decades. There were 37,000 happy fans at a Tuesday night game against the Rockies. All 37,000 were there for the love of the game. And, by golly, the Cubbies didn’t disappoint. They came through with 6 runs and beat the stinkin’ Rockies handily.

The seat mate charm reappeared and we sat next to three young men who were Yankee fans but were in Chicago on business and decided to drop in on the “Friendly Confines of Wrigley Field.” Steve and Jeremy are from NYC, and Rob is from Jersey. All three were very good baseball fans and seemed to enjoy the game.

After the game we got back to Wheaton at around midnight (CDT) and after a great night’s rest I went for a very nice walk/run on Wheaton’s Prairie Path, which is a decomposed granite pathway through neighborhoods and park settings. Wheaton is a very nice town and Larry and Judy are great hosts. That’s all for now, time to get ready for the Art Institute and the Sox game.

Part 5