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

Comin’ down in Motown

I gave Shirley a sponge bath at around 1:00 p.m. Monday. This action attracted dark clouds and it started raining, drizzling actually At 3:00 I said to myself (because no one else was around), “Self,” I said “This too shall pass.” At 4:30 it was still raining so I tuned into the “Ticket” AM 1270, the voice of the Tigers. No weather concerns. At 5:30 it was still raining. I called the Tigers. “Oh yes,” the nice Tiger Lady said, “The game is still on for 7:05.”

I said to myself (because still no one else was around), “You should wait until about 6:30 and just be late. Chances are good the game will be called.” I considered this but then a vision of St. Michael Borelli’s appeared before me and reminded me that I was morally bound to make every effort to attend every game. I put on my game gear, unhooked Shirley, put the radio on 1270 and headed north to Detroit, 30 miles up Interstate 94.

I arrived at a parking lot that liked Shirley, convinced the man that I would only take up two spaces and should only pay $20 instead of $30. I grabbed my stuff, locked Shirley and headed for Comerica Field. Suddenly I felt like a salmon swimming upstream, everybody was headed AWAY from the ballpark. They were screaming “Go back, go back, its only a…” Oops, that was a Woody Allen movie. They were really saying “Gosh darn the game is cancelled and the nice parking folks will not give refunds.” And they were absolutely right. All was not lost. Shirley got to sit in a bombed out parking lot in war-torn downtown Detroit and rest at a rate of $2 per minute. We then drove back to Belleville and settled in for the night. Hmm, 60 miles at 6 miles per gallon times $3 per gallon plus $20 parking fee. Just think what I saved on a ticket to the game and a soda at ballpark prices. Oh yeah I also saved $10 by only paying $20 to park.

Off to Chicago in the morning. Life is (still) very good.

O, Canada

I went to a game at Rogers Centre. The Jays beat the Rangers 5-2.Monday’s game in Detroit will be game number 20 on day 40. Wow, ten more parks to go. I have turned some significant geographic corners. Miami was the farthest South. Boston was the farthest East and North. The only “corner” left is San Francisco which will be the farthest West. I have seen some gorgeous country and have been subjected to some pretty boring scenery. I have been to a foreign land and I have been to some places which seem pretty foreign. The most important part of this trip has been meeting some very nice people and getting reacquainted with some folks I have not seen for years, including my cousin Don in Florida. Unfortunately I missed my son, Mike’s wedding Saturday. Too many factors were stacked against me to make it back to Ione and return to Toronto or wherever I would have left Shirley. I now have another wonderful daughter-in-law. My brother Scott stood in for me and sent me some pictures of the bride and groom, Heather made a beautiful bride. The groom was OK. No, actually they were both very handsome. May they have a hundred happy years together.

Shirley has been wonderful. While I had a layover in Pennsylvania, the great guys at Gregory’s Auto Service took care of her. Pete, Scott, and Lee made sure she was roadworthy by changing her oil, giving her a general service and going over the cooling system with a fine toothed comb. They found the hose going from the radiator to the reservoir was too short and they replaced it. She hasn’t leaked a drop of coolant. Thank you, thank you, thank you. If you are ever near Honesdale, PA, stop in and let the guys take care of your car or motor home. I also have to thank Jack who made all the arrangements and his wife for housing me during my layover.

Phyllis flew into Pennsylvania on last Thursday but our itineraries did not allow for a conjugal visit. I guess I have to wait until I get back from Seattle to see her. We talk on the phone and by email but 63 days is a long time to be apart. At least it is for me. Our 25-year marriage has been a series of long distance arrangements but it has never been 63 straight days. The title of the last post should have been “Lack of Sex, Drugs, and Rock ‘n Roll.” Jackson Browne summed up the sex part in one of his songs from his “Running on Empty” album in the early ‘70s. The Kansas cop and crossing the border twice scared me enough to make sure I didn’t even have extra strength aspirin on board. I do have to admit there has been some rock ‘n roll but most of it has been Shirley rocking and rolling over some pretty rough road.

I am doing some laundry, which is almost done, and then I am going to give Shirley a sponge bath before I head off to the Tiger game.