The Baseball Trip 2012 / Addendum

Odds and ends, afterthoughts, extra pictures...

I think my favorite sighting was the giant sunflower replica. I don't know why. Perhaps because it seemed so vibrant in contrast to the wilted sunflower stalks along the roadside.

At this time last year up at Big Woods State Park in Minnesota, there was no Big Woods State Park in Minnesota. It was under 14 feet of water. Record runoff from snow and record rains (500 year event, I'm told) flooded the lake and swamped the whole area. The nice ranger who took me to the park office showed me the watermarks left on the trees - 14 feet above ground! I wanted to take a picture, but I forgot.

Evan's friend Chris and Evan's roommate Josh (out in Denver) wanted to take me and Randy to a strip club after the game at Coors Field. "We could take pictures, and you could post it in your blog." I declined, but both of them are Chicago area natives so I promised I would send them a Lou Malnatti's pizza via Fedex. That seemed to satisfy them, as well it should.

Extra picture from Canterbury: Coming down the stretch!

When I got home I read through a stack of Tribunes that were piled on the kitchen table, and I learned that most of Illinois had been declared a disaster area because of the drought. So I looked it up on the www and found out that half of the the counties in the US (over 1500 in 32 states) are now drought-related disaster areas. I have a nagging Grapes of Wrath premonition I can't shake.

You know what else I found in the Tribune? Apparently there was a festival in Mankato, Minnesota, dedicated to Little House on The Prairie - Laurapalooza! That's right. The women that attend this refer to themselves as bonnetheads. That's hilarious, no? I will actually post a link to this organization because you might want to see for yourself.
http://beyondlittlehouse.com/laurapalooza-2012/laurapalooza-2012-overview/

Here's the link to the Tribune article written by one attendee:
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-08-03/news/ct-perspec-0803-palooza-20120803_1_bonnetheads-popular-culture-plum-creek

I should repeatedly thank Randy's sister and her daughter for the hospitality they showed us. God, the food was good and it was nice to sit down for an evening in a house.Seriously, fresh peaches on ice cream. You can't beat that.

Lastly:
The monsoon we encountered as we rolled into Chicago shut down Lollapalooza. They evacuated attendees into the Monroe Street underground parking area. That many very high people in very tight quarters? Hmmmmm.......scary.

The Baseball Trip 2012 / Day 10

Saturday, August 4

Woke up this morning to find our hotel is just across the highway from The National Motorcycle Museum. So was a nice little breakfast place. After eating we decided to motor on without stopping at the museum. Notice how enthused we were to stop in at say, The Little House on The Prairie Museum at the beginning of the trip. But come the last day...skip the motorcycles. It's time to get home. But just in case you want to see it:

 Yeah, it's just a storefront.

Random observation from Randy:
"I'm not going in the motorcycle museum. They'll beat me up."

The scenery is a little greener as we roll through the bluffs towards The Mississippi, but wilting crops are still evident. It is a mere 4 hours before we hit Chicago. Crossed the bridge into Illinois at Savannah. I hate bridges. They're too high up. This was one of those bridges that have the open metal grates instead of pavement - you know, the ones that make your tires wobble and you feel like you're going to veer off the bridge and plunge 100 stories into the river. It also had a stop sign at the bluff on the other side. I hate that. Get me off this thing.

Hated bridge.

Close-up of hated bridge.

Illinois and more Illinois and now more suburban Illinois. When we reach Chicago we are greeted with a hurricane. The temps dropped 28 degrees in seven minutes.Sixty mile an hour winds and lightning strikes three feet from our faces. The sky was as black as coal. Sitting at a red light, I could feel the car rocking in the wind.

Favorite Signs: Now Hiring Doctors Due to Growth
                       Grave's Welding and Dozing  (Random observation from Randy:
                       "Hopefully not at the same time." )

One more Ron Paul sign. Final count:
Ron Paul Signs - 4
Grand Openings - 1
County Fairs - 1

Favorite Town Name: Miles, IA

9 states and 3006 miles. 4 major league ball barks and a stopover at one minor league park. 108 degrees in Kansas and a comfortable 64 degrees in Minnesota. Friendly strangers and familiar faces. I hope the farmers recover, but it doesn't look good. Nonetheless, I'll leave you with this feel-good item:

The Cedar Rapids Kernels had a bobble head night for their clubhouse manager, Roady. I know, but what the heck. Here it is.

The Baseball Trip 2012 / Day 9

Friday, August 3

The scenery picks up a little bit as we cut across northwestern Missouri and into Iowa. But there were absolutely no photo ops to be had. Even the Amana Colonies were sleepy. No horse and buggy, no Amish furniture stores open. The heat is getting to everyone. All of the creeks and rivers we cross are low or gone completely, covered in rotting leaves and twigs. The corn is pretty bad here, too, not a spec of green in those crops.The temperature spikes at 100 and no one is out but the cows who wander into stagnant ponds to cool off and a small fox chasing a jackrabbit across the highway in front of us, looking for lunch.

Random observations from Randy:
"Sweet Al's donut shop. From now on I want to be known as sweet Randy."

"I think the cashier disapproved of my Yoohoo chocolate beverage. She gave me a weird stare. Or maybe she was a closet Yoohoo admirer and was showing a twinge of kinship. Anyway, you know it's a good drink when you have to shake up all the crap from the bottom."

Favorite Signs: Frozen Hot Chocolate
                           Wanted: Guns

Favorite Town Names: Oscaloosa, IA
                                        Montezuma, IA

Actually, there was a historical marker in Corydon, Iowa, commemorating another bank heist by Jesse James. That guy was everywhere.

Cedar Rapids is located on the Cedar River, but there were no rapids because the river was way low. Go figure. The Cedar Rapids Kernels were dueling the Clinton Lumberkings in a Class A minor league contest. Cedar Rapids won, 8-4, but not before getting out of a bases loaded ninth inning jam. The Kernel's mascot is called Mr. Shucks, as in shucking corn. These guys are desperate. Here's a picture of me and Mr. Shucks:

Again, the slightly sedated, narcotic look on this mascot is creeping me out. You can't tell from this shot, but he was wearing big red tennis shoes on his feet. Later in the game, though, he had on these black plastic go-go boots. What's that all about?

Anyway, here are some shots of Cedar Rapids' Veterans stadium:

We bought what they called 'lawn seats', which means you lay out on this hilly lawn in left field and watch from there. It's a pretty neat little park for A-ball.

Next: the road home.

The Baseball Trip 2012 / Day 8

Thursday, August 2

We arrived a little late in Kansas City because we took our time and stopped at a place called Freedom Park, just across the highway from Fort Riley, Kansas. Freedom park is a war memorial, and so there is a tank and a couple of howitzers, and all that. But the real attraction is the atomic cannon. Honest. This is a cannon that fires an 11 inch shell that is basically an atomic bomb. It's an atomic bomb in a cartridge. I'm not kidding; and it has a range of 20 miles. But you have to climb a 250 foot hill to see it. So we did. In 97 degree heat. Here's what it looks like from the bottom of the hill:

More views from the top of the hill:

Also, I took a close-up of one of the shells:

Pretty intimidating, don't you think?

After that frightening experience we took off for Kansas City and Kaufman Stadium to see the Royals play the Indians. More bad baseball.

Random observation from Randy:
"Stuckey's. They still have Stucky's. Lets get a cheese log."

Ewing Kaufman founded the Kansas City Royals in the late 60's. His wealth is derived from Hallmark Cards, which he started. That's why that weird little crown is at the top of the jumbotron:

See? It's the Hallmark crown!

Kansas City led 6-0 in the first inning. Cleveland came back to tie the game and send it into extra innings, but KC won in the bottom of the eleventh. It was hot and sweaty in Kansas City.

Random observation from Randy:
"This is how I remember summer nights in Kansas: wet and dark."

We weren't going to eat dinner beacause we had a late luch at Randy's sister's house, and we were pretty full. (As a matter of fact, his sister Karen fixed us sausage and onion omelets for breakfast. Then Karen's daughter, Carrie, grilled us some kebob and fixed us a  baked potato for lunch. Delicious. But we had to try Gates BBQ at the stadium. We had to. We had burnt ends with baked beans. Then we were sleepy.

Here are some shots of the stadium. It's a nice place to see a ballgame. We had fountain seats, seats by the outfield fountains and pools.

We're going to blow off St.Louis (been there twice) and find us a minor league game in Iowa tomorrow.

Favorite Signs: Immaculate Conception Center
                           Meat Loaf Festival

The The Baseball Trip 2012 / Day 7

Wednesday, August1

I thought Nebraska was long and hot. The temperature rises to 108 degrees on this two lane blacktop as we truck on through western Kansas. This land is so flat I can stare out my windshield down the road and see the future. And the future is a giant 24' x 32' reproduction of Van Gogh's Sunflowers. The good people in the Rotary Club of  Goodland, Kansas also commissioned an 80 foot steel easel so that the state flower could be seen from the interstate. Check this out:

I'll pull back and show you the whole thing so you have some perspective.

Pretty cool, no?

We actually passed a county fair, so the count up to now is:
Ron Paul Signs - 3
Grand Openings - 1
County Fairs - 1

People were pulling off the highway into the Rush County Fairgrounds in numbers even though the temperature was 105 degrees at 4pm. I would be sick in the parking lot.

We pulled off the two-laner onto some gravel country lanes to get to one of the three geographical highlights in Kansas: The Monument of The Rocks. These are giant limestone pillars rising up out of the dust in the middle of some farmer's field. Apparently they are leftover from a time when the whole Great Plains was underwater.

Here, look at these:

I know...it looks like Utah, right? But no, it's in the middle of Kansas.
Look how dusty my car is.

Random observation from Randy:
"When the ambient temperature is higher than your body temperature, there is no refreshment."

Speaking of Randy, we are on way to his sister Karen's house to stay the night. She lives in Herrington, Kansas. When we get there, she has chicken sandwiches and peaches and ice cream for us. That was tasty.
We also watched some Olympics and made fun of ping-pong players. Later that night I heard cows mooing and lowing, but with a weird high-pitched sound. It was eerie. Randy and his sister told me they were at a holding pen just behind the house, and those cows knew they were being shipped off the next day.

Favorite Town Names: Severance, CO
                                       Assaria, KS

Favorite Sign: Bill's Shootin' Shop

Tomorrow we can sleep late because Kansas City is only 3 hours away.

Here's a granary, because it's pretty much the only type of building we saw for ages.

The Baseball Trip 2012 / Day 6

Tuesday, July 31

There was no diner within a 3000 mile radius of Jackson Lake, so we backtracked east a little to Fort Morgan. There we found a place called Acapulco Bay, believe it or not, that served breakfast all day. On the way into Fort Collins (there's a lot of forts out here) we saw many cattle processing centers. Here's a picture of several cows at feeding time. You know, before they kill them:

They were frightened of me. These were only a handful out of thousands lining those fences.

Also, we saw a drive-in movie theater in the middle of a corn field.

Random observation from Randy:
"I think we just drove into the 50's."

We found our way into the center of Fort Collins and I called my son Evan to bring us in.

Random observation from Randy:
"Just look for the sign that says Evan's House."

So I took a picture of Evan to show you what he looks like and it didn't come out. I'm not sure what happened but I accept all responsibility. In lieu of this faux pas I will show you 2 pictures of his dog, Tank:

He's very photogenic.

Evan manages a kitchen for a guy who owns a nice bar called Tony's. They added a kitchen because they wanted to start serving some decent food so they said,"Hey Evan, run this kitchen." So he does. And now he works every hour of his life. The kitchen is long and narrow, galley style, and it has a serving window right off the sidewalk patio. Here's the kitchen:

(not Evan)

Here's the serving window to the patio:

Okay, so now outside and inside shots of the establishment:

After we scoped out the joint, (the proprietor, gracious enough to introduce himself and offer a beer gratis), Evan gave us a tour of Old Town, a revitalized section of downtown that now includes about a thousand microbreweries, coffee shops, and other craft emporiums. Oh yeah, you have to ride a bike because it is a very eco-friendly town. Really, the traffic is ridiculous. Evan actually rides a longboard to work. A longboard is like a skateboard, only bigger, making it that much easier to kill yourself.


Out near the edge of town is the famous New Belgium Brewery. They are the brewery that makes Fat Tire. We went in to their little micro-pub and tasted a few samples.

New Belgium Microbrewery

On the way to the brewery we crossed the Poudre River and Evan told us an interesting story. His friends went tubing down that river the other day and when they got out of the river they were covered in black sludge. Apparently, it was runoff from the big wildfires. The rain finally put out all the fires but it also ran off all the ash into the river.

Later that night we met up with Evan and his friends at Coors field to see the Rockies take on the St. Louis Cardinals. The Rockies are not good. They lost 11-6. It was 4-0 with nobody out in the first inning. But the park was cool and it was a nice evening in Denver.

Right about here my camera battery died. But not to worry, we would search out a hotel tonight and have a charge-fest. Laptop, camera, phone.

I said goodbye to Evan as he and his friends headed back north to Ft. Collins. Randy and I headed east out of Denver. We would drive as long as we could take it because the next day would be a long one. The northern sky lit up with lightning as we rolled east toward Kansas. The storm never touched us and we sang along with the radio as The Monkees'  "I'm A Believer" blasted through the static crackle of the airwaves.

The Baseball Trip 2012 / Day 5

Monday, July 30

Oh I have seen things, 400 miles of a vast wasteland, sand hills and scrubland and farm and open range all under the terrible spell of the heat and drought every ounce of water sucked from this Earth black cattle huddle together behind the giant soybean processors leaning into the only shelter available. There is some bad mojo along this Indian trail. The corn is sick and withered some farmers taking it down now - cutting their losses-chopping it up for feed there is no market for these weeds. A grove of trees provides no relief, stripped naked of its branches by cyclone, small piles of wood bleached and brittle. An old bus rots in the middle of a field, abandoned decades ago, the rust peeling and mingling with the topsoil. Somebody must have committed unspeakable acts to have this place so cursed - windmill blades scratch the sky, spinning silently, creating aberrant wave patterns, disorienting the birds, disrupting human sleep. There is nothing here but dust and ruins and restless ghosts.

Favorite Sign: Honk For Rain

Before the long journey into Colorado we stop at Abby's for breakfast. Abby's Cafe is tucked off to one side of a gas station. The food is good and the service is too. Heading out of South Dakota we cross the Fort Randall Dam and Reservoir on the Missouri River. It's part of the same system originally proposed by the aforementioned Francis Case.

Ft. Randall Dam

Random Observation from Randy:

"Historical Marker: Lewis and Clark drank the last of their whiskey here."

South Dakota is a weird state. Apparently, anyone with a lean-to shack can open a casino. A town looks like a ghost town; no gas station, no bank, no restaurant...but it has a casino. Little Quonset hut looking buildings no bigger than a Burger King. We saw a shack tacked up to the back of a Shell Station with a sign that said, "Casino: Gamble Here." The government guilt must be formidable.

And another thing. Those little Gator ATVs must be street-legal in South Dakota. All across the state people are driving these things on the streets and highways like there was nothing abnormal about it at all. What's up with that? Some lady came out of the Dollar General with the back end of one of those things loaded up with paper towels and laundry detergent and God knows what-all. It's like every town in the state is a retirement community.

The temps rise but stay just under 100 degrees.

Favorite Town Name:

Hardscrabble, NE

Crook, CO

No update on the Ron Paul/County Fair/Grand Opening counts. That's because there was nothing really to see. Here are some pictures from the wasteland:

We rolled into eastern Colorado in the early evening and made a camp at Jackson Lake State Park, about 15 miles west of a town called Fort Morgan. It was quiet and clean but the lake was way low. Most of the "beach" you see in this picture should be under water. You can see the lines across the sand where the water levels have receded.

Tomorrow a short drive into Ft. Collins to see Evan.

The Baseball Trip, 2012 / Day 4

Sunday, July 29

Breakfast at The Happy Hour Inn, a Sunday morning of bacon and eggs and a couple of guys pounding beers at the bar at 9:30am and some throwing dice with the bartender. The Olympics are on the big screen and people are swimming or something. It's a Sunday, so:

Favorite Sign: Jesus is Lord over all of Redwood Falls

Indeed he is, and more, as I understand it.
Today is the first hot day of the trip, temps soaring into the upper 90's. We wind our way to Walnut Grove, MN, to see the Little House on The Prairie museum. I have proof:

We actually paid money to go inside.

Laura's china set

Pa's buffalo coat

The stove where Half-pint learned how to make hotcakes.

We also stopped by an estate auction at a house along a country highway in Tracy, MN, but Randy said they were peddling the same old detritus.

Detritus. That's an awesome word, isn't it?

Here's something else that's awesome: The Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota. Every inch of the facade is a mural painted on corn cobs, corn stalks, or tassels! Isn't that amazing? Look at this place:

 The corn palace is a museum dedicated to corn. Just sayin'. Here's a photo of a statue of their mascot, Cornelius:

 Here's a photo of me and the statue of Cornelius:

 Here's a photo of me and the real Cornelius:

Wow, that's enough fun for one day. We camped at Lake Francis Case, named for the Senator who pushed through all the bills to dam the Missouri river and create reservoirs. I know this is true because the park ranger told me so when he gave me a lift to the office to make sure I paid for the campsite.

Favorite Town Name: Fedora, SD

Random observation from Randy:
"On the way back through Kansas, we should do some real off-roading. Maybe break an axle. I could show you all the geographical highlights of Kansas. There are three of them."