The Baseball Trip 2026

Day 7 - Sunday, August 9

We finally made it to Glacier National Park! But there is a snag: it's crowded, and it's covered in smoke.

Random Observation from Randy: I'll just assume all this is very pretty.

The day started with breakfast at Big Sky Cafe.

It's for sale, in case you are interested.

Some of the photos are eerie, obstructed by smoke. But some opportunities arose for clear photos. Nonetheless, here they are:

The only Glacier we could see clearly.

Logan Creek, dammed up.

Favorite Town Names: Elmo, MT

                                    Two Medicine, MT

Favorite Signs: Many Dancing Woman Trading Post.

                        Help Me Jesus!

                        Thank you faculty for teaching with heart!

Things we cannot hang around for: Shakespeare in the Park, Cut Bank, MT. (The Merchant of Venice.)

Fire Hazard - 2  

One Lane Highways - 0

By the way, we finally found a minor league baseball game in Montana after we left Glacier National Park. It was supposed to start at 3 PM. Unfortunately, it was cancelled because - you guessed it - an air quality alert.

Next: No promises!

The Baseball Trip 2026

Day 6 - Saturday, August 8

The best laid plans...

So we didn't make it to Glacier National Park today, nor did we see any baseball. Montana is too large for our ambitions. Six more hours of the scrub and cattle ranches. 

Move along now, nothing to see here.

Our day starts at the Bearstone Cafe for breakfast.

As you can see, they are all about the bears.

Once in a while, however, we see something rising above:

Notice the haze on the horizon. Apparently, all of Spokane is on fire.

Every town in this part of Montana.

Favorite town names: Straw, MT

                                      Chester, MT

Favorite signs: War on Weeds!

                          Glowin' Up Columbus

Random Observation From Randy: I didn't get what I wanted in this picture, and yet, I don't care.

Fire hazard signs - 1 Air Quality alert

One lane highways - 0

Things we cannot hang around for: City Park Community BBQ festival, Shelby, MT.

Next: No predictions anymore.

The Baseball Trip 2026

Day 5 - Friday, August 7

Well, we made it as far as Columbus, Montana, about 40 miles west of Billings. The trail took us to Route 85 west through South Dakota and into Wyoming. We then cut north into Montana and headed west from there. Forever.

It is flat, a scrub land used for cattle ranching, with a touch of rock outcroppings popping up here and there.

A few pictures starting in Rapid City and along the drive:

Bikers heading into Rapid City.

Spearfish, South Dakota

We had four hours of this.

The haze in the background is wildfire smoke. Air quality alert day.

The back of his motorcycle is modified to look like the old Chevy Bel Air. Notice the fins.

Cowboy behind a gas station hauling his horses back to the ranch.

Random Observation From Randy: We should pull over for the night, I'm getting bedsores already.

Favorite Town Names: Center of the Nation, SD.

                                        Lame Deer, MT.

Favorite signs: Mr. Liquor

                          Stoneville Saloon - Cheap Drinks/Lousy Food (Apparently not! The lot was full of                                         motorcycles.)

Fire warnings - 2 (including one air quality alert).

One lane highways - 1

Things we cannot hang around for : Sturgis Biker Rally.

Next: Glacier National Park and Minor League Baseball.

The Baseball Trip 2026

Day 4 - Thursday, August 6

Update: The Sioux City Explorers hang on for a 7-6 victory over the Lake County Dock Hounds.

Random Observation From Randy: I think Google is going to f*** with me today.

Maybe. 

But we start our day off with breakfast at Kate's in Sergeant Bluff, Iowa. Kate's is a small Cafe and Ice cream /sweet shop. Kate's has an interesting origin story. Kate ran the Tip-Top Bar in Sergeant Bluff, Iowa from 1946 to 2000. There is a military base nearby, and she welcomed all of our military personnel into her establishment. There was a fish fry every Friday, where she would boil the fish and throw it onto newspapers spread on the tables and let everybody dig in. She also owned an antique shop next door (now closed) where she would lay out cots and let those who had had too much at the bar sleep it off for the night. The recruits at the base loved her. The granddaughter turned it into a cafe in 2000.

Unassuming, yet, the decor still has the same artifacts from the original joint:

We leave Sioux City, Iowa north into South Dakota, and take Route 50 west. For a long time.

We stop for a break at the Lewis and Clark Trail rest stop in Chamberlain, South Dakota, to visit the Dignity Statue:

From Wikipedia:

Dignity of Earth and Sky (shortened to Dignity for brevity) is a sculpture on a bluff overlooking the Missouri River near Chamberlain, South Dakota.^[ The 50-foot (15 m) high stainless steel statue by South Dakota artist laureate Dale Claude Lamphere depicts an Indigenous woman in Plains-style dress receiving a star quilt. According to Lamphere, the sculpture honors the culture of the Lakota and Dakota peoples who are indigenous to South Dakota.

Behind the statue is a scenic overlook of the Missouri River:

After that, we head west to the Badlands!

We are stopping for the night in Rapid City, South Dakota. 

Favorite town names: Scenic, SD.

                                     Interior, SD

                                     Box Elder, SD

Favorite signs: Tattoo Monkey

                          City Limits Road

                          Inactive Catholic? Come on Home!

Things we cannot hang around for: Megadeath and Lynyrd Skynyrd in Rapid City, South Dakota.

Wildfire warnings - 0     maybe soon?

One lane roads - 2

Next: Great Falls, Montana (maybe?).

The Baseball Trip 2026

Day 3 - Wednesday August 5

Editor's Note:  We are not going to Sioux Falls, SD. We are going to Sioux City, Iowa. Doh!

Random Observation From Randy: Well, I knew it was Sioux something.

Also: I forgot to give the counts from yesterday, so here goes:

Wildfire warnings - 0

One lane roads - 0

Before we left Minnesota, we stopped for breakfast at Park Cafe in Saint Paul Park, Minnesota.

It doesn't look like much, but the biscuits and gravy lived up to Randy's standards. So, all good!

Yes, we are indeed heading across Minnesota and into Iowa for an American Association game between the Sioux City Explorers and the Lake County Dock Hounds. The Dock Hounds are out of Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. The American Association League is an independent League, meaning their teams are not affiliated with Major League Baseball.

The Explorers were down 4-1 in the bottom of the sixth, but exploded for 5 runs to take a 6-4 lead. I can't vouch for the final score because we left early. The game was at the three hour mark and it wasn't even in the eighth inning yet. I'll let you know when I find out.

Nonetheless, here are some pictures from Lewis and Clark Park:

Press box behind home plate.

Left field.

Right field.

Center field scoreboard.

Slider, the Explorers' mascot. He took no pictures with the fans. Big-timed us.

From behind home plate.

Stadium entrance.

Me waiting twenty minutes for a brat and chicken strips.

Favorite town name: Buttercup, MN.

Favorite signs: Lost Sanity Brewing Co.

                         5,000 Guns! Turn here!

                         Guaranteed Bat Removal

                         Worry-free Water!

Random Observation From Randy: That's another reason I don't like the suburbs... all those creepy roads.

Wildfire Warnings - 0

One lane roads - 1

Next: Montana.

The Baseball Trip 2026

Day 2 - Tuesday, August 4

We leave La Crosse,Wisconsin, heading for Saint Paul, Minnesota. But first, a couple of pictures of the river behind our motel:

Homes on French Island, in the middle of the Mississippi River.

Boats docked on the river.

 

After a few pix, we went to breakfast, crossing the river into La Crescent, Minnesota for a delicious meal at Kaddy's Kafe.

Random Observation From Randy: It's lucky we escaped that joint with our lives considering the number of police badges on that wall.

After that, we skipped back into Wisconsin to take the scenic river byway (Wisc 35) north to Saint Paul. On the way, we found Alma, Wisconsin. The Mississippi River Lock and Dam  #4 is there for your viewing pleasure. It also makes Alma the town of a thousand puns:

Alma: the best town by a dam site!

The Best Dam View Bar and Grill

Pun and Favorite sign qualifier: Mrs. Hippie Antiques

Mississippi Lock and Dam #4.

One more photo from the river:

Another island in the river.

But, on to Saint Paul. The Saints take on the Louisville Bats (AAA affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds) tonight at CHS Field. CHS stands for Cenex Harvest States (now officially known as CHS Inc.), a massive, farmer-owned global agribusiness and energy cooperative. In case you hadn't noticed, I googled that. It's AI.

The home team took a mighty blow in the first inning, thanks to a two-run-homer. But they also supplied the power in their half of the first with a three-run homer by Matt Wallner. The game was tied 5-5 in the bottom of the seventh when the Saints exploded for 6 runs, including a three-run-homer by Aaron Sabato. Ben Ross added a two-run dinger, and the Saints win running away, 15-5!

Some pix from CHS Field:

Players warming up in front of the left field berm.

Right field party zone.

Behind home plate/press boxes.

Center field batter's eye.

Videoboard in left-center.

View from the concourse behind the third base line.

Me with "Mudonna", the mascot of the Saint Paul Saints. Her full name is Mudonna T. Pig. The mascot is a pig because Saint Paul was founded by a fur trapper named Pierre "Pigs-eye" Parrant. She is famous for twerking atop the dugout. I'm not kidding, and I cannot un-see that.

Favorite Town Names: Saint Paul (in honor of my pub trivia teammates Good Paul and Bad Paul).

                                       Diamond Bluff

Favorite signs: Big River

                         Radio Drive

Things we cannot hang around for: Preston 'Daze' -  Preston, WI.

I think Randy was onto something: There are two police cars in front of our motel as we leave for the Saints game.

Next: Sioux Falls, South Dakota.