THE BASEBALL TRIP 2017

There are only two rules on the Baseball Trip. 1. No interstate highways. 2. No chain restaurants. The rest is anybody's guess.

Day 1 - July 27, 2017

The trip is late this year, but for a good reason: we want to see baseball in Quebec. I know, for real.Last year we stopped by the Rockland Boulders in Rockland, New York. Rockland is part of the Can-Am League, an independent minor league association. There are teams in Canada and America, get it?  That gave us the idea. We have planned the dates especially to see three games in Canada, one in Ottawa, one in Trios Rivieres and on in  in Quebec. We will also be visiting Toronto to see the Blue Jays play at the Rogers Center. Get this- they have a hotel behind the outfield where sometimes people leave the curtains open. More about that later.

Anyway, by we I mean me and Randy, the navigator. Along the way we like to count things like war memorials, Walmarts, women on riding mowers, shirtless drivers, cash for gold stores, and other signs of the apocalypse. This year we are counting those flimsy wind-blown humanoid figures that sit in front of stores because the proprietor believes he can lure customers inside to buy goods by displaying creepy voodoo imagery. I believe they are known in the trades as inflatable air-dancers (IAD). We are also counting Kids Actually Playing Outside (KAPO).

I know.

Meanwhile, Randy has celebrated the 50th anniversary of the "Summer of Love" by downloading every single album produced during the calendar year 1967. We are listening to The Beatles, The Stones, The Kinks, The Electric Prunes, The 13th Floor Elevators, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Richie Havens, Smokey Robinson, Big Brother with Janis Joplin, and Peter, Paul and Mary among many others. That's right, I said Peter, Paul and Mary.

Anyway, that music got us through Indiana and Michigan as we wound our way to Lansing to see the Lugnuts play. The Lansing Lugnuts are an A-ball level minor league affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays.

Here is a picture of the main gate at Cooley Law School Field. That's right, they gave the naming rights to a law school.

More:

 They put distance markers on the apartment building behind left and center fields. I like that.

 Scoreboard in left.

From the grassy knoll behind left field.

The game took 3 1/2 hours to complete as the Lugnuts did not suck as much as the Dayton Dragons, 9-8.

Favorite town name: Mesopolis, Michigan.

Favorite sign: World of Life Church: The church that rocks!

Random observation from Randy: I have to tell you something: there were two Elvis Presley movie soundtracks in 1967. I didn't bother to download them.

IAD - 1
KATO: - 1 on skateboard, 2 on bikes, 4 jumping into the Kalamazoo river.

Next: Toronto