Started the day by going to Little Rock Central HS, the site of the school desegregation battle, which is now a national historic site. So there was a small visitor center, with a museum. Nicely done.
On the road to Texas, for the first time! So part of the reason I came to Texas was to mark it off my list. Crossing that border(which doesn’t have a big Welcome to Texas sign), I hit #37! Unsurprisingly, I have a spreadsheet that lists what states I have been in, and also tallies how many I have built in (12) and done some sort of baseball-related activity(26) I had always counted AR, but had really just driven through on the short stretch of I-55 on a work trip in college. So it is fully legit now. All states touching the Mississippi River and east, I’ve been too. I need to head west. Unfortunately, road trips from NC are expensive to go to Idaho(sorry Tim) Someday, though.
Anyway, after a solid drive to Frisco, I got to Dr Pepper Ballpark. It is next to a mall, so plenty of free parking! Thats good, since I had to pay $3 in tolls to get there. (I’ll get back to that). The stadium was really cool. Another new one(I think 2008) but it is different. Instead of a normal suite level, they are individual buildings, with cupolas on top of each. Very neat. I don’t know if that is Texas-y or what, but a cool change of pace. There was even a pool past the right field fence. Nice having the scoreboard being in a different place than the video screen, makes it seem a little more old-school. The mascots were fine, and the inbetween entertainment was fine. They had a $10 meal plan, where you could get a burger and fries and a Dr.Pepper product, so I thought, yum, maybe a burger instead of a hotdog. Bad idea. After a couple of bites, I actually double checked to make sure it wasn’t a veggie burger for its lack of taste. Nope, it was meat(sort of) that was just bad. One bad thing about the stadium was there were no overhangs, so in the brutal Texas sun, it was hot. So after a little bit (game was a 4:00 start) all the fans were sitting on the 3rd base side to get what little shade was offered by the suites. It was odd having half the stadium full, and the other half virtually empty.
Decent game, Frisco won 9-6. 8 runs in one inning pretty much sealed the deal. Although the game wasn’t close, this was still the lamest group of fans. Very quiet throughout the game, even when they were knocking the ball around that inning. Love the hat though, simple, yet more than just letters.
Drove through Dallas on my way to the State Park. Absolute ghost town. I know it was 7pm on Memorial Day, but really, it was kind of creepy. And back to the tolls. I don’t mind tolls at all, they are underused in America, and most people have figured out the I-Pass or whatever they call it in your state. But in TX, they don’t want to play with others so their ‘Tolltag’ isn’t compatible. Boo. Get with the program. And why don’t you have a sign up to welcome me into the state? I was stoked about getting a picture of it, #37 and all, and then nothing. Just construction. Lame. TXDOT, you are on my list right now. You have 5 days to redeem yourself.
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