Well, let me back up a little and tell you all why this trip is. When I moved to NC, I realized that there were a lot of minor league teams within 3 hours of me. So I figured, I could make a Sunday journey out of this. So every so often, I would take a Sunday and go to one of the parks around me. I would get a hat to prove that I had been there. Then I had something in MI that I wanted to go to, and figured, why not see a ballgame on the way, or 6. So thus began my first trip in 2008, seeing some games in WV, OH, IN, and IL. I called it ‘Road of Dreams’ trip, combining road trip and Field of Dreams. And it has ballooned ever since.
Didn’t do anything in Memphis this morning, just hit the road for AR. It hit me back. Bumpiest stretch of I40 west I’ve hit. Terrible. I get a state map every time I enter a state for the first time. So I was able to stop at the visitor center and ask about AR. She said Little Rock had a party every Memorial Day Weekend called Riverfest, with music and food. So I went. It was a decent time, had the Jesse White Tumblers, which I remember from 20 years ago in Wheaton. They had dog jumping, which will be on Versus in August. Then they had a downpour. Thankfully, I timed my visit to the Clinton Presidential Library around the rain. It was nice, but I see why people call it a trailer. But I was kicked out due to closing time, and didn’t quite see all of it. But onto the baseball game…
Another game delayed at the start by rain. I think the last 4 have been delayed by rain at some point. But the stadium is another nice one, has a view of the “skyline” off of right field. Another one with a brick facade and dark green seats. The scoreboard is nice and big, but there isn’t a secondary RHE scoreboard elsewhere, so if you are sitting in the lawn seats, you can’t see a scoreboard. The game was over in 2 hours, a pitchers duel. Arkansas won 2-1, off of 2 solo homers. Those were big homers too, no-doubters. Another nice thing about this park was that the concessions were affordable. $3 beer and $3 sausages, popcorn $2. Not the major league prices Memphis had last night.
After the game, I went back to RiverFest for the closing acts. They had fireworks at 9:00 over the river. Billed as the largest firework show in the state of Arkansas, it was ok. At least they mixed up their styles of fireworks, which many minor league shows don’t do. But then the music happened. Rapper Ludacris was a big draw. I skipped him to see the Steve Miller Band! Much better, and he played the good stuff, but some other blues songs. I didn’t stay the whole time, since I didn’t want to get locked out of the campground. But impressive. I am not good at estimating crowds, so I won’t put a number on it, but tons of people were there, both for SMB and Ludacris, and everything else at Riverfest. Who knew Little Rock could put on such a show?
