Round Rock Express

 

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Well, I had the highlight of my trip today.  But we’ll get back to that.  I hustled to break camp early, to get to the Rangers Ballpark in Arlington for a tour.  With poor signage on the roads, I barely made it, but it was a decent tour.  Got to see the clubhouse, press box, suite, dugout.  Not bad, although I would have like to see a view from above like we got in SF.  The new Cowboy Stadium is next door, and is awfully large, but looks good.

Hitting the road, poor signage once again had me take a little longer than necessary to get on the interstate.  At one point, I had signs on either side of the street pointing to different directions.  Down towards Waco, I had some free time and went to the Texas Sports Hall of Fame.  For how much history there was here, I was a little disappointed.  Baylor is also in Waco, and the 3 minute driving tour, it looked nice.

The game at Round Rock was against the Iowa Cubs, so another chance to see our future stars.  And Ryno.  This time I was able to get there a bit before game time, and he was singing autographs near the dugout.  I had brought my Cubs cap and a sharpie in anticipation of this.  So I stood in line, not knowing what to say when I got there, but it ended up something like this- “Can you sign this?” (no response) “Thank you sir”, Ryno-“Sure” And those 5 seconds were the greatest moment of this trip and I now have a Ryne Sandberg autographed Cubs hat, that I will never wear again, and will be displayed in a glass case. (maybe not a glass case)

Round Rock has a nice stadium, although kind of small for AAA I think, it did start out 10 years ago as a AA stadium.  Has a lot of berm in the outfield, which the Cubs hit two homeruns to, and a cool Homerun porch in LF.  Nice scoreboard, and two RHE boards on both 3rd and 1st base sides.  The people seemed to be into the game a bit more, and the stadium was maybe 2/3 full at best.  And the Cubs won 3-2, with Micah Hoffpauir getting a 9th inning HR and Schlitter saving the game.  Compared to Nashville where Hoffpauir got tossed and Schlitter blew the game in the ninth.  GO CUBS!

Frisco Rough Riders

 

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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.

Arkansas Travelers

 

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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?

Memphis Redbirds

 

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Left Nashville, and got to Memphis early enough to do some sightseeing before the game.  I went to Sun Records, where Elvis, among others, was discovered.  Definitely cool.

The stadium was definitely worthy of a AAA team.  Nice facade, Classic brick look, with the dark green seats, light standards, etc.  Had plenty of suites to make the corporations happy, a nice lawn area in the left field home run area(they got 2 tonight) to make the families happy, and $7 beers to make the brewers happy.  Major league prices thats for sure.  I think I read that HOK architects designed this one.  I definitely see that.  (They have done a lot of the new-retro pro stadiums)  And it is right downtown, just a couple blocks off of Beale St.  So I woefully got their ballcap, since they are a Cardinals affiliate.  I usually wear the cap all the next day until I get to the next game, but I won’t tomorrow.  Seeing all that Cardinal red made me sick.  So I think I will wear a different cap until I get to Little Rock.  The game itself was a blow out, the Albuquerque Isotopes(yes, that is right Simpsons fans) won 16-6, and Andre Ethier was on rehab from the Dodgers tonight, and he was 2-4 I think. 
While I was in Memphis I went to Beale St and heard some music.  Some blues at BB King’s club before the game and some Dueling Pianos at Silky O’Sullivans after.  It is another cool town to walk down the street and hear so much music.  They actually closed off Beale St to car traffic, creating a mini (and less debaucherous) Bourbon St.  Lots of people, lots of open containers.  Fun time, and I should probably come back sometime to see more music.  I saw in the bar after the game that the Blackhawks won!  3 more to go, too bad I can’t watch them.

Nashville Sounds

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Well, I started the day hiking at Monte Sano SP in AL.  I am figuring I did about 6mi or so.  Nothing spectacular, not a technical hike, just a couple of steep areas, often flat and wide-ish paths.  But I would like to commend them on a fine trail map.  This is the way it should be done.  Have a legit map, color coded, that says difficulty ratings(although I think they overated some), and that has different blazes for different paths.  It is hard when in the woods you have a diverging path, that both have white blazes.  Here, choose the yellow or the red path.  Although the forks here had nice signposts. I don’t understand why all trail system aren’t like this.  The guide also was topographic, which was great.  But oops, they spelled ‘scenic’ wrong in the key.

Onto Nashville-  I was hoping to stay at a state park, but it is Memorial Day Weekend.  TN State parks are first come first served, so that didn’t work. I called when I first drove into TN and realized this before I drove to it, so i ended up staying at Yogi Bear Jellystone Resort right near Opryland.  I like state parks better, but in the big city, this was actually kind of convenient.  And its Yogi Bear!

Now the game…. Nashville was playing the Iowa Cubs, our AAA affiliate.  And my childhood hero, Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg is the manager.  So that was awesome.  Before the game, he had a line of fans getting his autograph.  I wonder what it is like to be a player on that team, and seeing your manager sign autographs for half an hour while you are warming up.  The sky was threatening, but the game got underway.  In the bottom of the first, it started raining, and pretty hard.  They played through it.  Before the top of the second, it started to taper off.  So they decided to put the tarp out then!  Ryno was not happy- a theme for the night.  After about 20 minutes, they took it off.  It started raining again.  Nice job umps.  But this time it wasn’t too bad.  But I was wet and cold the rest of the game. 

It was neat to know some of the players, the Cubs who have been in the bigs.  Like Micah Hoffpauir.  He was up to bat, and struck out on a check swing.  He wasn’t happy and made a gesture(which had to have been accompanied by some words) and was immediately tossed out.  I was sitting in the fourth row behind the dugout, and I couldn’t hear anything.  It must of been bad, because just pointing at the ump, while stupid, seems like something that could be let go.  Then he got mad.  Getting up in the umps face.  Then Ryno, who was coaching 3rd base as most minor league managers do, came down to get between Hoffpauir and the ump.  It got a little heated, but everyone went on their way.  The next inning, when Ryno was in the dugout, the ump called a Nashville player out on strikes, with an unconvincing strike 3 call.  As an ump  myself, that sounded like the ump forgot it was strike 3 when he started the call, and then had to make it sound good at the end.  Ryno must have said something, about the ump goofing, because the ump in his most grown up voice turned to the dugout and told him to be quiet.  Anyway, the game continued, and the Cubs made a great comeback, and were up 5-4  when in came Brian Schlitter to save the game.  Oops.  After a base hit, they got a walkoff homer.  Cubs lose, 6-5.  The stadium was a 30 yr old stadium, not a great scoreboard(although cool shape).  Not a good pro shop, or concessions.  Once again, kind of empty, but I’ll blame that on the weather.  The in game promotions were fine, and being able to sit where I wanted was nice.  I like ushers that don’t care.  And really, when 1/4 of the stadium is full, who cares?

Mileage: 94395

Tent takedown: 4:40

Tent setup: 10:31 (I spent the time and cleaned out the ends of the poles, one of which has a crack that is getting bigger)

Nashville itself seems like a fun place.  I don’t even like country music, but it is neat to walk down the street and hear so much live music, regardless of the time of day.  Also, you saw some places closed due to flooding rehab, and saw a lot of construction trucks around.  It is hard to believe that downtown had that much water covering it.

Huntsville Stars

 

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Well, I had some bacon and eggs, closed up camp and went on another cave tour.  This one had the cool formations.  Unfortunately, I didn’t have enough time to go on the ‘Wild Cave Tour’ where you actually have to have a helmet and headlamp, and their are size restrictions due to tiny passageways.  Maybe next time.

At Piggly Wiggly, I found Dr. Wham! great name, although Dr Pig would’ve been great too.  I am up to 4 Drs now.

Mileage: 94164

Tent down: 4:17

Tent up: 7:22 (There is dirt in the end of the poles that make it harder to stick on the corner pins)

So Huntsville.  Hopefully there are better parts than I am driving through.  A lot of commerce.  And not sparkly stuff either.  And the stadium fits in with that analysis.  It is there.  It is functional.  It is boring.  Huge though, can seat a lot of people.  Yesterday was a rainout, so today was a double header that started at 5, and had two 7-inning games.  I got there at about 5, and for the majority of the first game, there were 150 people there.  Weird  by itself, then add a big stadium and it is creepy.  I sat down the left field line for a while, and had 8 sections to myself.  I decided it was too far away, I think I could scrounge up another seat somewhere.  I got some food(a good Philly cheesesteak) and walked towards behind the first base dugout.  Right on cue, a foul ball gets hit over my head, bounces off an empty seat and comes down near where I am about to sit.  Thank you very much, almost a legit foul ball!  Now I just need to get one while it is still moving.  The in-game entertainment was spotty, the sound system fritzy and their big screen was turned off.  Weird game.  Nice classic hat though.

Bowling Green (KY) Hot Rods

 

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Well, I left Taylorsville SP without hiking, to go see Abe Lincoln’s birthplace and boyhood home (That is the spring you see in the picture)  Kind of small, but neat to think one of the greatest Americans ever started right there.

But the big reason to get going this morning was to get to Mammoth Cave NP.  I wanted to get in a tour this afternoon before my game.  I went on the Violet Lantern Light tour.  Instead of the usual lights they have for the tours, the had us carry old school lanterns.  A little spooky, although with 40 people and 15 lanterns, you weren’t tripping over anything in the dark.  The moment you are in the cave, it went from 85 and muggy outside to a crisp 54 inside.  And let me tell you, from minute 1 of this 3 hr tour, I knew why they call it Mammoth Cave.  I also know that I am going to try and go on another one tomorrow.  And maybe become a spelunker.  WOW!  And I haven’t even gone to the part with the stalactites and stalagmites yet.  WOW!  Absolutely amazingly huge.  I don’t remember exactly the numbers on some of the rooms, but he was talking in acres! And they were like 100 ft tall also.  Although he said if Niagara Falls was flowing into it, it would take just 30 seconds.

The game – it started late due to the passing storm we got(must’ve happened when I was in the cave)  So I got to the store to get my hat and saw a poster of all the minor league hats!  Unfortunately, it was an ad and not something I could get.  But another cool hat here, and their alternate was pretty sweet too.  The game had a lot of strikeouts by the BG pitcher, I lost track how many.  Small and not lively crowd.  Also, for a new stadium, it didn’t look to pretty from the outside, and just average from the inside.  I don’t know much about BG, but hopefully they can support a team better than this.  Because it was an enjoyable atmosphere, all that minor-league entertainment stuff was there.