Barring something catastrophic happening on the home-front,...
Barring something catastrophic happening on the home-front, I’m finally taking my dream trip. This is a trip I’ve wanted to take for years, and the stars have aligned in such a manner that I can finally do it. I’ve been hesitant to pull the trigger on this but I also realized that I’m 35 years old now, and my window of opportunity for doing a trip like this is probably shrinking. So here I go…
Next Monday I hit the road for ten days, catching a baseball game in nine of those days in six different cities (and, if you count the two Mets/Nats game I’m going to this Friday and Saturday, it’ll be 11 games in 13 days). I set the schedule so that the driving between cities is manageable and leaves me with 4-5 hours a day to work on my books and even do a little sight-seeing (although, admittedly, not much).
This is my mid-life crisis, my spiritual journey, and my escape from the DC rigmarole all rolled into one.
My schedule, in case you’re in one of these cities and want to get a drink, offer a bed, or even catch a game with me, is:
Monday, July 29th AM - Depart for Pittsburgh (4-hour drive)
Monday, July 29th @ 7PM - Cardinals @ Pirates
Tuesday, July 30th AM - Depart for Cleveland (2-hour drive)
Tuesday, July 30th @ 7PM - White Sox @ Indians
Wednesday, July 31st AM - Depart for Detroit (2.5-hour drive)
Wednesday, July 31st @ 1PM - Nationals @ Tigers
Wednesday, July 31st @ ~5PM - Depart for Chicago (4-hour drive), possible crash in Kalamazoo (2-hour drive)
Thursday, August 1st AM - Either depart for Chicago or, if in Chicago, spend the morning getting some work done
Thursday, August 1st @ 7PM - Dodgers @ Cubs
Friday, August 2nd AM - Depart for Milwaukee (1.5-hour drive)
Friday, August 2nd @ 7PM - Nationals @ Brewers
Saturday, August 3rd @ 7PM - Nationals @ Brewers
Sunday, August 4th @ 2PM - Nationals @ Brewers
Sunday, August 4th @ ~6PM - Depart for St Louis (5.5-hour drive), possible crash in Bloomington (3.5-hour drive) or Springfeild (4.5-hour drive)
Monday, August 5th AM - Either depart for St. Louis or get some work done
Monday, August 5th @ 6PM - Dodgers @ Cardinals
Tuesday, August 6th AM - Depart for Cincinnati (5.5-hour drive)
Tuesday, August 6th @ 7PM - Athletics @ Reds
Wednesday, August 7th, AM - Depart for DC (8-hour drive)
I’ll be prepared to add an extra day on at the end since that’s when the driving becomes longer. So I may catch the Wednesday Reds game, for instance, and come home Thursday.
I’ll be armed with audio books that I need to listen to, laptop and phone. My evenings and day times will be dedicated almost entirely to catching up on book stuff, especially while in Milwaukee. I’ll also be keeping a road journal on this trip, and eye towards perhaps doing a life-behind-the-boxscores memoir if the experience is interesting enough.
I’ll be buying tickets on StubHub probably this weekend. The cheapest tickets I can get for each game. I priced them out and I can do this for ~$12 per game. If you’re in one of those cities and want to catch a game with me, let me know via message or email (jrodinator@gmail.com). Even if you don’t like baseball. In fact…ESPECIALLY if you don’t like baseball.
I’ll have a cooler packed with water and lunch items to keep the cost down, and hopefully some old friends can offer up some couches and WiFi to keep it down even more.
And that’s that, I guess. Wish me luck - seven days and counting!
