The End!

We started with a group picture around the Stratus and ended with just me and dragon. 2600+ miles and 6 baseball games later, the trip is over! It's been real fun...we got treated to some great ballgames, and the people we've been able to hang out and crash with have been absolutely incredible. We got this mini-sampling of America and I can only imagine what my friends Dave and Elizabeth did with their 50 state roadtrip last year. I'd love to give that a whirl someday. So thanks to Pete, Grant, Brooke's fam, Kara Lynn & fam, Dan, and Seagal for making this an awesome experience!

Couldn't fit much more in the trunk of the Stratus!

Game 6: D'Rays @ Balt

No foul ball antics, but the last game of the trip is an 11 inning win for the home team on an awesome night. Seagal joined us for this game at Camden Yards and we got upgraded to some sweet seats down the 3rd base line. After the game we took a pic with this great usher who was very cool and also ultra protective of his section.

Too bad dragon didn't see a sign like this in Pittsburgh

Game 5: MIL @ PIT

Our great friend Dan from high school joined us for tonight's game at PNC Park and it was definitely the most fun so far! And we've had some good ones already too! Not only was it awesome to hang and catch up with Dan, but there's just always a story when you put me and Pete together apparently.

So we went for some good seats down the 3rd base line...prime foul ball territory. In the 4th inning, I heard the crack of the bat hitting the ball, and looked up to see this fierce line drive headed straight towards us. Not wanting my precious fingers having anything to do with it, I just let the ball go. Next thing I know, I turn around and see Pete (who was sitting in the row behind me) try to block or trap the ball with his body, but it just NAILS him in the chest. I mean, really hard. Like there was this huge THUMP! and the entire stadium saw the impact and went "ohhhhh". The worst part of it is that he didn't even end up with the ball. It ricocheted off his chest, and some random dude who didn't "earn" that ball ended up with it. All Pete ended up with was a nice red mark.

Makes for a great story too! Dan was getting ice cream at the time and saw the whole thing happen from afar. A group of girls took a pic of his chest. And some dad with his two kids was sitting a few sections over and made a comment to Pete on our way out. Hilarious.

oh and btw, the Pirates won 12-1. Julio Castillo went 4-4 with 2 HR's and 6 RBI's for the Pirates.

In addition, Pete earned some extra money by doing some camera work for the stadium and a few ladies. Later on, him and Dan took on the Steelers and Pete took out this guy's knees.

Goodbye M.I.

Thanks so much to KL's fam for putting us up (and putting up with us). It was way fun! They also have this badass bird named Calvin (or Kelvin, I'm not really sure). So now we're back to "roughin it" on this roadtrip :)

Game 4: Yanks @ Tigers

Talk about HOT! This was painful. After every half inning, dragon and I would go to the hallway to cool off...and there were many times that I would just stay there during play too. KL and fam didn't have that luxury, but at least they had Icees (and mini-pizzas) in the stadium!! Oh yeah, dragon and I had chef hats too. Get it? SHEF-field? anyway. Comerica Park was cool despite being in ghetto Detroit. It had a bunch of badass stone tigers (2) around the stadium. The scoreboard in Cincy was still the best though.

Another great meal with KL's fam and a lot more swim talk rounded out our big non-driving day of the trip. Onto Pittsburgh tomorrow...

Game 3: DBacks @ Reds

Great game. Ridiculously hot day. But even suffering through the sun, we still had a real fun time. 27,000+ strong, the Reds fans were excellent and we were treated to some sweet baseball. A manager ejection, a pinch-hit 2-run homer to get the Reds within 1, an outfield assist to throw a DBack out at home in the top of the 9th...and then a walk-off homer in the bottom of the 9th to win it 5-4!! We've been real lucky to get treated to some awesome games.

Great American Ballpark was real nice too. It's only a couple years old, very well-kept with a real fan-friendly atmosphere (I have a higher vertical jump than dragon), and a totally sweet scoreboard. This scoreboard killed Wrigley's (but the old-school number cards are still cool).

After the game we drove up to Kara Lynn's fam's house in Ann Arbor for more incredible hospitality and food...another amazing dinner, a lot of talkin' swimming, and capping off the night with me and dragon being awarded Olympic silver medals (2). We've been real spoiled on this roadtrip and we're totally thankful for the great people that have really hooked us up along the way.

Easy day tomorrow with no driving to another town...just the ballgame in Detroit with KL's fam and then another night here. It's going to be fun!

Alternative transportation for the trip

We had an amazing treat this morning! After some awesome waffles and sausages from Brooke's mom, Brooke's grandpa took each of us up in his airplane for a short ride! It was totally incredible. Grandpa gave me a brief tour of Kokomo and then he let me take the stick!! I made a few turns and then took the plane in for it's landing pattern (but then he re-did it). So awesome. I've always wanted to get in a small plane like that because I learned all about flying in school but never got the first-hand experience and it was so great. Nothing like flying in a big plane at all. Landing is like floating to the ground like a feather. Even Pete enjoyed it!

Pete and Brooke's dad riding alongside the plane during my take-off
Pete prepping for the flight

Brooke's family was so generous, kind, and welcoming. Their hospitality and the Kokomo experience they gave us was totally appreciated. Thanks so much!!

Game 2: Braves @ Cubs

Wrigley Field is great! It's got so much character, and the area around the ballpark is really neat too. The bleachers on top of the adjacent apartment buildings are totally sweet. But with the 12:20p start combined with the 3.5 hrs of driving we still had to do to get to Chicago, a stop at Best Buy to get a new camera, and trying to find parking, we didn't get to our seats until the 3rd inning, but it was still very cool. And we happened to be a part of the largest attendance at Wrigley since the 1970's or something like that! 41,865 (I think)!

I do have to say that dragon and I were a bit disappointed in the Cubs fans though. (Turbs, hear me out before you get all fired up.) We expected them to be a little more into the game. In NY, whether you're at Shea or Yankee Stadium, the crowd is on their feet or at the very least making some noise and clapping real loud on nearly every two-strike count. And when the Mets or Yanks are rallying, the noise is loud enough that you can't hear yourself talk. Not so at Wrigley. The Cubs were down 2-1 for most of the game and in the bottom of the 9th, dragon and I seemed to be the most excited people in the stadium for the Cubs to make a comeback! With men on 1st and 2nd and two outs, nobody even stood up to cheer until very late in the count! It was weak dude.

Anyway, I don't mean to rag on the Cubs too much because it was still way fun for us and the hot dog was totally solid. After the game, we drove 3-4 more hours to Kokomo IN to spend the evening at Brooke's parents' house. They were SO nice! We had a great home cooked meal and homemade Oreo cheesecake. We also got smoked in bocci ball by her folks and then hit a couple golf balls in their backyard (which is an airfield!)

Game 1: Seattle @ Minnesota

First let me say that after that initial Iowa excitement, it's all downhill from there! Driving through Iowa was way more painful than driving through Kansas. Not only was there nothing to look at (at least Kansas had a bunch of billboards), but good food options are few and far between. Here's a few little tips: 1. Don't hold out for a Quizno's in Iowa because they don't exist. 2. Don't stop in Dow even though there is a food sign...it's just a trap, and you only find that out 4 miles away from the highway.

We made it to Minneapolis a good hour plus before first pitch and we found $5 parking in this airplane hangar type building. So of course we're fascinated and take my camera out...after taking one picture, the button to take pics doesn't work anymore! wtf!!! could my technology curse kick in at any worse timing?? We tried everything, but alas, my camera is definitely not functional. (so the pics at the end of this thing are from my weak camera phone)

Outside the Metrodome, they have all sorts of fun stuff going on which was very cool. We scored some good upper deck seats in the 3rd row and for all of you Metrodome haters, we totally enjoyed the stadium. First off, it looks totally cool and well-kept. Secondly, the stadium is dug into the ground...so you walk in, and you don't have to stand on escalators or walk up ramps! How cool is that? And then on top of that, today was the day the governer was officially signing the papers to build a new outdoor stadium for the Twins, so we each got a coupon for a free dog and drink (which were phenomenal by the way)!

There were 20 min of pre-game ceremonies for this whole new stadium deal...and a bunch of Twins legends were on the field including Hall of Famers Rod Carew and Harmon Killebrew. Totally awesome.

The game was way fun and the fans were friendly and knowledgable too. Dragon even bought a Joe Mauer t-shirt and put it on top of his Yankee t-shirt on the spot!

Overall, great time and great start to this mini-tour. Go Twins!

The Metrodome!

Carlos Beltran and Joe Mauer

We're in Iowa!!

At the sweetest rest area of all time. A nice lake, grilling action, a cool building...and wireless internet!!

Day 1: CSprings to KC

Not too eventful here. We left csprings this morn and made our way to KC by 8pm, crashing Grant's swim practice and then catching up with him and Lindsay at Chili's. And then we went back to his place and did the obligatory viewing of the Incline Challenge dvd (which all of our hosts will be incredibly happy to see). We'll be on the road to Minneapolis in the am. When I can get my laptop online, I'll upload pics to the blog. check back! see ya!

The Summer of Dragon begins!

(l-r: JB, me, dragon, Amy, Seagal, Suz, MJ)

Roadtrip!!

Dragon and I are roadtripping back east and we'll catch 6 baseball games in 6 days. We leave on Thursday, spend the first night in KC (where we won't catch a game), go through Memorial Day weekend, and then we'll go our separate ways after Baltimore...he's going back home to NY and I'm staying in MD for work. I'm sure there will be plenty of pics and good stories with great people, so stay tuned for some fun blogging through the trip!! See ya soon!!

Incline Challenge!

The incline challenge met all of the hype on Friday with Lar running away with the incline king crown (26:25), me taking 2nd (28:54), Pete in a close 3rd (29:28), then Brian (32:10) and Seagal (34:35). Deb took video of the start while Karen was our starter, and a big crew (Charlene, Mariejo, Amy, Amy, Alicia, Turbo (!)) went up early to greet us at the finish. We all went to The Loop afterwards in Manitou for some mean Mexican food as a reward.

Big shout out to Charlene for some awesome commentating that really made the highlight video happen. Maybe someday you lucky people out there will have the chance to see the exciting race video production I threw together!

The Recon Team (Annie, Turbs, Amy, MJ, Alicia, Charlene, Amy)

The racers! (Me, Brian, Lar, Dragon, Seagal)

Lar got mauled by Annie and Brodie at the finish

Dragon running like a badass at the finish

I'm a black hole of technology

I believe that's how my boy Mike put it when things were going super wrong with my car, garage door, and camera a few weeks ago. Well it hasn't stopped. My car is definitely ready to go as I'm considering biking to work for the rest of the week. And my computer just shut down in mid-typing this morning. blah. So I think I'm going to move away to a deserted island and communicate through styrofoam cups and string.

Sorry for the lack of updates. Things have been quite busy. And I haven't been doing much fun stuff lately. I figure that blogging about doing the incline has gotten way old by now. More soon!