By the Numbers

I was recently encouraged by a lovely lady from fa fa away to include a little more.

So, after about four and a half months I have been able to compile some rather impressive stats.

In the 30 games we saw, there were ...

279 runs score

529 hits

of those 105 were doubles, 9 triples, and 77 were homeruns (that would have been 177 if we went on the trip a year earlier)

41 errors (we didn't even see Jose Offerman play)

344 strikeouts to only 157 walks

The home team won 19 times

We were joined by 924677 people (total attendence)

There were 3 marriage proposals ...

and 3 acceptances.

We witnessed 275 innings played in which
8215 pitches were thrown - 5322 of them strikes and 2893 balls

All and all we saw 82 hours and 5 minutes worth of Major League Baseball - almost 3.5 days.

We drove a staggering 18942.9 miles, which is approximately the distance from Los Angeles to Tokyo, the long way - about 80% around the globe.

And we made over 1,000,000 memories.

Thank you all.

Scott and Geoff, on the field of Dodger Stadium, fireworks in the background, last night of the best two months of our life 

All of our friends from the field of Dodger Stadium 

View of PetCo Park from the roof of the Marriot hotel - beer in hand 

A few more remarks

I want to thank everyone for their patience in reading our babbling. I know it couldn't have been easy seating at a desk at work while we are driving this nation's interstates. Both Geoff and I can agree that the road was a lot less lonely knowing that all of you were sharing it with us. Thank you.

I seriously have every intention of writing more. I am trying to prepare a statisical summary of all of the games we saw. Plus there are certain individuals that deserve extra accolades which Geoff and I would like to acknowledge in further posts. So, I know this may be a lot to ask, but take a few moments each day or even week to see if I have updated. I know, I know, you have important work to do and you could never check a blog during your shift. I share your strong work ethic. It is the American way. But maybe on your lunch break you can find the time.

Thank you.

And keep on rocking.

The final push

The end of the trip was a blur. It was rather surreal that we would be driving on the 5 freeway just a few days after being in Memphis, or Dallas, or Topeka. And everything was familiar. This, I feel, was welcomed by both Geoff and me. It was great to party with my sisters in Dana Point, and have our parents at the San Diego game, and have friends at the Oakland game, and of course have everyone come to the last game. Let me fill in some details.

The last day game of the trip was in San Diego on a rare sunny day. It was absolutely perfect. My near and dear friend Will DeFord is employeed by the San Diego Padres and he hooked us up with ridiculously good tickets, and Padre Dollars redeamable for sweet delicious hot dogs and beer. What a delight. Furthermore we had a parking pass, God forbid the Road Warrior had to park on the street in a questionable neighborhood full of roughians. Needless to say Will was making a valient late effort for MVP of the trip. He certainly locked up MVP of his region.

The coolest thing about PetCo Park, in my humble opinion, is that the playing field is visable from a bar on the roof of the Marriot hotel. The bar is 100% accessible for the common folk, like myself, and charges no cover! My parents joined Will and me at this drinkery in the sky. It was heavenly. If I lived in San Diego I would watch every single day game from this bar; the air is cleaner, the beer is cheaper, and they sell whiskey.

That night in San Diego we met up with some of my other high school friends who live in San Diego. Geoff will have to give you details of the night. I was told it was a lot of fun. However, due to an incident with a 40 lbs. bag of dog food I do not recollect much.

Monday morning we drove up to Oakland to catch the A's game. Not much excitement there. My sister and her boyfriend joined us. As well as the Wrench. But Barry Zito didn't pitch and the game had no playoff implications. Furthermore the Colisium is one of the worst stadiums in Major League Baseball and Geoff and I have both been there at least five times each.

One worthy note is that the Wrench knew the DJ of XM Radio's MLB Homeplate. Ok, so, XM Radio has a deal where they broadcast every single MLB game. This is the greatest thing ever for baseball road trippers because we are in our car a lot and listen to a lot of baseball. The also have a talk radio show called MLB Homeplate where they, you guessed it, talk about MLB. Because the Wrench knew the late night DJ we called in and told them we had seen 29 out of the 30 stadiums and that on Friday we were going to finish it all. The DJ called us back and interviewed Geoff on the air. So if by some random act of epilepsy which caused you to stumble onto MLB Homeplate on XM radio Monday night around 11:15 PM and you were intriguied because it sounded like someone was doing the trip as us, do not be fooled, that was actually us. We are sort of a big deal.

We wasted the next few days in Las Vegas. You will have to buy the book to get the details.

Which takes us to Friday night, September 23rd, 7:35 PM, in Chavez Ravine, City of Angels, Los Angeles, California. For the next few hours it would become the center of the world.

In attendence at Dodger Stadium that night included; my mother Cathy, my father Rick, all three of my sisters Sherry, Jill, and Heather, John Fouts, Sherry's boyfriend John and his two children Josh and Hannah, Rick and Jeanne Gilmore, my Uncle Brian, Geoff's mother Nancy, Geoff's father Doug, Geoff's brothers Tim and Kevin, Geoff's girlfriend Andrea, Tim's girlfriend, our friend Kim Kelton, Geoff's friends Colby and Ivan. In short, just about everyone in the world we cared about was at that game with us.

We illegally tailgated before the game. Jill almost got arrested drinking a Heinken in front of the cop after they told us to get rid of it. Jill thought that meant drink it as fast as possible. I like it.

We all scored free t-shirts by either signing up to win a GMC Sierra or signing up for a Visa card, in some cases (i.e. my mom and uncle) they signed up for both.

We enjoyed Dodger Dogs which tasted like recess, summer vacation, and heaven all rolled up into one.

We sipped on some tasty cold beer.

We had one of the best times of our life.

After the game there was a fireworks show that rivaled any I have ever seen. To compliment it even more we saw it from the grass of the outfield. Several of us took off our shoes to feel the grass, it is the softest, sweetest thing in the world. Rubbing my feet over the top of the blades was like getting a foot massage from 4 Swedish women. The entire experience was absolute perfection.

It is pretty hard to pinpoint the best moment of this trip. I don't think any moment can be described as the absolute best. However, I can safely say that the Dodger game was the perfect ending to a perfect trip. It was the exclaimation point of this epic tale.

I am 22 years old and I'm afraid that it is all downhill from here.

Scott and Geoff in a bar in Bellingham, Wa on our way out the door heading to ... you guessed it, San Francisco 

Californiaaaaaa

Leaving Washington was the beginning of the end of the road trip (tear). We were returning home, driving familiar highways, staying with close friends and relatives, visiting ballparks we have already been to, the adventure was essentially over.

The San Francisco Giants play in one of, if not the, most beautiful ballparks ever made. It is butted up to the bay with a stretching view of the water, Bay Bridge, and even parts of downtown. The facility itself is wonderfully designed. It would be absolutely perfect if it was not packed with Giants’ “fans”. The quotations are necessary because I refuse to use the same word for those that go to Cardinals games and those that go to Giants games. So in the case of SF I am going to call them “bystanders” because that is what they are. They are visitors to the ballpark, there for the scene, there to be seen, and they are passive inattentive bystanders to any type of athletic competition that may ensue. The only exception to this, of course, is what Barry “I didn’t know they were steroids when I took them” Bonds comes to the plate. Boy howdy do they love that juice monkey at SBC Park. His name is on not one, but two, signs that are visible from the playing field. The first is a Charles Schwab ad that reads ‘Stocks, Mutual Funds, BONDS’. This is nice and subtly placed just to the right of the center field scoreboard, about 200 feet up from the field of play – I think it is quite clear that Giants’ management wants the other 24 players on this team, it is a team sport, to know how valuable and appreciated they are. The other sign is bright orange lettering on the left field wall which reads, ‘Bonds Squad’. This assumes that everyone in left field is there to see Barry Bonds – not a bad assumption but lets be honest here, those that like Bonds are there not to see his defensive prowess but to see him hit roid balls into the bay over the porch in right field.

The Giants game was a day game and so we found ourselves in Dana Point that night. 400 miles, one afternoon, no problem. My sisters live in a lovely duplex about two blocks away from a bar which is, surprisingly, where we ended up. This fine establishment, which Heather snuck into because she didn’t want to walk the 150 feet back to her apartment and get her ID, had a rockin’ cover band as their Saturday night entertainment. (that was not my best sentence) Anyhow, it had been a while since I really got to let myself go and get rockin’. Fortunately this band came to play with such epic cover songs as ‘I Ran’ by Flock of Seagulls and ‘Walk like an Egyptian’ by the Bangles. I wish my words could do some justice to the specimens on the “dance floor”. There were about 7 of them, all dancing by themselves, all single (I don’t know this, but they had to be because no one would enter any kind of meaningful relationship who danced the way they did), and all rocking hard some Billy Joel song. I guess this is how they do it in the OC.

Big Sky and Pacific Northwest

And you thought the good times stopped in Wyoming, well, the good times kept on rolling into Montana. Our driving day on Monday was actually quite uneventful; we just drove through random vacated land. However, the land is remarkably undisturbed. Driving through it we couldn’t help but think of how it looked to Lewis and Clark nearly 200 years ago – probably not much has changed. It is no wonder they call it Big Sky country, it is impossible to capture the whole horizon. We both found ourselves with our head on swivels just trying to see everything. Nothing like it.

That night we found ourselves in Missoula, an old mining town turned into a modern college town. It is such a fascinating melding of two cultures. Montana, the sunshine state, gorgeous. Furthermore it seems they have a buy two get two free drink policy. I don’t know if the bartenders were just really nice to me, or if they really liked to here about baseball, or they wanted to get me drunk, but I have never had so many free drinks in my life. It was amazing. I think I needed that many drinks in order to comprehend what was about to happen.

So I went to a bar which was actually a converted underground parking garage. And there were only 4 patrons. One was a grey haired gentleman who had trouble forming audible sentences. About 47 seconds after meeting him he thought it would be a good idea to show me his war scars. He started by showing me the bullet wound on his right buttock. I saw the buttock, yet no scar. I then declined to see his scar from when he was stabbed in battle in Cambodia in 1979. To the best of knowledge we never had troops in Cambodia in the late 70s which makes me think he probably wasn’t going to show me a war wound at all. I sprinted up the stairs and across the street. I hope that is the last time that ever happens.

Geoff was still occupied so I hung out another Missoula bar. Come to find out there are more bars in Missoula than hairs on my, well, there are a lot of bars there. And Montana people are great people. Good, down to earth, folks. I probably met 40 people that night, I love them all. Minus the “war vet” of course. I had an awesome time.

The next morning we continued to drive through some of the prettiest country we have ever seen. We both agreed that Montana is the most scenic state in the union. We rolled through Idaho and into Washington, which was a delight because like Minnesota they have free coffee at the rest areas. What a treat.

We arrived into Seattle early Tuesday afternoon and to both of our surprise it was not raining. It was actually nice, real nice. How would have thought? But it gets better. We walked into some random bar downtown. Geoff ordered a beer and get carded, because, well Geoff (who is two years my senior) has a baby face. The sweet little bartender decided not to offend Geoff and carded me as well, and was excited to see I am from Whittier, California – God’s Country. When I asked her why she said she went to Whittier College and come to find out, she went to the same high school as I did. As a matter of fact, she was friends with my oldest sister Sherry. Whittier, just united people worldwide. As if that wasn’t cool enough, she gave us three free beers. Whittier, making people happy worldwide.

We hitched a ride on the bus from downtown to the game. Free. Those hippies, they love their public transportation so much that during rush hour the bus runs for free. So for those keeping score at home, that is free parking, free beer, free ride to the game – not too shabby Seattle.

Safeco Field, home of the Seattle Mariners, is an architectural masterpiece. It is an open aired stadium in the rainiest city in the world which is made possible by a retractable roof. The stadium itself is a bit boxy, but otherwise quite beautiful. The game was most enjoyable, we got to see a walk-off hit, which is always a delight, unless you are an Angels fan like Geoff and then you hated every moment of it all.

Last great Seattle story: We met up with our friend Kathleen at the game. Kathleen is a senior at Western Washington University and she brought with her to the game four of her college friends. Five college girls at a baseball game lures more men than, well, … four college girls at a baseball game, or maybe at a state penitentiary. You get the idea. So all game long men in their middle years would come over and try flirting with them. I told one guy he was hitting on my sister and he needed to buy me a beer if he wanted to continue. He complied. The only thing that took the attention away from the girls was when the men found out about our trip. Geoff and I have discovered over the past few weeks that we are the personal heroes of working class men because, simply, they lack the time and ability to leave their job and family to do what we are doing. Geoff and I are homeless, and unemployed, and as far as we know we have no family of our own. This must have been the best game of these middle aged men’s lives. They thought they were just going to be a seeing a Latin Night at Safeco from the cheap seats and instead they got to hit on college girls and talk about the greatest road trip of all time with Geoff and me – a fine evening. But the magic of girls continues. After the game we went to the Pyramid Ale House across the street from the stadium. There we ordered dinner and 3 pitchers of beer – we are looking at a healthy bill. Moments later three young males who were probably in their high schools’ Advanced Placement program asked us if they could sit down and buy us some beer. They went on to buy four more pitchers of beer and then when it came time to leave we looked for the bill and low and behold, these guys paid for it already. Well, that is not entirely true. Their company paid for it. Microsoft paid for it. So next time you are upset about the price of your software package, or think that the earnings per share of your Microsoft stock is a little low, it is probably because their computer engineers are out buying guys like me dinner and beer on the company credit card. Brilliant.

I think it is also worth mentioning that the five college girls did not pay for their tickets to the game. Some nice man gave them tickets outside the stadium. If Geoff and I were beautiful girls in our early twenties we could have done this entire trip for about $36. Even if that isn’t the case, we certainly would have had a lot better time in Miami. Filthy.

We spent the next couple of days hanging out in Washington before driving down to San Francisco Friday morning.

Check back tomorrow (hopefully) for an account of San Diego and the Bay Area

We are all done, but there is tons more for you

Officially the trip ended Friday night at Dodger Stadium – what could be better. However, we have about 2 weeks of catching up to do, plus I am in the works of preparing a nice wrap-up/summary. So keep checking. I have already written two new posts but I have no internet access except for the public library. My life is a joke.