Road Trip 2019

JasonWx wrote

cheap gas , good bbq and guns....Merica!!

Crossing into Montana from N.D. in the early '90's I saw a stack of 4 signs - those enormous signs off the interstate that you can see for miles - with yellow background and black writing it read:  Guns, Gas, Ammo, Beer.  All of life's necessities.

Last stop in Texas


Yeah, no shit

Big road day so no time to hang around for any talks or demonstrations but still a fun stop. Alligators freak me out a little.

Did a couple hours in New Orleans yesterday. Just poked around really- was gonna try the seafood place Jason suggested but it turned out to be a white tablecloth joint and we were a little funky by then

This place was right across the street though and it looked cool so we took a shot.

We were kind of between lunch and dinner hours so it was mostly empty; it seemed like everybody else there were locals. One whole wall was a map painted to show the city’s different neighborhoods. I thought that was cool. The catfish was awesome too.

We’re cutting GA and MD out in order to be home for something Weds. lots of driving ahead and not much else

I have been to both

you should have gone to superior..it's nola anything goes

Boom. Trip over

It turned out I didn’t get to use anybody’s suggestions, mainly because I cut the southeast state’s portion of the trip short. Thanks for the ideas though guys. It was a good trip.

Brownski wrote

It was a good trip.

Final verdict?

What was the most surprising or important thing you learned?

Harvey wrote

Brownski wrote

It was a good trip.

Final verdict?

What was the most surprising or important thing you learned?

Not sure that I learned anything or was surprised. I’m not as young as I used to be but I already knew that. This trip just demonstrated it to me.

The amusement parks we went to were all about equal. Even though Frontier City was tiny, it had enough heart and charm to make up for lacking the big rides. Great Adventure, Busch Gardens and Cedar Point beat them all when it comes to quality and variety of roller coasters.  

I can’t say that about the ball parks though. Wrigley had way more character and heart then all the others combined. Just the Wrigley Rooftops thing deserves a feature film made about it. After Chicago comes Kansas City for thier homey charm, then Houston (the dome and AC was actually nice) and last was the Rangers park which is soon getting replaced by a dome even though it looks brand new.

Food wise the clear winner was LC’s BBQ in Kansas City. The route and schedule we followed sort of put us in touristy areas at meal times so I ended not exploring as much as I wanted to originally. Eating at baseball stadiums and amusement parks is necessarily somewhat limited, mass produced and mainstreamed- still good though. Also my kids were obsessed with trying every fast food chain that isn’t present in NY and I indulged them when I could have been looking for more unique stuff. That being said, I can’t say I had a bad meal except for Whattaburger.

When I steered away from tropical depression Barry, I swapped a camping day for another hotel and then when we cut it short we eliminated planned camping nights in Mississippi, Georgia and Maryland so all of that needs to be added to future plans I guess. Assateague Island May end up being its own trip at some point.

The driving was both both and brutal at the same time. I like being on the road and the boys got to see lots of country they wouldn’t have otherwise. Junior got in a lot of driving time but he had awful luck when it came to traffic. Every time he got behind the wheel, construction zones and accident backups appeared out of nowhere. On the last day though, having him along was a big help. He did two shifts of two or three hours each which let me relax a little. When I drove cross country in my twenties I could do eighteen hour days straight through by myself (even with a nonfunctional cruise control). I don’t think I could do that anymore. Incidentally that last day provided a great baseball story too. We somehow got WFAN all the way down in Virginia and were able to listen to the end of a great Yankees comeback and 10th inning win at a point when we were really tired of listening to Juniors Spotify.

Other then that, New Orleans, Chicago and San Antonio were all cool. Dallas/ Arlington and Houston less so but it’s nice to see new places. Texas overall was cool but damn was it crowded. Everything from Dallas to San Antonio is one big construction zone. I think I’d prefer northwest Texas over the parts I saw. The boys were pretty amazed by how flat Kansas and Oklahoma were. I need to get them to the northern plains and some of the desert states next I guess, unless I find a way to fly everybody to Alaska next year.

Also, alligators are terrifying and awesome at the same time. Never pass up an alligator attraction. That being said, Alligator Country in Beaumont TX does not stand up to Gatorland in Orlando. I have no desire to ever go back to Disney world but I may have to plan a central FL trip just to bring the rest of my family to Gatorland.

I probably missed something.

Also: If I go another year without getting my hands on some kind of legit campervan or truck camper I may loose my mind. It would make shit like this a lot easier, let me get away with a lot less logistical planning and get back to the kind of loosy goosy traveling style I used to do. Also would let me get back to camping out in ski area parking lots cause I can’t convince my wife to let my kids do it in just my truck. A furnace and a lock on the door seem to make her feel safer.

Brownski, Wrigley or Fenway?

D.B. Cooper wrote

Brownski, Wrigley or Fenway?

This is gonna sound dumb- haven’t been to Fenway.

Brownski wrote

D.B. Cooper wrote

Brownski, Wrigley or Fenway?

This is gonna sound dumb- haven’t been to Fenway.

the way you drive..Fenway is a day trip....
it's a must see for baseball fans

Great review.

Huge bonus to have another driver huh.

Brownski wrote

We somehow got WFAN all the way down in Virginia and were able to listen to the end of a great Yankees comeback and 10th inning win at a point

WFAN is one of a few AM stations that are considered "clear channel."  It was a big deal back when AM radio mattered.  It means there is no other station on that frequency in the country. The way AM works the signal can (theoretically) go forever. The fan can be heard over much of the eastern US and Canada.

JasonWx wrote

Brownski wrote

D.B. Cooper wrote

Brownski, Wrigley or Fenway?

This is gonna sound dumb- haven’t been to Fenway.

the way you drive..Fenway is a day trip....
it's a must see for baseball fans

Makes sense. We’ll have to look at the schedule.

Fenway is worth it.  I've done the tour in the winter and it's still cool.  The tour went into the opponent's locker room.  Talk about tiny!

I don't know if they still do it, but they used to have a couple of hundred tickets available just before game time.  You'd have to line up early....like 3:30 for a 7:00 game to make sure you get tickets.  Tickets went on sale ~2 hours before game time and you had to go right in - probably to avoid scalping.  Anyway, tickets were at face value.  I was probably 20 rows up, about 60' down the 3rd base line.

Last little bit. The boys were supposed to keep notes on what we did, where and when etc... I think we ended up with out four entries total thatstopped before KC but they did keep an accurate list of license plates we saw.

I've been keeping track of plates I've seen in L.P.  since 1 May we've seen 36 + D.C. + U.S. Gov't.

Ironman weekend here.  C'mon OK and ID!