A Trip Down Memory Lane

There was absolutely nothing good about today. Starting with the discovery that the only "hot" breakfast at the hotel was a pancake and continuing, virtually unabated, for the next 9 hours. 91 degrees, but felt much warmer because of the humidity. Apple weather reporting 14 mph winds gusting to 26, straight at us for much of the day. Reality was a steady 20mph gusting to 30. Apple Maps doing everything in its AI power to keep us off any roads that a car may have traveled on at some point this century, resulting in multiple trips down unpaved roads when paved options with wide shoulders were readily available. And finally, the discovery at lunch that my rear tire (NOT the rim or the tube) appears to have a tear in it, causing it to bulge out over the rim. The only things that made the day even close to bearable, were 1) the aforementioned wide shoulders which allowed me to put my AirPods in for the first time this trip, crank it up as loud as I could, and listen to something other than wind whistling in one ear and out the other. And 2) the occasional turn to the west away from the direct onslaught of wind. It felt like I was being released from prison. Mind you, we did NOT have a tailwind, just a cross breeze strong enough to push us off the shoulder if we weren't paying attention.

Instead of dwelling any further on the frustrations of the ride, I'm going to focus on two things today that harken back to days of yore. One is personal and the other is historical.

I will relay them in reverse order of how they were encountered today. Let me begin by saying 1) Im a big baseball fan and 2) I hate the New York Yankees. With every fiber of my being. When Colleen was in school at NYU earlier this year, my final words to her when we dropped her off were "If I ever see you in Yankees gear, or even see a picture of you in it, you will be out of the will - completely." You think I'm kidding. Let's just say she had the good sense not to test me. That said, there have been some fantastic players that have played for the Yankees over the years, many before my time. I have hated them all, even though many were dead before I was born. Today, our route took us through Commerce, Oklahoma, home of the "Commerce Comet", from the CHS class of 1949. I'd venture to guess not many people have ever heard that nickname, myself included. In this country, we have glorified a big eared rat that wears shorts and shoes and has amusement parks built to showcase him all over the world. But he doesn't have a nickname. He's just Mickey Mouse. There have been some other famous Mickey's along the way, in sports and elsewhere. Some may have even had nicknames. But if you ask any sports fan who the "Mick" is, they will know instantly that you're referring to Mickey Mantle. Over the last 25 years, the game has endured a steroid scandal where seemingly everyone was trying to hit the ball harder and farther. Lately, the game has been overrun with newfangled statistics like exit velocity and launch angle. In the meantime, Mantle's record home run of 565' dwarfs them all. His accolades and accomplishments are many (See Wikipedia) and despite him playing for the Yankees, I have to tip my proverbial cap to his greatness.

The other memory is more personal. About 10 miles northeast of Commerce, Oklahoma is the little town of Baxter Springs, Kansas. As we rode through Baxter Springs this morning, I was greeted by a sight so familiar to me for many September mornings. A park with a number of little kid youth soccer games going on. Since I was mentioning nicknames above, Kansas is the Sunflower State. Some of you can stop reading now, because you know right where this is going. For the others, let me enlighten you about the biggest powerhouse girl's soccer team ever to don the kits of Eisenhower Soccer Club. You guessed it, the Sunflowers. The team existed for about 4 years while Colleen and her friends were 4 or 5 until they were 8 or 9. During that time, the Sunflowers lost one game, out of 60-something they played. That was all well and good, and I dare say anyone with a pulse could have "coached" that team to the same results, but what made them special was the lasting friendships many of those girls had with one another up to and through high school. We share tickets at the Portland Timbers games with the parents of one of the girls. To this day, another comes by the house and cooks with Colleen whenever they can. Still another sends me a Christmas card every year, and after all the early success, is the only one that continued to play all through high school and is now playing at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas. Alas, that's a couple hundred miles away from the kids playing in the park in Baxter Springs, so I couldn't drop by and watch the game. So in a week where I have given shout outs to daughters Erin and Claire celebrating their birthdays, here's a different sort of shout out 10 years after their heyday to Colleen, Averie Sievers, Emily Colgate, Josie Burt, Eva Andrews, Andi McCaleb, Olivia Ike and Audrey Erickson.

A nightmare revisited from last year. At least I didn't have to stay there this time around.

Soccer in the park in Baxter Springs. Fond memories!

The Mick. In front of Mickey Mantle Field on Mickey Mantle Drive in Commerce, Oklahoma. I would have taken pics from a better angle but there were 4 people from Iowa taking pictures in every possible combination and from every possible angle of the statue. After taking 5 minutes to complete their photo shoot, they then stood around next to the statue for several more minutes talking, probably about corn or soybean futures, completely oblivious that we had been quietly waiting the whole time for them to finish and get the f*ck out of the way. Finally, Dan had enough and asked them to move, or we'd still be standing there.

This is what a tire looks like that has a rip along the edge, so that it no longer stays inside the rim. I let a little air out so the bulge wasn't so pronounced, but after 3000 miles (including last year and this), I think these tires will be retired after one more day - assuming they last that long.

What I felt like after continuing to trust Apple Maps, despite them ALWAYS leading us astray.

A nice finish to a tough day