A Father's Advice

This past Father's Day was wonderful.  Here is some words of wisdom that my grandfather passed down to my father, and him to me (and my siblings).  Take it for what it worth, but I find it to be wonderful insight on the importance of being a father.

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Another Fathers Day, so I'm sending out this little memo again.

Hope you enjoy.

Things My Father Said...

* When I was around ten my Grandma passed away and My Father Said, "When I die don't cry for me I'll be in a better place."

* When I was growing up and had to face new troubles My Father Said, "If you can't talk to me or mom, talk to someone. Don't keep it bottled up inside." (I would talk to the cows while I was milking. The cows knew all my secrets. My sister knows a few of them too.)

* When I got my first paying job My Father Said, "Do what your told. If you have to dig ditches, dig them the best you can and someday you'll be telling others how to dig."

* When I got married My Father Said, "Have patience."

* My Father Said, "If you have to do a job you don't like, make a game out of it and you'll be done in no time." (Sometimes my brothers and I would have to much fun and break something)

* My Father Said, "Learn how to fix something and you'll always be able to find work."

* My Father Said, "Finish what you start, don't stop in mid-stream."

* My Father Said, "You don't learn anything by quitting."

* My Father Said, "I'm proud of you." (three times)

* My Father Said, "Listen to both sides of the story before you open your mouth."

* My Father Said, "If you hit someone, hit them in the stomach so you don't have to pay for a dentist bill."

* My Father Said, "Don't spend more than you make." (Yeah right)

* I told My Father I loved him three times.

* When my family was getting ready to go some where or to church, My Father would say, "Go to the bathroom because I'm not stopping," or "go to the bathroom because your leaving in the middle of Church."

Hope you all had a nice Fathers Day.

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Thanks, Dad.

Month of June's Eternal Moment

The following article was published in the June 28th edition of the 1962 Gibbon Gazette:

The beautiful weather of the past few days clearly emphasize the poet's verse, "What is so rare as a day in June?"...
The following item clipped from the Memphis Commercial Appeal tells the story:
Under the high June sun... vines climb and snake up fences, growing with almost visible speed.  The thick smell of honeysuckle lies close to the earth.
The strident voices of children now free from school, carrying from nearby yards and mingle with the chirps of food-hunting birds.
A tall oak rustles lightly as it flaps like a sail in the breeze.  Unseen tiny creatures scutter through grass and creeping ivy.
Daisies stand tall and silent like sentinels of the flower garden - unpeturbed by curious bees.
This June - the languid month - gentle and soft as a mother's arm.  It is a time of ripening, a month of green opulence and velvety beauty.
Though it may seem restful... this is deceiving.  Nature is seething with the quiet toils of transition.  Hidden roots thrust downward in damp ground and energy drawn upwards explodes in the leafy, blooming elegance of early summer growth.
Just as the fruit of the fresh gardens and fields feed man's appetite, so the June verdancy sustains his beauty-hungering soul.
It's sounds are sibilant, its languorous odor intoxicating, it's effervescence contagious.  The happy quest of life spreads across the horizon from earth to sky, and all possible aspirations now seem fulfilled.
Only those who have seen June come and go can know that the moment cannot last forever.  But June is not concerned with this.  For this instant it is eternity, reassuring us that nothing can die.

Home Away From Home...

The baseball diamond often feels like a summer vacation home to me.  The sad part about playoff baseball is that you know the amount of time spent at this summer home is drawing to an end.  Everybody that plays a role in putting on the show knows the feeling I'm talking about.  The groundskeeper heightens his field irrigation duties and intensifies his fight against late summer broadleaves.  The folks that manage the shack discount the concession prices reminiscent to those of baseball's golden age.  Fans are appreciative because they can feed the their families for $5.00 to $10.00 and the kids are happy because they can use their change from foul balls to buy four bags of M&M's and a few Tootsie Rolls.  The players are on a heightened sense of urgency because they know the season hinges on every pitch.  Their success on the field determines if they get to suit up for one more game or if they are going to be hanging up their gloves for a winter slumber.  The last out is inevitable, however, it's important to remember that baseball is a game.  It's the anticipation of 'next year' that keeps bringing us back.

I decided to write this blog entry because it's that time of year and I can see that glimmer of hope in everybody's eyes.  The Gibbon Reds baseball game Vs. the Sleepy Eye Indians on August 2nd, 2011 exemplified all these features.  It was a crowd puller.  Sleepy Eye was an excellent host and played hard.  Even though we were the visitors that night, we felt right at home because so many Gibbon baseball fans had made the pilgrimage to Sleepy Eye to cheer us on.  Fortunately, because of a stellar pitching performance, fundamentally sound baseball, and offensive outbursts, we were able to extend the season for at least one more game.  Since Gibbon is not equipped with lights, the game will be played in Searles, MN.  It is the players' hope that we'll see just as many fans at tonight's game as we did Sleepy Eye.  The power of the 10th man (our fans) was apparent last night.  In the meantime, be sure to tell one and all about tonight's game in Searles.  It's always fun to root for the underdogs.

See you at the ballpark!

Niagra Falls and the Road Home

We were all pretty exhausted at the last campground, to be honest, I don't even know were it was.  I had slept from Cooperstown to wherever we were because I had been up 36 hours straight.  We arrived at about midnight, just in time to sit around a picnic table and reminisce about what we've experienced to that point.  After finishing our midnight snack, we all got one last night of sleep in the RV. 
Niagra Falls was amazing.  It has nothing to do with baseball, but was a very memorable part of the trip.  We made our way to the observation deck (we got a good chuckle when Brian hollered out, "Cannonball!") on the US side and then took an elevator to the bottom where we got on board the 'Maid of the Mist'.  We were all given a poncho and before you knew it, we were floating to the bottom of the falls.  To think that people have survived plunges over this monster stumped us all.  This was another location on our trip that numerous languages were being spoke.  It was amazing.  A few more pictures ended up being taken from the cliffs besides the falls before we made our way to the gift shop.  For me the photos in my mind were pretty much all I needed to take away from this place. 

The last place we stopped on the road home was the original home of buffalo wings in Buffalo, NY.  We ordered up two platters of 50 wings each and put them away.  The hottest wings, were nothing compared to those we tried in Cleveland, but the over all taste and quality of the wing was superb. 

All in all, we ended up putting on 2883.9 miles on that little RV.  I don't know how soon we'd do this again, but I know none of us will ever forget it.  When you spend that much time with some of your closest pals, you realize that they are more like brothers. 

Thanks for following along.  In the words of Forrest Gump, "That's about all I have to say about that."

Play ball!

Cooperstown, NY - Prime Destination Point

Cooperstown was GRAND!  We arrived in Cooperstown on the crack of dawn.  We were able to park the RV right in town for $20.  I was worse than a kid on Christmas morning wanting to open his presents, so I started to wander down main street.  None of the shops were open, but window shopping just added to my anticipation.  The street itself reminded me of days gone by.  Homemade advertising sings, potted plants along the Blvd., and the smell of cafe's and diners cooking up breakfast.  We chose to eat breakfast at a neat little joint call T.J.'s.  After a night of winding roads and little sleep, it was a great pick-me-up.  From there we made our way to the actual Hall of Fame.  Upon arrival I bumped into a familiar face, Clyde Doepner, the Twins Historian/Curator at the post office (which is the only one in the nation open on Sundays).  He was just as excited as me to begin the day.  One way to get a cheap souvenir is to have any items from that day stamped for the price of a postage stamp.  We talked for a bit and laughed about what Bert might have in store for his speech.  It began to rain a little but it couldn't wash the smiles off of our faces.  He did me a favor and snapped a picture of me in front of the HOF and we went our ways.  Once in the hall, I couldn't help but to gravitate towards the gift shop.  I hadn't even gone through the hall and there I was looking for trinkets I could remember the day by.
After glancing at all the items in the gift shop, I bumped into a couple other fellas from Gibbon that made their own way out to Cooperstown, Doc and Larry.  Doc has been an avid baseball fan for years.  He's also at nearly every Gibbon Reds (http://www.gibbonreds.com) home game.  In the past he's shared numerous baseball stories with me, my favorite being about his experience attending the 1965 World Series games in Bloomington, MN.  Today was different, we were both experiencing Cooperstown for the first time.  Decked out in Twins gear, we shared our thoughts and first impressions of town and discussed the plans we had for the duration of our trips.  Before we parted, we had our photo taken by Bert's display case with our pals and wished each other safe trips home.
Thinking that we better get our lawn chairs set up for the actual induction, we hopped on a bus and went to the ceremony grounds.  I'm glad we did because by the time we got back for induction, there were thousands of people there.  Then it was back to the the HOF.
Artifacts from the game have been wonderfully preserved and are easily accessible.  Babe Ruth's uniform, Honus Wagner's baseball card, and World Series rings are just a few of the items you can't miss.  A true fan could literally take all day to get through the entire museum.  Since we didn't quite have all day, I did my best to absorb as much of it as I could.  I knew there was lots going on out on main street so I decided to make the rounds to all the shops.  It was here that I got to meet HOF baseball player, Pete Rose.  I paid a little bit of cash and had him sign the foul ball I got at the Cleveland game.  I figured it's all part of the same trip so why buy another ball.  He looked a bit tired, but enjoyed talking with the fans that stopped to see him (there really weren't that many... lol).  One way or the other, he's a historic player of the game and it was neat meeting him.
It was now time to see what we had came for, the induction ceremony.  Walking back to our chairs was like taking of tour through the Festival of Nations.  Roberto Alomar, Jr. had quite the following from Latin America, Canada, and the US.  Reporters from around the world were making the rounds as well.  Speaking of reporters, our hometown news crew, KARE 11, had contacted us via Twitter (www.twitter.com/gibbonreds) and asked if they could ask us a few questions about our trip.  Why not?  Randy Shaver, KARE 11's Sports Reporter, met us at our seats and wanted to know how our trip came to fruition.  We told him how a simple phone call last year amongst our crew snowballed into what has now become one of the greatest road trips we've ever experienced.  I shared that I was glad to mark a few more items off my 'Baseball Fans Bucketlist'.  We were tired and running on fumes, but I think a large portion of the fans in attendance were feeling the same way.  Thanks, Randy, for taking the time to feature us in your news broadcast.  Viewers from back home were quick to notify us that they had seen us on the air.  Fun.
The actual induction ceremony was phenomenal.  I believer there were over 52 HOF members that graced the staged with their presence.  It was a who's-who of all the players that have made legendary impacts on the game.  To see Bert amongst them was very fitting.  His speech reflected on his early years of playing ball and all the people that impacted his career.  He got a lot of chuckles out of the fans with numerous stories and one-liners.  He also paid homage to the great Harmon Killebrew and Kirby Puckett.  Bert was first-class that day and now has his permanent place amongst the games greatest players. 
When the ceremony was finished, we crossed paths with some more Minnesotans and shared stories about each others trips.  We finished up our souvenir shopping and saddled up for one last campground before we made our way to Niagra Falls.

Pittsburgh and Powering Forward

It's 3:30am and we all forgot what sleep is.  We're only about 3 hours away from Cooperstown, the pinnacle of our trip.  We've made lots of memories so far and have met lots of awesome folks from around the world.  After packing up from the last RV camp, we headed to Canton, OH.  Driving all this way and not seeing the Pro Football Hall of Fame wobituld have been a sin.  Mort was in his glory taking in all the glorious history of the sport.  I really enjoyed seeing the Vikings displays.  Bummed there isn't any information about any Super Bowl victories for them though.  Chuckled with some Cheese Heads, bought a couple souvenirs, and hopped back in the RV to head to Pittsburgh.
While making our way to the stadium, we got to hear a little bit of the rock band, Slayer, performing an outdoor concert before the game.  Loved seeing all the metal heads. We made it to PNC Park just in time for the National Anthem.  Once again, I wanted to see what the stadium all had to offer, but I wasn't real impressed with anything in particular.  My favorite piece is a giant bronze statue replica on Mazoroski running home after his game-winning World Series home run.  Then I also thought about the catcher that was behind the plate for that historic moment, Johnny Blanchard.  I was fortunate enough to talk with Blanchard one night while he made a guest appearance at Twins Fun Night in Fairfax, MN.  He told me that after Mazoroski hit that home run, he received hate mail and other threats for calling the wrong pitch.  Yankees fans are brutal.  After wandering around the stadium for a couple innings, I settled down in some nice seats 16 rows up behind the home team Pittsburgh Pirates (though for this day they were the GRAYS to honor the past Negro League team).  It also just so happened that in this sellout crowd, there were 7 more seats in my row, so I called the fellas and we all enjoyed awesome seats until we left the game.  While sitting there, we talked baseball with some locals and learned that the bridge out in the horizon was named the Roberto Clemente Bridge and that the wall in right field was 21 feet tall to honor #21, right fielder, Roberto Clemente.  Overall,Pittsburgh has one of the most beautiful skylines in baseball with a legion of dedicated fans.  Didn't get any hotwings in Pitt though, just simply didn't have time.  So in the 8th inning we made the trek back to the RV along the Ohio River.  It was unreal, more fans had lined there boats and yachts up along the river ready to party it up.  BBQ's, beverages, and good music were all around.
The moment we made it back to the RV, we thought we were in for a fiasco.  There were lights on and people were in it.  Luckily, it happened to be the wrong RV, we were parked another 10ft away.  Relieved, we hopped in the RV and began our last jaunt to the HOF.  The little county back roads proved to be a daunting task.  Hills, trees, brush, and sharp curves with wooden crosses bordering them made for a tense ride to the next freeway.  To ease the tension, we just put on CCR's Greatest Hits and made the best of it.  Gotta love CCR.
That leads us up to now.  The final approach to what is to be one of the best baseball experiences any of us could dream of.  I can't imagine how Bert is feeling right now.  He's definitely earned this.
Since we're operating on fumes, I'm not sure when the next blog entry will be.  I know we're going to try and cross paths with fellow Minnesotans while we're out there.  What better way to celebrate the occasion than with fellow fans.
Hopefully we'll get some more pics put up on my facebook page soon as well.  We're utilizing all the electricity we have available in this rig.
Here we go!

Cleveland Pit Stop

Wow.  All I can say is wow.  After hundreds of miles of anticipation, the trip is turning out to be everything we dreamed of and then some.  Parking the RV in Cleveland was no small task, but thanks to our wheel man, all went well.  We (or should I say I) had the complete baseball tourist look going on complete with Gibbon Reds (www.gibbonreds.com) apparel and my backpack.  We made our way through the hot pavement to the House of Blues and found a nice community safety fella on a bike that reminded us of Chris Rock that hooked us up with a 'friend' that we purchased our tickets from.  He wanted $40 for each ticket though they all said $10 on each stub.  We threw caution to the wind and bought 6 of them for $200.  What the heck, we just wanted an in to the game.  From there we went to the Winking Lizard and sampled large mugs of LaBatte's Blue and Magma Hot Wings.  They were up there on the 'hot scale' though we hadn't been to the other establishment yet that also sold them, The Harry Buffalo.  We had doubts about the game while at the Winking Lizard because the sky's opened up to hurricane-like weather.  It fortunately blew over.  Once we arrived at the Harry Buffalo, a round of drinks were ordered and we ordered up some more hot wings.  These wings made me want to cry and I have now sworn off hot wings (at least until Pittsburgh).  After crying a little bit and asking for my mom, I was served a nice glass of milk in a kiddie cup that the fellas say I must now use the rest of the trip.  OK, fine.  Pat, our waiter, was great kid from Cleveland and shared in our good times.
Now it was time to get to the main venue of the day, Progressive Field.  It rained some more during the pregame beach party but it felt great considering we followed the massive heat wave east out of MN.  The stadium was great, not Target Field great, but great.  Staffers and attendants were not near as friendly as the ones back home but they loosened up as the game went on.  My mission was to have my picture taken with John Adams, the guy that beats the drum at every Indians game, and to catch up with Jesse Crain, a relief pitcher that was with the Twins and has since moved on to become a member of the White Sox.  I have taken a liking to Jesse Crain because we chatted a long while back about his one time dream of becoming a history teacher.  Pretty cool ambitions for a young guy in the majors.  I found that ironic because I am a teacher that dreamed of being a major league ball player.  To make things short, I never caught up with him at the game because A.J. Pierzynski wouldn't cooperate with me.  No surprise.
Though our tickets were for lower left field, I wanted to see what other seats I could land in since Wade means wonderer, first crosser of the river.  During this time, I was humbled at a few speed pitch machines that my pals, Greg and Mike, both beat me in.  I guess 67 MPH just isn't quite fast enough for a fastball.  lol  I then picked up a couple of bobbleheads for me and my buddy that couldn't make the trip, Ryan Kachelmeier.  He has a bobblehead army second to none so I couldn't pass it up.  Once I made my way to the 3rd row in lower right field foul territory, I made friends with some fellas from Chicago and a few others from Cleveland. We talked solid baseball for 5 innings which at that point I figured I better up and move to complete my 'To Do List'.  First I found John Adams, the drummer.  He was super.  I even got to bang the drum.  Then I made my way to the top of the stadium behind home plate in the highest point of the upper deck. Great view.  Then I made my way down to the field along the left field foul line, 2nd row seats.  Sweet.  It only took two batters before an unbelievable thing happened, a foul ball from Matt LaPorte began rolling our way.  Since my first MLB game back in 83', I've always dreamed of getting a ball in the stands.  I have been so close many times and even had gotten a little bitter about it, but today was different.  I scurried to the guard rail, leaned over the rolled up rain tarp, and used TWO hands and my Gibbon Reds hat to secure what I had been longing for.  I got it.  I turned around with the ball in my hand and jumped for joy like a little girl getting a pony on her 5th birthday party.  Then I yelled 'Twins are the best!' and ran.  Juvenile, yes.  Memorable, yes.  My phone was on the brink of being dead so I quickly congregated with the fellas again and we made our way out of the stadium.  Lots of pics were taken at Progressive Field which will forever be cherished.  Though I hadn't gotten to talk with Jesse Crain at the ballpark, it was good.
After the game we walked down past the Harry Buffalo and shared our stories with Pat, our waiter.  He loved it.  Then we went to the Cadillac Ranch.  Oh my, they had a mechanical bull!  Didn't see this coming.  We each paid $3 and mounted saddled up.  Chris LeDoux would've been proud.  The long necks kept coming and we danced on the dance floor.  There's nothing wrong with 6 guys from MN trying to dance together in a very culturally diverse crowd, but we continued to dance.
Our wheel man was ready to go, but while making our way outside, who did we find?  Jesse Crain and his lovely wife with some friends.  He remembered our conversation about teaching and was very great to talk with.  I guess a middle reliever in an away town can relax a bit more and not worry about being swarmed, except by 6 guys from MN.  I introduced the fellas to Jesse and his wife and they told us about his new life in Chicago and the pending arrival of their 3rd child in November.  MLB Baseball is a business, but we all expressed our MN love for him and shared some drinks.  Knowing we were probably beginning to annoy them, we decided to gather the troops and head back to the RV.
The RV ride was a bit heated since we didn't really know our way out of town, but we ended up Dundee, Ohio at Evergreen RV Park.  Nice facility.  I've been told I smell funny and must now go shower.  This RV has begun to stink like sour feet and man.  lol
Canton, OH next for the Football Hall of Fame, and then off to Pittsburgh, PA.  Stay tuned.