Day 19: Travel

Today was our 1st real long day on the road of this journey, as we traveled from our hotel in Southern New Jersey down to Jacksonville, FL. We were off by 6:29am, and Ben drove the 1st 6+ hours until we arrived in Raleigh, NC for lunch with his Aunt Lynn and sons Zack and Jacob. We had delicious grilled chicken sandwiches, and were back on the road after an hour or so. I then took over the wheel for the next 4+ hours before we stopped for dinner at Wendy's. Another couple hours down the road and we had made it to the Henderson's house in Jax.

All told, the drive from New York City took about 15 hrs. on the road. This was not the result of speeding, as we don't drive more than about 10 mph over the limit for any extended period. Simply, we do not make any stops during our drives, going from a full tank until it is close to empty or we see a gas price we cannot pass up.

The one noteworthy aspect of the drive today was going by the extravagent "Pedro's South of the Border," located just on the South Carolina side of the NC/SC border. This place had everything, from a small amusement park, to all kinds of eating areas, to what was advertised as the "World's #1 Miniature Golf Course." Something to take a closer look at on a future road trip for sure.

I wish we had some more exciting stories to tell today, but when you sit in a car from 6:30am until 9:30pm there isn't too much to talk about. We each slept for a couple of hours, and the rest of the time was spent listening to music on our still napkin-secured iPod player, and making phone calls to various friends to help pass the time.

Here are the statistical updates:
1-end of day odometer: 23,412
2-miles traveled today: 912
3-miles traveled total: 6,769
4-states traveled in today: New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Washington D.C., Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida
bonus stat: Jimmy Carter's boyhood home is located Plains, GA and has a dirt tennis court in the backyard.
*pictures of the last few days will be updated tomorrow night hopefully

Day 18: New York (AL)

Today we were able to see another one of the “Old Classic” ballparks, as the New York Yankees hosted the Florida Marlins. The Yankees came out fast, scoring 3 runs in the 1st inning with the help of 3 Florida errors. Then after allowing a run in the 8th, the Yankees brought in closer Mariano Rivera, who entered the field to my favorite song, Sandman by Metallica, to seal the deal. It was Ben’s turn to pick tonight, and one might think he had a sure thing by picking the Yankees (minus 1.5), but the Marlins covered the spread despite losing 6-5. So, I take an 11-3 lead in picking games on the trip.

Yankee Stadium lived up to its reputation, and it was awesome getting to see a game there, even though I generally find myself rooting against the Yankees. The history in the stadium, and especially Monument Park out in center field was great. Our seats were in the 200 level, between home plate and 1st base, and were covered by the upper deck hanging over, which was nice when rain came in the 7th and 8th innings. My roommate at school, and Furman tennis player Ryan Friend joined us for the game tonight, and we had an absolute blast catching up on things and talking about sports.



Speaking of the rain late in the game, at one point Yankee’s pitcher Kyle Farnsworth appeared to slip after throwing a pitch. The grounds crew immediately came out after the umpire had inspected the area around the pitching mound and home plate, and they were dried off within 3 minutes. It was strange because it was not like a rain delay where all of the players leave the field. Instead, everyone stood around while the grounds crew quickly got things back into playing condition.

Sine Day 3 of the trip, Ben had been talking about purchasing some sunglasses. He never got around to it, but after parking our car, deep in the Bronx, we saw a man selling sunglasses at a make-shift hut for $3. That was simply too good of a deal to pass up, so he bought them, this time without having to use any of his street-proven haggling abilities. Hopefully they last for more than a day or two.




Ben and I woke up around 9:30 this morning after a great night’s sleep. We then headed to Islip High School and played tennis for about an hour. I was also able to get some laundry done at Gramme’s house today. To answer some of the questions about us wearing the same clothes: we only wear those old authentic jerseys for the picture in front of each stadium and during the game itself, so its not like we are parading around in them all day long. We each have big duffel bags full of t-shirts and shorts that keep us looking and smelling clean.

Special thanks to Gramme for letting us stay at her house last night and providing several meals, including an excellent trip to Applebee’s on Thursday with Aunt Colleen, Uncle Dave, and David. We had a great time visiting and chatting. Also thanks to Aunt Colleen and Uncle Dave for allowing us to use their computer and internet to post last night’s blog.



We now begin our drive South, and have driven 125 miles from Yankee Stadium to spend the night at a Holiday Inn Express, courtesy of Gramme. Thanks for everything!

Here are the statistical updates:
1-end of day odometer: 22,500
2-miles traveled today: 170
3-miles traveled total: 5,857
4-states traveled in today: New York, New Jersey
bonus stat: when the no. 8 hitter for a team hits a home run, his team is 0-4 on our trip

Day 17: New York (NL)

Today we were in New York City to watch the Mets take on the Cincinnati Reds. Pedro Martinez was on the mound for the Mets, which is always a treat. He had a solid outing, going 6 innings and striking out 8. 3rd baseman David Wright paced the Mets offense with 2 home-runs, as the Mets were victorious by a score of 6-2. It was my choice to pick, and I had the Mets (minus 1.5), so they covered and I move to 10-3 in picking games on the trip.

Normally, at this point we thank the people we stayed with the previous night. So, we would like to give special thanks to the Flying J Travel Plazas in Brookville, PA and Mill Hall, PA. For only $4.95, we had high-speed internet access and a place to park our car and sleep for the night. These 2 locations were about 100 miles apart, so we spent a little over an hour at each location. This crazy schedule was due us going from a night game in Cleveland to a day game in New York.



This next paragraph is in honor of my doubles partner and Furman tennis standout, Andy Juc. Andy, our Eastern European representative on the team, thinks Lastings Milledge is the best baseball player in the majors. Early this year, he tried to tell us about him while he was still in the minor leages, and everyone on our team thought he was crazy. However, Juc kept us posted daily on his minor league progress, and now that Milledge is in the Big Leagues, it was only fitting that we got to see him play for the Mets. Today, he went 2-4 with 2 singles, and showed that he definitely "has all the tools" to become a superstar.



We had to pick-up our tickets, courteousy of Michael Needham, from the will call, which had a parking pass with them. We tried to pull the car off to the side of the road while Ben ran to get the tickets. While he was doing that, I stayed with the car and a policeman promptly came with sirens and said over the loudspeaker, "move the car." Since I am not adept with the stick-shift, Ben had to come sprinting the half-mile back to move the car. After a great deal of walking around to every kind of ticket booth at Shea, we finally located our tickets and enjoyed a great game.

Another contest that occurs in some of the stadiums is a race between 4 items. Today, it was cars, and once again, Ben picked the winner. He is now 3 for 3 in these contests with a 25% chance of picking the winner. Choosing 3 in a row is a 1 in 64 chance, not too shabby.

We made our way to Dunkin Donuts close to 9:00 this morning, after having driven throught most of the night. Our conclusion is that most of the northeast runs on the products served here, and we took part in the excellent breakfast food. They might start to rival Subway for most food stops along the trip.

Here are the statistical updates:
1-end of day odometer: 22,330
2-miles traveled today: 374
3-miles traveled total: 5,687
4-states traveled in today: Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York
bonus stat: in every 9-inning game that we have seen, a home run has been hit

Day 16: Cleveland

We have survived the Perfect Storm and are posting from a wi-fi hot spot at the Flying J in Brookville, PA. Tonight, we saw the Cleveland Indians host the Chicago Cubs at Jacobs Field. The Cubbies put up an 8 spot in the 3rd inning, and won 9-2 after the game was called following the 7th inning. A Major League game is considered official, once it has reached the 5th inning, so we were able to see an official game despite the inclement weather. Ben chose the Indians tonight, so I take a 9-3 lead in the series of picking games on the trip.

The top half of the 3rd inning was out of this world tonight. 5 bloop singles, 2 fielder’s choices where the official score was that the fielder did not make a choice, 1 double, and 1 sacrifice fly gave the Cubs a 9-1 lead. C.C. Sabathia was charged with all 9 runs in his 2 1/3 innings of work. The fielder’s choice plays really cannot be explained as anything other than bizarre. The official rule book says that for a play to occur, the fielder must make a play towards one of the bases where a force out it is occurring. On back to back plays however, the Indians players simply fielded the ground ball and did not make complete the play, truly unbelievable.



We left Syracuse at 11:02am, and after a relatively easy drive, were able to park near the stadium and purchase our tickets by 5:30. Right across from the Indians stadium is the monstrous poster of LeBron James which hangs on the side of a downtown building. This picture is awesome, 10 stories high and about twice as wide, it shows King James about to dunk in mid-flight, with the phrase, “We are all witnesses.” It was definitely one of the coolest things I’ve seen.



After waiting for an hour and a half for the game to be officially called, we left the parking garage at 10:55pm, as the 1st pitch at Shea tomorrow afternoon is at 1:05pm. Then, the Perfect Storm which had ended the game remained over us for the 1st 2 hours of the drive. It was some of the worst weather we have ever driven through, torrential downpours limited us to going between 45-50mph. Also, the lightning was almost constant, and some of the brightest I have ever experienced. Thankfully, through some good driving by Ben, and a little bit of help from above, we made it through.



Early yesterday, the check engine light had come on while we were driving from Boston to Syracuse. We were slightly concerned, and looked up where the nearest Mazda dealership was. After getting our 1st oil change, Ben took it in this morning, and we were lucky to find that the only things that needed to be replaced were an emissions valve and hose, both of which were still covered under warranty. We also had the tires rotated, and the car is, “running like a dream,” according to Ben.

Here are the statistical updates:
1-end of day odometer: 21,956
2-miles traveled today: 528
3-miles traveled total: 5,313
4-states traveled in today: New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania
bonus stat: teams who use exactly 2 pitchers in a game are 3-0 on our trip

Day 15: Cooperstown

Today was a travel day for us, and we decided to take advantage of the chance to stop by Cooperstown, NY and visit the Baseball Hall of Fame. The museum was amazing, and definitely a must-see for any baseball fan. The most impressive section by far was the Hall of Champions, where each player has a bronze bust and brief paragraph written up about his career. The 1st class was inducted in 1936, and Ty Cobb received the most votes of the 5 who were inducted (Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, Christy mathewson, Walter Johnson). Roberto Clemente was elected in 1973, voted in before the mandatory 5-year waiting period because of the special cirumstances of his life.



The Hall of Fame also had several other interesting sections. A timeline chronicled the game from its origins in the post-Civil War 19th century all the way up to the most recent World Series. All the great teams and players throughout history had a display that displayed their accomplishments. On the 3rd floor, the game's unique aspects were showcased. The evolution of baseball parks was a major exhibit, along with a section about team's mascots.



There was also a section for great fans throughout history, and part of an exhibit detailed one man's journey to see a game in all 30 ballparks in 37 days. But, he flew to some of his games, so maybe we can get in there for driving to all of the games.

We left Boston at 9:00am, and got to Cooperstown at around 1:00. After looking around for almost 2 hours, we were on our way to our stayover at the Comfort Inn in Syracuse, the 1st hotel of the trip. However, we are lucky enough to be staying for free thanks to the "Frequent Trip Points" that my parents have aquired over the years. Thanks Mom and Dad!



Special thanks to Susan Zuck for letting us spend the night in Boston. We had a great time and are very appreciative.

Here are the statistical updates:
1-end of day odometer: 21,428
2-miles traveled today: 352
3-miles traveled total: 4,785
4-states traveled in today: Massachusetts, New York
bonus stat: between the years 1988-1993, Dennis Eckersley had 458 strikeouts and only 51 walks, giving him a strikeout to walk ratio of 8.98:1

Day 14: Boston

Tonight's Guest Blogger: Ben

Everyone told us that seeing a game in Fenway was an experience. However, we did not anticipate experiencing the whole city before finding our way to the stadium. The game was another good one with the Red Sox prevailing 6-3. There were home runs by Manny Ramirez of the Red Sox as well as Jose Vidro and Jose Guillen of the Nats. Naturally the game was a sell out and we sat in the bleachers. This was a great experience and one any baseball fan should try and get (minus the kids of course). Scott had the choice of teams tonight, and he went with the Red Sox (minus 1.5 runs), and gets the win, moving him to 8-3 in picking games on the trip. Variance is bound to catch up with this luck eventually.

Before going into the details of today, allow me to reflect for a minute. One of the best things about this trip is being able to hear the national anthem 3 out of every 4 days. We have been treated to this song by children's choirs, adult choirs, soloists, sign-language persons and military personell (D.C. and Cincinnati). It still gives me chills every time and this is truly one of the best parts of the trip so far.



Scott got on the metro in D.C. this morning at 5:14 and I left to pick him up at 5:30. We were out of the city by 6:00 and think we made record time to Boston. Seeing as though we had to pass through Baltimore, Philly, New York, Providence and Boston, it is a miracle we didn't hit traffic. We arrived at Susan Zuck's house at about 1:30 and had a nice talk with her. After she went back to work, we went to the local high school and hit some tennis balls and threw the baseball.

Heading down to the stadium is where things became interesting. We got through some rough traffic going into town due to a stalled car and then proceeded to get absolutely lost. We got to the point where we were just turning and hoping for the best and eventually, after about 45 minutes, we popped out right next to the parking garage we were looking for. We then proceeded to turn what is usually a 15 minute walk into about 35 minutes of slow jogging. We got to the stadium with 20 minutes to spare and enjoyed a great ballgame.



Sitting in the bleachers was quite the experience. The Red Sox are so concerned about crowd control out there that they do not even have beer vendors walking around. Yet this did not deter a group of young men from being obnoxious enough to warrant being escorted from the stands. It was funny for the rest of us and provided some extra bang for our ticket buck.



Special thanks to my Uncle Dirk and Aunt Anita for allowing me to stay at their house. Not that they had much of a choice seeing as though they are out of town. Also, we would like to thank them for lunch meat and fruit and rice krispy treats that I took from the cabinet. They were very good. Also, thanks to Katey for showing us a good time around the monuments of D.C., and suggesting a great place for dinner in Johnny Rocket's. All in all it was a ton of traveling but a great day.

Here are the statistical updates:
1-end of day odometer: 21,076
2-miles traveled today: 541
3- miles traveled total: 4,433
states traveled in today: Washington, D.C., Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusettes

Day 13: Washington

First of all, we would like to wish Happy Father's Day to all those father's out there, especially our own.

Today we sat in a raucous crowd at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C. as the Washington Nationals hosted the New York Yankees. It was a great game, and the Yankees took a 2-1 lead late on an Alex Rodriguez double off the wall. However, Ryan Zimmerman hit a 2-run walk-off home run in the bottom of the 9th to give the Nats a thrilling victory. Ben, even though he did not want them to win, had chosen the Yankees, so I took the win and move to 7-3 in picking games against him on the trip.

It was another classic game, and we have now seen a walk-off home-run in 4 out of the 10 games we have attended, unbelievable. The crowd at RFK was very good, over 45,000 for a sellout, and there were almost as many Yankees fans as Nationals fans. Both sides would go back and forth with their chants, often having both take place at the same time. The overall atmosphere was electric.



My girlfriend, Katey, was able to join us for the game, as we had complimentary tickets from Joe Benkowski that were great seats, just to the 1st base side of home plate on the lower level. Katey has a knack for picking games, and with the Nationals trailing 2-1 in the bottom of the 9th, I said to her, "I thought you said the Nationals are going to win." She replied, "They are, just watch." Zimmerman went deep on the next pitch, proving for the 2nd day in a row, that blind squirrels do find nuts!



If you are planning on trying to scalp tickets outside of RFK, I would not recommend doing so just outside the METRO stop at the stadium. While waiting for Katey to arrive, we saw one of the most physically imposing policemen come and calmly explain to all of the scalpers that if they continued to “solicit, buy, and sell tickets, they would be put in jail.” Ben then made the very accurate comment, “I’m glad that guy is on the good side of the law.” Another funny conversation that we overheard between 2 scalpers went something like this.
Scalper 1: “Hey man, let me take some of those tickets down to the next block to try and sell. How much you want me to get for them?
Scalper 2: “I don’t know dawg, just get enough for a pound of weed or something.”
Glad to see that they are using the profits they make for productive purposes.

While walking into the stadium, we were stopping to get some water, and Ben asked the street vendor how much a bag of peanuts cost. She said, “$3.” Ben mumbled, “That figures, and started to walk away.” As I was paying for the water, the vendor said, “Will you pay $2.00?” and Ben said yes. So, in a sense, Ben out-haggled a professional haggler, classic Pauluhn as many of you know.

We left Newark, DE this morning, and had to fill up with gas over $3.00 for the 1st time on the trip, a bit of a disappointing experience. After about 2 hours, we found free parking about 20 blocks from the stadium and made the long walk. Following the game, we walked back in the scorching heat and strolled around Capitol Hill, and also saw the Washington Monument and Union Station. Then we grabbed dinner at Johnny Rocket’s, an excellent 1950s style hamburger joint that was delicious.



We have now finished 10 games, or 1/3 of the total games we will see. However, we have only driven about 1/5 of the total distance we have to cover, so things will be picking up from that aspect starting tomorrow, with the drive to Boston.

Special thanks to my Aunt Carolyn and Uncle Hubie for letting us stay at their house in Newark, DE last night. The home cooking was delicious and we had a very nice stay.

Here are the statistical updates:
1-end of day odometer: 20,535
2-miles traveled today: 141
3-miles traveled total: 3,892
4-states traveled in today: Delaware, Maryland, Washington, D.C.
bonus stat: in the interleague games we have seen on the trip, pitchers are 0-10 with 9 strikeouts while at-bat