Spring Training v5.8

Wednesday, March 06, 2013 (Day 258)

Harris spent the morning caching as he meandered to the Peoria Sports Complex to watch the M’s play the Brewers. It’s turning into a routine. Oatmeal for breakfast, pick a different route to the game and either geocache or do some provisioning on the way to the game. Arrive early enough to miss the traffic, make a sandwich, pack some munchies, and head across the street to the game. Upon entering sign up for the designated driver program, find the seat, and relax. People watching is an added bonus.

Harris found 7 of 8 caches on the way to the game. Most of these were along the border or buffer areas between subdivisions and the main roadway. Phoenix has done a great job of separating many residential areas from the traffic lanes. Harris took some pictures of the more interesting caches and sights while caching.

Humongous cactus, palm trees, and a blimp



A rarity, a green lawn!



An interesting geocache holder.



This cache is called "The four ones" and the cache location was obvious



Today the temperature reached 80 once more so a seat in the shade was particularly nice. As for the game, the Mariners showed some more power today with Morales and Morse hitting home runs. The M’s were ahead 6-3 at the end of 6 innings when the first tier players left. The game ended 6-7 at the end of nine after a “rookie mistake in the 8th inning. Everyone (6000+) in the stadium knew that when you have runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out and a grounder is hit to the 1st base side of the pitcher, YOU RUN!! Apparently the rookie on 3rd learned that today as he hesitated and then stayed at third. Now 6000+ and the rookie now know about this facet of base running. The Brewers fans were vocal in thanking him.

Today's seat location...in the shade!



A bird's-eye view of home plate





Dinner was a new dish for Harris. He stopped at Winco and bought a couple of cooked chicken strips along with bagged romaine, shredded carrots, tomatoes, craisins, and blue cheese dressing. Very yummy. The diet coke and Evan Williams helped too.
Tonight's dinner



Tomorrow Harris travels to Surprise for the Seattle vs Kansas City game.

Total miles driven today = 27

Spring Training v5.7

Tuesday, March 05, 2013 (Day 257)

Well, there was no knock on Howie’s door last night. Harris enjoyed a long hot shower before retiring for the night. Last night he also met to buy an Oregon 400t gps from a person on Craigslist. This morning he put it to the test and it looks like Harris has his geocaching mojo back! He went 3 for 3 while taking a different route to the ballpark. Harris likes the fact that the menu is very customizable and that it has a touch screen. Time to sell the old ones. While driving a different route, he stumbled upon his favorite grocery store—Winco’s. He picked up some ball park snacks and proceeded to the game.


Can you figure out why this was called "Hole-y Cache Batman!"



The Mariners did not play today so Harris chose to watch the Dodgers and Padres game at Peoria. There was half the number of people that show up for a Mariners game (today’s attendance was 3008) so there were plenty of seats in the shade. Harris scored a whole row just in front of the announcer’s booth. While watching the game Harris surmised that there was a player’s wife just below him (Rick and Harris have become very adept at spotting the wives after several years of Spring Training people watching. The astute Harris figured out she was Kyle Blank’s (#88) wife and she was very personable and easy to chat with (she’s been to 6 spring training sessions, has houses in the area and San Diego, loves the climate, and goes to games both solo and with other wives). Kyle grounded out to third, exploded with a triple, and drew a walk. Darn good considering he’s been injured much of the last two seasons.


Where Harris likes to shop...



The game was pretty much all Padres with the game ending 7-3. Skies were clear at the start, but slightly overcast as the game progressed. Afterwards, it was time to head home at grill a steak for dinner. He’s looking forward to using the grill now that he’s at a camping spot.


How Harris figured out who's wife she was



Total miles driven today = 22

Spring Training V5.6

Monday March 4th, 2013 (Day 256)

Harris had an interesting night. About 11:30 there was a knock on Howie’s door. There was a nice young Peoria policeman wondering what I was up to. Turns out that there is a law on the books about no overnight camping within Peoria city limits. He was very nice about it and after checking my driver’s license told me he wouldn’t be bothering me anymore. So the next morning after coffee Harris headed out to check out Total Wine. There he spoke with a “Spirits Expert” about the matchup between Evan Williams and Banker’s Club. He suggested Banker’s so Harris bout a liter to try out with his diet cokes.

Interesting to think about how many Star Spangled Banners were being sung at this exact moment in Phoenix



Next on the agenda was to buy tickets to the Buddy Holly Story that is being put on at the Peoria Dinner Theater. Harris made an executive decision to buy a show only rather than dinner and a show after some not so great reviews on yelp. Rick and Harris will have to find another place to eat and then head over to the show.

Harris sat in the last row where there was plenty of shade!



Finally it was time for the game and the sun was shining brightly and temps reaching just over 80 degrees. The Mariners started off with a couple of runs in the bottom of the first against the Rockies and it looked like it was going to be a close game when the Rockies got 3 in the 4th. Then the M’s blasted 6 runs in the bottom of the inning and kept going. As fun as it was he felt sorry for the Colorado fan sitting just below him. While trying to explain to her that this isn’t normal for the M’s she told Harris about how her dad was on the 1920’s Brooklyn Giants team. His name Dick Sevey and she was his “boy” and her mom’s “girl” since she’s an only child. She went on to talk about how different growing up was for her as when her mom finally told her dad to get a real job, the real job was being a warden at an upstate N.Y. facility where he helped coach an inmate’s baseball team. Needless to say, she was more interesting to talk with than seeing if the Rockies could make a comeback.

Harris needed to leave before the game ended so he could check in at the RV park before the office closed. Time for a real shower tonight!

Spring Training Ver. 5.5

Sunday, March 3, 2013 (Day 255)

Harris awoke to another sunny morning and looking forward to catching his first Mariners away game. Instead of driving 4 miles to the ballpark, he had to drive 2.5 times as far—a whopping 10 miles to Surprise to watch the M’s play Texas. He arrived a couple hours early to buy tickets and to find some geocaches. He found two of the 5 he attempted. It seems like he’s temporarily lost his geocaching mojo. Before he knew it, he was almost late for the first pitch.

First visit to Surprise this year



In about 30 minutes a bank of clouds obscured the sun and the temps seemed to fall about 15 degrees. The upside was that there was no need to find shade today. While watching the game, Harris found out that there was a college game scheduled with Gonzaga playing Arizona State University. There was no reason not to take in a double-header.

My seat for today--no need for shade!




Later this year Judy and Harris will be able to wear these shirts!



The Mariners jumped to a nice lead with yet another home run (Morales) and a bunch of hits. At the end of 6 it was the M’s up 6-2. But then the game slowed way down. The college game was suppose to start at 4PM, but started an hour late. By the time it started the M’s had made 4 errors and the game was decided by the last batter at the bottom of the ninth with bases loaded and 2 outs. We persevered! Harris stayed for most of the 2nd game but decided to leave with Arizona ahead 5-1 at the end of five. He found out later that he should have stayed since the game ended up a tie (Gonzaga had to leave due to travel plans) 6-6. Turns out it was a day for errors since Gonzaga got 5 unearned runs in the 8th.

Down to the last batter...and hated those 4 errors!



On the way back from the game he stopped to fill up and found that the last 770 miles averaged 23.4 mpg. All in all, it was a good day. Tomorrow Harris will head to the RV park for the next 2 weeks.

Sunset during the college game

Saturday, March 02, 2013 (Day 254)

Harris went on a leisurely 2.5 hour walk checking out some of the local scenery which included a library visit, a garage sale, a stop at Salvation Army as well as next door neighbor Goodwill, a couple of Mexican restaurants to see if they had take out rice and bean dishes (he has simple tastes), and a Big Lots store. The big score was a couple of four dollar 19 oz double walled insulated glasses (for either hot or cold beverages). It was tested at the game when it kept the Odual’s beer cold for several innings. It would have lasted longer, but alas, the beer was gone.


A great bird cage holder




A Phoenix Muscle Car?



The "Big Score"...Guess which one is Judy's.



Once again Harris wasn’t able to account for where time went and barely made it to the game in time for the first pitch. Luckily he had previously purchased the ticket and didn’t need to wait in line. It was another 80+ day and he immediately went for the shady seats. Being an experienced spring training devotee does pay off.

Today's shady seat



The Mariners added more offense with another couple of home runs (rookie catcher Mike Zunino and Franklin Guiterrez) to tie the game. The 3 Dodger errors helped the M’s tack on some more runs to win 6-3 when the first tier players left and 9-5 at the end of nine. Afterwards, Harris returned a cheap AM armband radio that didn’t pick up the game play by play and stopped by Costco to sample some goodies before heading back to park for the night. It sure is nice to travel 4 miles to and from the game rather than the hundreds the past few days. Tomorrow it’s off to Surprise stadium…he’d better plan for more time to get there.

Howie's resting spot just after sunset w/library to the left

Off to Spring Training v5.0

Wednesday Feb.27th through Friday March 1st (Days 251 – 253)

Harris has been chomping at the bit to get in Howie and take off for the annual rite of spring, Spring Training, with his baseball bud Rick. Fortunately for Rick and unfortunately for Harris, the Belgrade Boys Basketball Team in Montana made it to the Class A state tourney. This means that Harris will once again have to brave the Phoenix weather on his own for a week while Rick participates in the fevered bedlam of H.S. boys basketball for a week before he heads south to Phoenix. Oh well, if one must make sacrifices...

Harris has also been looking at the national snow coverage weather map which has shown snow in Mountain areas of Utah, Idaho, California, and Nevada. He decided to play it safe and head down I-5 once again. He did decide to avert the whole Southern California madhouse driving area by trying a new route that cut east from Bakersfield across the mountains on Route 58 to Barstow, Needles, I-40, Kingman, and then southeast to Phoenix. He will miss a favorite highlight of driving down the Grapevine into the LA basin. He will NOT miss the traffic.

Leaving home



He left 7:30 Wednesday morning traveling at a steady 55-60 for most of the day with few short stops for gas, coffee, and food. The temps over the Siskiyou Pass were in the low 50’s compared to last year’s 30 with chains required. He pulled into a secluded parking lot behind a McDonalds and Day’s Inn around 10:30 PM ( 770 miles) and temps in the low 60’s. He noticed on the map that he was 30 miles north of Fresno and wondered if the morning traffic could be as bad as Seattle’s. That thought woke him up at 3:30 AM. Traffic was not a problem. He could have saved at least an hour going through Seattle if he’d done that on Wed.


After seeing the sunrise, Harris stopped for breakfast in Bakersfield. With the sun streaming and the temperature already hitting 60, he decided to catch the Mariners game on Friday. So the goal was to get within 150 miles of Phoenix by Thursday night. Once again, short breaks and a steady 60-65 found him in Peoria by 9PM eating dinner at a Denny’s checking in with Judy. The Grand Slam was a fitting dinner. By 10PM he was tucked away in his special spot with free electricity and no road noise in downtown Peoria (870 miles).




Friday morning was spent preparing French press coffee and it drinking it slowly while enjoying the sun. A stop for some spray to stop the loud annoying squeak in the driver’s door, Safeway 5 dollar Friday ribs for dinner, some snack foods and it was time for the game. He found his usual parking spot for the Peoria games where there was good wifi and an EZ walk to the game. There was only a little hiccup. Harris was wondering why there weren’t more people in line buying tickets, and a little later why there weren’t more people in the stands, when he discovered that he hadn’t mentally changed over to Central time. He was an hour early for the game. Oh, well, sitting there eating his sandwich and washing it down with the free O’ doul’s beer, life was looking good.

The usual parking spot for the game



Some of the autograph seekers in front of my seat



The Mariners won 8-7 (8-5 at the end of five when most of the starters were pulled). There were THREE HOME RUNS!! That was more than Harris saw during the entire spring training outings either of the last two years. Could this be…

Miles per gallon:
Inside Washington 25.3
Portland to Medford 24.4
Medford to Fresno 21.2
Fresno to PHX Don't know yet.

Harris is responsible for all typos herein due to the fact that the usual blogger is AWOL

Maui w/o Howie part 4