Spring Training 2014 part 10 (Driving home)

Thursday March 27th - Friday  March 28th -   (Days 385- 386)



 Harris caught his last Mariner game at Surprise Wednesday afternoon (M's lost to the Rangers after coughing up 4 runs in an inning). He hit the road early Thursday morning at 2:30 AM (in shorts) and made it home just after 4PM on Friday (wearing long pants, socks, and sweatshirt). He took the following pictures so that any interested person can follow along and see the interesting patterns that Harris observed in these two days regarding:

color of sky

atmospheric temperature

moisture content (amount and type)
clouds

Rather than going back via California and I-5, he opted for the 130 mile shorter (and potentially much colder) route via Las Vegas and Boise. The roads were much less crowded and he will gladly make this his default method for traveling to Spring Training.

 pictures taken in Northwestern AZ

 He noticed the plastered sign and couldn't resist stopping for a quick picture.

Now north of Las Vegas in Nevada...

Crossing into Idaho

Oregon Friday morning

Snoqualmie Pass Friday afternoon!

Hard to believe Harris was warm one day and the next day, in the cold and rain, already planning for next year's Spring Training.

Spring Training 2014 part 9 (Wrapping up Spring Training)

Friday  March 21th - Wednesday March 25th  (Day 379- 384)

Life after Rick left has been pretty much the same. Wake up, take a walk, head to a ball park (while stopping for a dinner selection to cook later), meet some folks at the game, return to the RV campground, and check in with Judy before watching something downloaded onto the computer. All of this is while in 80+ degree days and 55 degree nights. Not a bad way to spend March.

 The last meeting between the Padres and Mariners was a night game
 and the place was sold out with 12,500+ fans. Harris
had his usual seat.

And the fireworks were grand (for a Spring Training venue).

Most meals include a healthy salad...

The favorite place for tailgating is Surprise Stadium. 

Green grass (and plenty of it), happy folks, and sunny days.

Harris discovered power and plugged into it to use the micro wave and watch a 

program while waiting for a night game on his next to last day.

Harris was offered the use of a grill to cook his

brats and a burger to occupy his time while 

cooking. He turned down the burger.

But joined in the conversation with the KC Royals fans. 

They also arrived several hours early.

The finished product...with leftovers for the last game tomorrow.

Gorgeous night for the game. 85 degrees at game time. 

King Felix gave up 2 runs in the first inning and then 

settled down. Meanwhile the team backed him up with 9 runs.

He did his traditional walk after every strike out (6 for the 5 innings)

Final score was 9-5.

Spring Training 2014 part 8 (Rick Departs)

Thursday March 20th - (Day 378)

 This blog entry is one of those bad news--good news types. The bad news is that Rick left and the good news is that Harris still has one more week in Phoenix watching baseball!

 The last game for Rick was a Brewers vs Mariners game. We ended up sitting next to Jim Gatner's wife. Jim Gatner is a retired Brewer's all star player and we enjoyed bantering with them about their low key celebrations whenever the Brewers did something good. The game was a good one with lots of scoring and some good defense plays, but the Mariners couldn't come back in the 9th this night.

Virgil, the Washington neighbor who cooked dinner for Harris a couple of weeks previous, had promised a fish fry from his Dakota ice fishing expedition, so on Rick's last night  he delivered. The walleye was breaded with Ritz crackers and some spices after the fish was dragged through an egg mixture. He skipped the Cajun seasoning upon request. Virgil also provided seasoned fries and coleslaw. Rick provided the cheesecake dessert! Harris simply enjoyed the delicious dinner.

 

Thursday morning Rick packed up and treated Harris to a send off breakfast at the nearby diner. The breakfast/lunch/dinner consisted of eggs with spinach and feta cheese scrambled together, homemade corned beef hash with a couple of eggs atop it, cottage cheese, a pancake, hash browns, toast, and coffee. As this blog is being written, Harris is still full.

Rick's good bye wave.

Harris found a way of dealing with the separation. He went to Surprise to watch the Angles vs Royals game. He found a seat in the shade and thought of Rick. Shortly after this picture was taken, Mike Trout launched a sinking fastball  off Weaver that rocketed over the deep center field wall 450+ feet. That was worth the price of admission!

And of course, Harris never passes up a picture of a cutie that reminds him of River. After the game he  proceeded to Howie's parking spot in Peoria to write up the blog before heading to the night game.

Spring Training 2014 part 7

Sunday March 16th - Wednesday March 19th - (Days 374-377)

Four more days of baseball and sun find Harris and Rick with only one goal-- get in a double header. And they did with a game at Brewer's stadium and later back to the Mariner's home park hosting the San Diego Padres.

 On days that the Mariners were off or a distance away, Rick and Harris saw much of the Padres and met several of the players' significant others. This made it easy to root for the Padres (when the Padres weren't playing the Mariners).

Harris used some Costco baked chicken leftovers with avocados, tomatoes, cherry craisons, walnuts, and lettuce for one dinner.

On one of the daily walks Harris noticed a bunch of balloons drifting over the area.

The perfect Thomas house? Great lawn for Harris to mow and roses for Judy!

Harris and Rick noticed one of the new baseball play review trucks practicing for the season. The MLB guys said this year they are also trying to get all the teams to take no more than 2 minutes between innings for commercial breaks.

At the Brewers home park...and in the shade!

Rick mentioned that this is a high light for many Brewers fans...Since this is the only stadium that plays a recorded national anthem, we guessed that it was to pay for these guys to perform.

A new spot that they found 2.3 miles away from Peoria stadium for cooking dinner (and the only spot Rick's bocci balls let him down).

Dinner between the double header.

The night game started at a comfortable 80 degrees, but dropped slowly while people (including Harris and Rick) kept adding layers. They have become true desert creatures. 

 

It was an exciting game with the lead changing hands several times and a dramatic comeback at the bottom of the 8th inning. The Mariner fans were going crazy!

And the Padres tied it up at the top of the ninth! This was 3.5 hours into the game and the coaches decided to call it a game at the end of nine. Not a  bad way to end the day.

Spring Training 2014 part 6

Friday March 14th - Saturday March 15th - (Days 372-373)

The guys usually start the day with a walk (or in the case of Rick, a walk/jog) around 7 AM. Coffee is served at 8 and they usually head off to the ball park around ten. 

 Harris came upon a neat woodcarving on the side of a house.

One of many bird condominiums along the walk.

Two very juicy tenderloins for dinner on Friday.

One of several places where Rick trounced Harris in a game called "Cube".

San Francisco Giants played the Mariners to a packed 12,000 plus crowd 

with almost half being Giant supporters.

The Mariners couldn't come back in this error plagued game. The 6 errors didn't count several passed balls, a wild pitch, and two "sun singles".

Somehow Rick managed to lock his keys in Goldy. Luckily for him, Judy had forced Harris to have AAA coverage when he goes down to Spring Training.

The nice man had the doors unlocked in a jiffy.

And all was well once again...

Spring Training 2014 part 5

Wednesday March 12th - Thursday March 13th - (Days 370-371) 

On Rick's first full day in Phoenix the plan was to catch two games: an afternoon in Surprise watching the Texas Rangers versus the Los Angeles Angels and an evening game in Peoria watching the Mariners play the Chicago Cubs. The afternoon game was a blowout with the Angels stomping the Rangers 12-2.

 These Texas fans were very discriminating in only letting Ranger fans participate in their tail gating. How intolerant!

Rick and Harris found some shade after a couple of innings. Another 80+ degree day.

In between games they stopped at River Park where Rick slaughtered Harris in bocci ball (even when giving Harris a handicap of 5). Rick supervised Harris cooking some Alaskan salmon that was topped off with a dash of home made blackberry  jam. It was delicious!

The evening game lasted over 4 hours with the Mariners trailing by as much as 7 runs. In the last two innings the Mariners tied the game (with a bases loaded bottom of the ninth single that scored 2 runs). They played a tenth inning and the M's were victorious with a walk-off single when there were runners on 1st and 3rd. Wow---What a game!

On Thursday the guys wanted to see the Mariners play Arizona but when arriving at Talking Stick Park found the game sold out. They went with plan B at Peoria watching the Padres and Milwaukee Brewers. Harris had a healthy salad for lunch while Rick went with brats. (Notice that Judy?) 

Harris noticed that these two were married one year before he and Judy were. He had to ask them to lean forward so he could take a picture of the shirts. By the way, the Brewers stomped the Padres (and the Mariners won their game 6-1)

Arriving home, Harris grilled up some stuffed chicken breasts, made a salad, and Rick provided some brownies he made for dessert. Just another awesome day here in Phoenix. After dinner they finished a game of Quarters they had started the day before; Harris squeaked a victory (6 points). He was quoted as saying "Take that Rick!" (Maybe he only thought that).