I’m sure, once I look back at the past several days, it will really set in on how good of a trip this was. Take away the summer cold I picked up (I will continue to believe it came from the AC at the first hotel I stayed in because how little I could control it), and the brutal heat, and it was a lesson to me about life and myself.
Being part of a Q&A session where Marty Brennaman was one of the featured guests was way too cool.
In the big scheme of things, it was about baseball. It was a trip that covered more than 1,600 miles and took me to games in Maryland, West Virginia, Kentucky and Ohio. I had the chance to see some different things, though much of my “down” time was spent driving and going from place to place.
I saw games at the single-A level, Triple-A, and the majors. I had the chance to meet new people, talk to locals and others, and just get to see things outside my normal comfort zone.
In recent years, for whatever reason, I feel like I’ve gone from being an extrovert to being an introvert. I’m more apt to keep to myself more now than I ever had before. Maybe it’s age or maybe it’s something else, but it just seems to be the way I go. I kind of keep more to myself. It’s probably technology.
But this small trip I went on allowed me to see many things. I saw an incredible moon over the first game I went to. I stopped at a rest area on the second day, one in which there were incredible views, several geocaches, and some geological lessons. I got caught taking photos of a baseball player learning a “handshake,” who then posed as I continued to click.
I saw how Louisville Slugger makes baseball bats, I witnessed some of Muhammad Ali’s artifacts and how amazing of a human being he was. I had the chance to wander through the Cincinnati Reds’ Hall of Fame, be part of a Q&A with Marty Brennaman and Jeff Brantley and also tour Great American Ballpark before catching an MLB game.
Through all of this, though, I also dealt with crazy heat, which sucked.
Baseball was an important part of this trip — and I took many photos, such as this one where the bat came flying out of his hitter’s hands.
But mostly, the one thing I realized, is I can do things like this solo. Sometimes I worry about traveling solo. I wonder how I will deal with things. I’ve taken solo trips before, but never something like this. I usually have things planned out a bit more. I kind of had an idea what I was doing and where I was staying, but I didn’t try and do too much. I found a few geocaches. I watched baseball. I drove. I stared at things as I went by them and realized that, sometimes, a good drive and getting away without packing your itinerary so much isn’t a bad thing.
I mean, I was in Cincinnati and I never went and explored. I was in Louisville and barely explored. I was in a few other places and saw a baseball field and a hotel.
In the end, outside of this cold I picked up, it was a good trip for me in more ways than just watching baseball.
I’ll have many more photos from this trip soon. I’m backlogged on a lot of processing and hope I can catch up soon.
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