Days 3 and 4

Hello all sorry we missed yesterday, we had a long day of driving and by the time we got to the luxurious "Little Farm on the River on the River" the office was closed and we were unable to obtain the Internet password to get into their wireless network. When I finally did get the password the gentleman at the front desk was nice enough to write in capital letters, so in turn put the password that I was told, "isn't case sensitive" into the computer in all capitals. It wasn't until later that I even attempted to put put everything in lower case and it came up perfect within about 5 seconds of me punching it in.

Sorry if I ramble I realize we have a lot of catching up to do. The ride from Maryland to Indiana, we estimated would take about 8 hours, but after a few stops, and breaks along the way it was more like 9.5 hours. The ride from Maryland from Indiana can best described like this, concrete, trees, hills, and as you get closer to Indiana, cornfields with the occasional run down barn. Big props to Alicia for finding us a campground while we were literally driving here. She is like the Al with Ziggy to our Samuel Beckett. There were a few highlights along the way (with pictorial

evidence of course;

1) 5 hours into the drive (9 overall if you count the trip to Maryland) Christine finally volunteering to drive. (he's a liar... I volunteered to drive on the way to MD!)





2) The no gun posting at a rest area in West Virginia. Man, was I ticked when I realized I would have to leave my piece in the car. Finally,






3) the Garmen leading us directly into a cornfield (fortunately common sense stopped us from going in.)



When we did get to the area we were aiming to get to we stopped off at a small Mexican dive Al had told us about on our way down, Acapulco. Reasonably priced and as a bonus they ambushed me into a beer special that featured the largest mug of beer I have ever seen. As we walked in, the nice Mexican gentleman asked us if we wanted a smoking or non-smoking seat. Christine and I laughed so hard probably confusing the nice Mexican. We eventually replied with non-smoking and he sat us at a nice little table looking out onto the street. During dinner Christine and I had a discussion that I had HOPED would go like this:

Phil- So what is in the Badlands?

Christine- A dry, baron wasteland, that has turned into a state park, thanks to thousands of years of weathering and erosion.

Phil- But I thought we already went to Camden Yards!

You can see the punchline and where I hoped the conversation would go. Instead it went like this.

Phil- So what is in the Badlands?

Christine- I have no idea, but I am looking forward to it. It's supposed to be beautiful.

Phil- Wait, you have no idea what we are going to see or what you are expecting? Like what do you think will be there?

Christine- I don't know. Like trees, moose and stuff.

Phil- Moose? In the Badlands?

Christine- Yeah. Why not?!?!

Phil- It's the Badlands!

Christine- Are moose too good for the Badlands?

At this point I think we both kind of agreed to stop the conversation and turn our attention back to just finishing dinner, until....

Christine mentioned the Mason Dixon line in conversation. She asked where it was, and if we were still above it at this point. I in turn told her, no, the Mason Dixon line went from North to South, and separated the East and the West. We argued briefly and decided to just move along with finishing dinner and getting to the campsite. (As I wrote this, I googled the Mason Dixon line, and sure enough, it does separate the North from the South!)

The campsite is nice, we have an electric hookup and of course The Internet. When we got here we found the people next to us had a pug and immediately had to go over and say hello. After setting up out tent we sat around the fire with our new neighbors and talked about the area, things to do, and of course.. NASCAR RACIN'. The older gentleman of the group, Mark, admitted to being a Jeff Gordon fan, I smiled and said, "He's cool." while secretly mocking him and laughing at him on the inside.

The NASCAR conversation leads me into another quick story that has me a bit on edge. I called the people at Indy Speedway and asked them if we could stay there on Sunday night into Monday, after the race, even though our pass was only for Saturday and Sunday. The woman said we could, but there would be "no security" and we would, "be on our own". So that being said I think it'll be fine even without security, but I would just like feedback from some more responsible people who might have a different view.

During the evening I went to the potty and on my way back acquired a white cat that followed me around... EVERYWHERE. This creepy, white cat, followed me back to the tent, and refused to leave me alone. Rather terrifying in a "Sleep Walkers" or "Pet Cemetery" kind of way.

FINALLY, fast forward to Friday. To Cincinnati. To The Land of Dunn, to see the mighty
Adam swing his mighty bat. The morning was uneventful enough, Christine made a rousing breakfast of hot dogs, bacon, and just a touch of love. We left for the game at around 1pm and got to the mean streets of Cincy at around 2ish, give or take a few minutes here and there. Parking here is actually quite reasonable, it cost us 2$ American Dollars to park the car... ALL DAY. We were some what skeptical prompting this conversation with The Nice Man at the parking booth.

Us- So it's 2$? Until when?

The Nice Man- All day.

Us- So when does the lot close?

The Nice Man- 11pm

Us- So we can park in this lot from 2pm until 11pm, for 2$ ?!?!

The Nice Man- Yup

Us- What happens after 11? Do they lock the parking lot, close the gate or tow the car?

The Nice Man- No. None of that, they just like it if the car is out of here by 11pm. It'll be here (random note: One of our neighbors just said, "Honey, do you want my wiener.") when you get back from the game, no matter what time it ends.

Us- Okay, we'll take one spot please.

PARKING ALL DAY FOR 2$ In retrospect we should have bought every spot in the lot and then marked them all up NY style and made a killing. Hindsight is 20/20.

Anyway, the trip of course had its one massive negative. I went to get some cash from an ATM, like old school ATM when they take your card and shoot it back out after the transaction is completed. Sure did totally forget about my ATM card in the machine. I already called CITIBank and the problem was taken care of, but being down a debit card will hurt, at least until we get to Idaho.

The Great American Ballpark is cute. They have a lot of really great family ammenities, and are reasonably seats. Upper left field bleacher area, 7$ seats.. not bad at all. The most commonly seen Reds jerseys around the park in order, 1) Jay Bruce, 2) Ken Griffey, 3) Pete Rose, and 4) Adam Dunn. Although, Dunn might have leap frogged Rose when I bought my Adam Dunn shirt. Here is a picture of me doing something wacky with a picture of Adam Dunn while wearing his jersey. (Note: When I purchased the jersey the guy at the stand tossed in a free pennant featuring the likenesses of Shawn Casey, Austin Kearns and Adam. For those of you who don't follow baseball, 2 of the 3 haven't been on the Reds in the last 2 years.)

Once Christine can sit down for a few minutes, just wait and see the wacky stuff we did with the picture Paul O'Neill is in!! The game itself was uneventful, the Reds lost 7-2, and Dunn decided to take the night off both at the plate and in the field. But, that's okay. Poor Adam has to carry the weight of not only a franchise, but an entire city on his back. In fact I think we saw the mayor of Cincinnati asking Adam for advise on how to balance the budget and bring something acceptable to the counsel. (Adam all alone)

We leave for the Brickyard at around 11am-ish and I think we are both very excited for our first NASCAR experience. We have no idea what the future holds in terms of The Internet at the Brickyard, so this could be our last post for a bit. Christine and I are taking a daily journal, so we will reference that if we have difficulty remembering some of the details of our most recent stop.