The Baseball Road Trip

2 Comments Written by Mike on July 22, 2008 – 2:24 am

I am sitting in a car on the way to Cincinnati right now. Aman is driving (temporarily without my navigating prowess), and we’re passing through a host of small towns surrounding Indianapolis. Every once in a while, it hits me: “What the hell am I doing here?” Places like Wyoming, Utah, and Indiana were never very high on my “Must Visit” list. I didn’t ever expect to visit them, yet here I am delaying my graduation, burning through all the money I saved over the past two years, and (occasionally) sleeping in rest stops. Those things don’t matter, though. Well, except for that last bit, considering every teen horror movie begins in a rest stop. That aside, I wouldn’t trade a damn thing for what has happened so far.

A CouchSurfer we stayed with recently put it best: when it comes to making a choice between a possession and an experience, there shouldn’t be any debate. An experience is something infinitely more valuable than any material possession, and (surprisingly) much longer lasting. There was one particular turning point for me when I realized this, and it was in Kansas City at Kaufman Stadium. In my obligatory photo tour around the ballpark, I stopped in the rightfield nosebleed seats. I sat down with no one within forty seats of me and watched the sun set above a baseball game in a city I never thought I would visit. This was what the trip was about, I realized. Not about baseball, not even America. It was about the journey.

Something we haven’t shared with many of you is how close we’ve been cutting our budget. Things like breaking down in the middle of the desert and being forced to rent a hotel in the middle of a thunderstorm set us back by a fair share. When Aman and I arrived in St. Louis, we sat down at a Starbucks in trendy Central West End and did something we had been dreading for weeks. We did our finances.

Mapping out our funds involved a ledger book, credit card reports, and far too many depressing bank statements. When finished, we came to a startling conclusion: we had to turn back. 8,000 miles and six weeks into the road trip, and we realized that the Gateway to the West would be as far as we could get. It was a sullen moment, and we spent a long time in the coffee shop discussing our alternatives. None were viable, though I maintain an Ocean’s 11 style heist would have been fantastic. Alas, we weren’t able to find anyone to temporarily shut down four blocks worth of electricity or drive the getaway car.

Needing a second opinion, I called up my dad. Always a fountain of knowledge, he told me four wise words: “Go out like kings”. Eat a steak, spend $20 at a riverboat casino; do something to finish the trip in style and lifted spirits. So we did. We ate good food, spent $20 at the Casino Queen, and slowly came to terms with the path before us. Then everything changed.

We received help from Aman’s parents. We had a long debate about our options before making a decision, but we eventually concluded to accept the support and keep pushing east. Our route will have to change; making Florida and Texas seem unlikely at this point, but we won’t know until we get there. It was a false alarm, but it opened my eyes. I don’t want this to end. Neither of us do. Travelling has been one of the best experiences of my life, and I am constantly amazed by everything we do and see on the road. From the suburbs of Kansas City, Missouri to the South Side of Chicago, everything has been worthwhile in its own way. I know that for the rest of my life I can sit back, recline in my chair (as though I am old/wise) and speak: “Let me tell you about the time our tires blew in the desert. It was 115 degrees out, and it was one of the best experiences of my life.”

We head eastward now. I’ll tell you all about Chicago tomorrow. It’s a nice place; they have streetlights, fountains, and good pizza.