The Baseball Road Trip

1 Comment Written by Mike on August 1, 2008 – 4:52 pm

We’re heading on the tollway through New York right now; finally about to hit the Mysterious East Coast. We’ve recently rolled through Pittsburgh, Detroit, Cleveland, and the greater Toronto area. We’re somewhere around 10,000 miles driven so far, which is roughly like driving from San Francisco to New York three times. To further simulate the experience, you may pop your tires, break the windshield (twice), and go through three border patrol stops. Additionally, you may purchase thirty packs of gum. The next time you are stuck in traffic, realize it could be worse. You could be stuck in traffic with drug dogs sniffing your car.

Pittsburgh was an interesting city, full of interesting experiences. I will get to that later (in Road Trip: The Major Motion Picture). For now, know that it is a blue collar town full of character and dangerously laid roads and streets. We visited the South Side, which unlike the similar designation of Chicago is actually very nice and filled with independent stores. The next time you are there (a likely scenario), I challenge you to find three consecutive people walking the street without tattoos or piercings. It’s times like that I miss my eyebrow ring. Upon receiving several recommendations/orders, we grabbed food at the Primenti Brothers bar, which serves a brutal (yet tasty) amalgamation of cole slaw, french fries, and steak. Unlike most places, you get the entire meal served in between two pieces of bread. It’s kind of like eating a dinner sandwich. It ranks on my top five foods this trip.

Before we skipped for the Pirates game, we stopped at a small used CD store for shits and giggles and picked up six mostly-random CD’s for three dollars. It was here we learned the value of the bargain bin. Bands that end up in the discount pile mostly derive from three categories: bands you’ve never heard of (Choose Your Own Adventure, The Bittersweets), motion picture soundtracks to movies you’ve never watched (Godzilla, Daredevil), and Celine Dion.

We didn’t spend much time in Detroit proper, though we had a fantastic time eating, drinking, and chatting it up in the suburbs. Detroit’s surrounding area was nice looking, and was the first big hockey city we stumbled into. Nice towns, though it seems most people want to get out of the area, however, which I found pretty odd at first. I suppose everyone feels the need to leave at some point. I recommend travelling; it does wonders. Coamerica was a nice park, and we just happened to show up on the day they broke the single game attendance record. Apparently, we were on TV cheering for the Tigers; look for the handsome guy in the red shirt.

As we move eastward, we’ve become quickly indoctrinated to the ways of the turnpike. The turnpike is a foreign thing to a Californian. In the golden state, we pay for roads by charging obscene prices for bridge tolls; it’s about $5 bucks to cross from Oakland to San Francisco. In the East Coast, they do this as well, but also charge to use the highway itself. You pick up a ticket when you enter a turnpike, and pay when you leave based on how far you’ve gone. Along the way are mini service plazas. In what I’m sure is an American concept, these places exist as self-contained malls in which all needs for survival are met, minus the one about leaving with any money. There, you can use the restroom, check the internet, and grab vastly overpriced McDonalds food.* To say the least, I am not very happy with the system. It could use some work.

Next update will include many photos, and news of Cleveland and Canada.

*Note: McDonalds may not contain food products.