well some signs of spring are starting to show up, karen has already been spotted on the tractor, although i think she was just riding it around for something to do. spring training games are on tv, everybody has an equal chance to be in the world series at this point, and my 2014 baseball tours are starting to shape up
5/24-5/26, 5/25/14, 5;10PM atlanta braves at turner field, rockies vs braves, i wasn't going to do this, especially since it seems a done deal that the braves will be out of turner field to cobb county for the 2017 season start. but i just cannot reward a teams coffers when they are deliberately moving to a new stadium built over 10 miles from the nearest marta station, now the current system isn't ideal, you have to go to 5 points and take a free shuttle bus to turner, but at least this trip can be done without a rental car. this new stadium is just wrong, and one of the braves excuses has always been that they lack parking at turner, only having 8500 spots, well the new stadium will only have 6000, although since the announced seating is 40-42000, about 8000 less than turner, and using the rule of thumb for sports/entertainment events of 4 per car, it might just be a wash. i could understand if atlanta had no mass transit at all, but they have a pretty decent rail system, this deal was made in secret with the cobb county politicians before being announced, and one of the leaders of cobb county has sworn that mass transit will never be welcome or come into HIS county, so THOSE people stay out. this is atlanta, draw your own conclusions as to who THOSE people are.
6/8/14, 1:10 pm kansas city, yankees vs royals for stadium #22 of 30, this will be a 9 day odyssey starting and ending in kansas city, involving barbecue, baseball, massive amounts of railfanning, dirt track racing possibly as many as 4 nights on 4 different tracks, the national railroad historical society convention in springdale arkansas, rides on alco powered trains, steam ride and shop tour at the branson railroad, 1 dinner train, 1 day off to be spent driving across into oklahoma to railfan some ouichita mountain scenery, and finishing up 6/15 dropping off the beaten, dirty rental car and dragging my tired butt onto a flight home. notice no rant about mass transit access to the stadium, that's because kansas city doesn't have anything other than a very rudimentary bus system. i'm not aware if they ever had a streetcar system or not, if they did, i'm sure it was one of the ones killed off by the gm/goodyear efforts in the 40's and 50's, ala the los angeles red car
LATE BREAKING SCHEDULE NEWS
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5/10/14, return to camden yards, astros vs orioles, listed at 7:05 on the orioles site, TBD at stubhub. i'm hoping for the scheduled time holding as this is an amtrak trip, half the price of a flight, about same as a drive with gas & tolls. camden is a return, it actually was the first of the modern stadiums for me, but was well before my digital rebirth, so i have no photos for my website/flickr collection. besides a little boogs barbeque cannot be a bad thing.
SAY IT, COME ON, YOU KNOW I WANNA HEAR IT: PLAY BALL!!!!!!!!!