Deathtour Insanity~!

At this moment I find myself standing on an event horizon, a few hours away from leaping into a black hole of insanity as the Deathtour takes a galactic leap forward. Of the 30 stadiums on my list to see, I’ve checked off only 7. And those were the easy ones. I didn’t have to leave my home state for 4 games. And I only left my own time zone for 1. In a few hours I will be flying across the country to start a 15 day, 8 city, 8 games + 2 comic conventions tour. In 2 weeks I will be doubling the amount of games I saw in 2 months. It didn’t really hit me until this morning how insane this whole endeavor is. Traveling alone, visiting a different city almost every day, half of which I’ve never been too and having no idea how to get around in them, I don’t know what made me think this was possible. This trip is apropos of the tour’s namesake. You know you’re in trouble when your response to being asked ‘where are you going?’ is to say, ‘Well, let me tell you where I’m not going…” or you exhaust yourself just listing your itinerary. But a lot of the fun of this experiment is the challenge itself. This trip, should I survive it, will bring me to 15 stadiums, the official halfway point of the Tour. If I don’t make it to 30 I can at least hang my hat on that.

I’m really excited to visit some cities I’ve never been too before, especially Detroit. When I would rattle off the cities I was traveling too and stopped at Detroit, the reaction from other people was almost universal, a fear, or possibly delight, that I would disappear and never be heard from again with a mix of disbelief that I would even want to go there. When I mentioned that I hadn’t booked a hotel yet, I was told, ‘book a gun while you’re at it.’ There’s a similar apprehension surrounding Comiskey in Chicago’s South Side, mostly from the people living in Chicago. This I don’t understand. I find it impossible to believe that either of these places is that bad. But then, I was born in The City. By my reasoning, if I can handle the Tenderloin and Hunters Point, the South Side and all of Detroit shouldn’t be a problem. And anyone who thinks differently must be some sort of country bumpkin.

Here’s a quick rundown of this trip. June 21^st and 22^nd I’ll be in Charlotte for HeroesCon. No game here but it’s a chance to catch up with some people I haven’t seen in a while. From there I’m taking Amtrak to our nation’s capital. I’ll be at National’s Park the night of the 23^rd. The following morning I’m flying out of Baltimore to Detroit for a game that same night. The next day I’ll be in Cleveland where the Giants are visiting the Indians in a rematch of the 1954 World Series. Thursday morning I go to Chicago for the weekend. After moving from city to city every day it will be nice to stay in one place for 4 nights. Week two finds me in the Twin Cities. Then it’s back to Chicago for a few hours before I catch a train overnight to Cincinnati. Then it’s back to Chicago for a third time before moving on to Milwaukee for the 4^th of July. I finally come back on the 5^th, road weary and desperately missing home.

So, yeah, insane. It’s going to be a lot of fun, if not exhausting. By far this is the most adventurous trip I’ve ever taken or conceived of. I can’t even think of a number two for that list. Nothing comes close. It’s a shame I don’t have anyone to share this experience with but alas I must undertake this trek alone. I hope to keep the blog updated daily with my whereabouts. We’ll see how long that lasts. Until tomorrow, Aloha.

Playing on God's Jukebox: Enjoy the Silence