Summer of Baseball 2008: The Greatest Hits: Live From The Road

On a trip that lasted thousands upon thousands of miles and stretched a vast majority of the United States, there are bound to be some moments that I loved more than others. I had a ton of time to fill in between my baseball destinations.. these are the Greatest Hits of these moments.. Live From The Road.

Favorite Drive: Northern California coast.. it was everything I thought it would be. Even more. This was always the highlight of my drive and something that I always wanted to do. I'm beyond thrilled it turned out as good as I thought it would be.

Worst Drive: Houston to Fort Myers.. it was like 16-17 hours of driving and it wasn't that pretty, but it mostly sucked because of how long it was. I was really drifting in the end. Like I could've easily woken up in a hospital after rolling over in a ditch kind of drifting. It was like 2-3AM so I got really tired to say the least.

Favorite State: California.. there was the most going on from top to bottom, and it's beauty was unmatched

Worst State: New Mexico.. I remember nothing fondly from my time there (I've dissed Nebraska a ton.. you're probably thinking why isn't it the worst? Well, I wasn't technically there this trip, so I can't call it the worst state. But if I was there, it most certainly would have been. It's the worst state I've ever been to, just not in the past four months. )

Most Scenic State: California.. a serious push can be made from Washington but too much of that state sucks with its eastern half being all flat and ugly. California has the most consistently amazing landscape that isn't just amazing on the coast, it's amazing all over.

Least Scenic State: Texas.. I didn't hate the cities but the landscape was very boring

Favorite City: New York.. by far the most happening city in this nation. There's nothing to hate about it.. NOTHING

Worst City: Baton Rouge, LA.. this is mostly because of the traffic flow.. which was horrific! There were lines at dumb lights for literally a half mile and the light on the main road was empty because everybody was stuck at these dumb lights. And the main road had a longer lasting light for people that weren't there. This is a case where the city planners really suck.

Most Underrated City: Seattle.. I liked every part of it, and you never hear how great it is.. sounds pretty underrated to me

Most Overrated City: Reno.. they give it a cute little nickname that's untrue. It's just another big city that tries to be something it's not.

Most Underrated State: Washington.. there was tons of stuff there to like with all the nice pretty scenery and Seattle.. and again, you never hear much good things about this part of the country

Most Overrated State: Florida.. it's hot, humid, and extremely ugly. And the beaches suck. And it's crowded. I hate Florida.

Prettiest City: San Francisco.. say what you want about the people there but the city that goes up and down hills next to a bay with an iconic bridge spanning its most dramatic gap.. it's stunningly beautiful

Best View: Atop the Empire State Building.. it's one of the tallest buildings in the United States and is overlooking the heart of New York. It can't be beat

Most Spectacular Sunset: along the Northern California coast. It was pretty much what you envision when thinking about a sunset

Cutest Small Town: Cooperstown, NY.. it was vintage small town and the only one I could really think of

Best Day: Saturday, September 20th.. it's my last day and the culmination of a four and a half month trip coming to a close

Worst Day: the drive through Nevada.. It was like a nine hour drive where I was still sweaty from Death Valley, the sun was beating down on me the whole time, I was still a week and a half away from SoCal and 2.5 months away from being done which was a terrible thing to realize. Ahh it sucked!

Favorite Moment: first night in Seattle.. after driving in rain for ever and ever, I finally got a nice clear stretch, and it was during this absolutely peaceful and serene night on Puget Sound. It really struck me how crazy this drive of mine has been for the first time while here.

Worst Moment: Accidentally hitting a parked car in St. Louis.. that sounds really terrible and dumb but there's more to it. I just got into the city from Kansas City and I was running late for my game which put me in a bad mood. The traffic absolutely sucked in the city, I had to pee for a good two hours, and I was traveling with everything I had from Colorado in my car packed so I couldn't see a thing behind me. After I pulled in to the parking lot where they were making us get in rows, I thought I had the car in park and didn't think about it when I picked my foot up so when the foot came off, the car went forward. My mind was just really distracted with everything going on.. that's my excuse. The dude already left to head to the game so he didn't see it happen. I left a note but he never called. Maybe the rain that originally pissed me off washed the ink away. Either way it was a stressful time I couldn't enjoy the game fully because that was on my mind.

Favorite Movie: Movies were a HUGE part of my trip. I went to the theater TWENTY-ONE times. I think it deserves it's own subcategory... here's a list top to bottom of the best movies I saw on the trip

The Dark Knight (in Burbank, CA) - simply put, Heath Ledger as the Joker is one of the best performances I have ever seen. This movie has likely cracked my top 5, very hallowed ground, joined with (in order) Pulp Fiction, Big Lebowski, Shawshank Redemption, and Out of Sight (one of the most underrated movies ever.. its vintage George Clooney and is a movie where you see that Jennifer Lopez has acting skills). Not sure where Dark Knight fits.. it hasn't cracked top 2, but 3-5 for sure.
The Dark Knight (in Houston, TX)
The Dark Knight @ IMAX (in Raleigh, NC)
The Dark Knight (in Gainesville, FL)... yes I did see this movie four times. The only one on a solo trip was that second time in Houston, so if you don't believe I saw it at least three times, I have people that can confirm I was there. Gainesville was only fourth cause it was the third time I saw it in regular format so it wasn't as special.. it had nothing to do with who I was with.. and you know who you are.
Iron Man (in Minneapolis, MN @ Mall of America) - the best movie not involving the caped crusader.. it was classic Robert Downey Jr. who has slowly became one of my more favorite actors not named Keanu Reeves and Christian Bale
Forgetting Sarah Marshall (in Bellingham, WA) - I just liked this one. It was nice and sweet and Jason Segel (the lead) is good in it and the Brit Rocker was a scene stealer
Hamlet 2 (in Tewksbury, MA) - Unexpectedly great! Steve Coogan (the unknown lead) was really good he made the movie and the content was just off the wall ("Rock me Sexy Jesus" and "Raped in the Face" were the musical numbers of the play)
Burn After Reading (in Buffalo, NY) - I'm a big Coen Brothers fan.. more for their non-Oscar worthy stuff.. so this was right up my alley. It might not appeal to everybody but if you know what you're getting with the Coens.. you'd like it
Wanted (in Santa Clara, CA) - really smart action movie.. it doesn't take itself seriously and is very playful in its presentation
Step Brothers (in Houston, TX) - really dumb but I laughed the most for this one.. Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly are an unbeatable tandem
Tropic Thunder (in Raleigh, NC) - real funny if you know all the Hollywood cliches as this rips it a new one
Hellboy II (in Albuquerque, NM) - an imaginative action movie
WALL-E (in Santa Clara, CA) - very nice kids movie. I was touched!
Get Smart (in San Francisco, CA) - decent summer comedy
Pineapple Express (in Fort Myers, FL) - a little unbelievable in how everything plays out. I know it's a movie but it was too crazy how everything ended up happy in the end.
Indiana Jones and the Krystal Skulls (in Toledo, OH) - I saw this in the week between me getting back from Colorado and leaving for Chicago.. a week I consider very much a part of my drive since I was seeing teams at a regular pace in the area and I had to drive long distances before then too. And the movie itself was a little off. Aliens? I wasn't a fan.
The Rocker (in Baltimore, MD) - I literally had nothing to do so I went to see what looked the best. This won.. I knew it wouldn't be anything special and very formulaic but it was good to kill a few hours
Hancock (in Houston, TX) - very disappointing outing from Mr. Fourth of July
Incredible Hulk (in Seattle, WA) - this is a dumb action movie.. and it never felt very original. It's just action for actions sake.. nothing more
Traitor (in Paramus, NJ) - This movie is incredibly unbelievable in its portrayal of terrorism. Nothing was really explained for motive, especially with the people involved in the bus bombs. All in all.. a very dumb movie.
The Happening (in San Francisco, CA) - I didn't pay for this one.. I went to see Get Smart and this was being played right across the hall on the top floor of a downtown San Fran building that didn't have anybody stopping people from doing this. I wouldn't have seen if it weren't right in front of me since I read reviews that it was dumb.. and it was!

Most listened to band: Modest Mouse.. they're perfect for road trips, or any other time for that matter

Least listened to band: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

Most important item: my garmin (a gps).. without this, this trip would have been really hard as it was able to find local hotels for my lot search, local restaurants, local everything, and it got me through challenging areas like cities. If I didn't have this, I don't think I could have done this thing

Least important Item: satellite radio.. I thought I would use this a lot, but the quality kind of sucked and the Tigers had a very disappointing year so they weren't must listen like they would've been if they were competing all year

Most annoying situation: Vancouver/Seattle transition.. the whole border thing was beyond ridiculous. They were such dicks up there and I had to wait around for a good hour combined between the two countries

Most humorous situation: Guido's Malibu.. I can't think of anything else there's probably something better but it was really cute seeing the sign when I was there in Malibu.. it made me think of my son (a poodle) who I missed dearly!

Favorite State Post: Washington.. the first time I really liked what I was doing on this site. Runners up are DC and NYC with the two Californias also as personal favorites.

Worst State Post: New Jersey.. it was a lazy effort where I was focusing mostly on NYC so I didn't give it much love. There wasn't much stuff to put either.

Favorite place to eat: Panera Bread.. this site would not have been possible without it. Besides a few days where I did stuff in Starbucks and at other random places that touted free wifi, the vast majority of the work was done at Panera. It doesn't hurt that they have a huge menu filled with good stuff for any time of the day with sandwiches and pastries as the main staple. I literally never got sick of it even though I came numerous times.. at least 15 but probably more like 20.

Favorite snack: Clif Bars.. an energy bar that was my main thing to eat on the road along with trailmix bars but I liked these better

Worst Snack: dried blueberries.. yuck! I got them back in Ohio at Costco when I left and I couldn't stand eating them anymore by the time South Dakota hit.. I couldn't even force myself to eat them like I was before I stopped

Favorite Thing to Wear: my green cords.. I'm a corduroy fan and they were the only pair I brought

Favorite Footwear: my Rainbow flip flops.. they were good to drive in.. nice and comfortable and allowed my foot to breathe

Worst night in my car: first one in Milwaukee area.. it was extremely cold (like 40s), I didn't have my nice sleeping bag yet, I didn't have my setup in back figured out so I was all bunched up, and I was afraid I'd get caught. I hardly slept at all.

Best night in my car: the last one.. it's never fun even though I've gotten used to it. A fear always present is a copper wrapping on the car window.. so getting through that last night will be amazing because I won't have to be worried about going to sleep again

Worst situation in my car: the night in Tacoma, WA.. A security guard was in his car doing his rounds and I felt like he stopped to really look at my car after I just pulled in and crawled in back.. I got the fuck out of there so quick.

Best Hotel: Kingston, NY (a Courtyard Marriot).. nice and classy. I didn't stay in many places but this was the best night. The wireless sucked though.

Worst Hotel: Duluth, MN (a Motel 6).. I was afraid to leave ANYTHING valuable in my car or room so I took it back and forth wherever I was.. and I had to stay two nights in this shit hole in order to watch my Pistons fuck up against the Celts and the Lost season 4 finale.

Worst sunburn: During my Northern California coastal drive on my left arm/leg.. I left the window open.. and the drive took a good two days. I was left with a one-sided burn, which is kind of funny, I suppose.

Best bathrooms: Safeway grocery stores.. really nice and clean, and very dependable. On the west coast, this was the place to go for public bathrooms