Cow patties, Tornados, a brutal car wreck.  Oh, and some baseball.  Finally, something sports-related!  Day Two of “Big D Across America” was slightly more interesting than Day One.  Although I didn’t get to bust out my professional photography skills like I did yesterday, I did get to see some baseball, among other things…

Thanks in large part to the “epic” pitching duel between the immortal lefties Paul Maholm and Jorge de la Rosa, I only got to catch five and a half innings at Coors Field before having to hit the road to get to Omaha by 1am.  At least it was an exciting five and a half innings.  5-4 Rocks when I left (same as the final score), two homeruns (one while I was getting a hot dog, one while I was walking back from the bathroom, naturally), and a handful of nice defensive plays.

All in all, some nice national league baseball – you know you’re in a National League park when, in the bottom of the first inning and down 1-0, your #3 hitter is laying down a sacrifice bunt with two on and nobody out.  Ryan Spilborghs gave up a perfect sacrifice to get the runners to second and third; neither scored.  Actually, the fact that Ryan Spilborghs was a #3 hitter should have been a dead giveaway that I was enjoying National League ball…

Other notes from the drive…

… Bad, bad car wreck on the highway just outside Coors Field.  Five lane highway knocked down to one lane, traffic was backed up for about ten miles.  I got “lucky” in that I only got on the road one exit before the accident scene, but as somebody with a lot of experience working with EMTs and Firefighters, let me say this – it’s never a good sign when people are just standing around and nobody’s in a rush to get the ambulance moving.  Really makes you re-evaluate how you conduct yourself behind the wheel of a car, especially when you’re driving cross country all alone.  Perhaps I should wait till I get to a rest stop before updating my FaceBook…

… Started dozing on the highway just outside of Denver, so I pulled into a rest stop for a quick half hour nap.  When I got there, the place was pretty packed and there were kids outside playing ball, running with their dogs, etc.  Nice day for the family to take a quick break.  I took a nap.  When I woke up 25 minutes later, the place was almost deserted and the only people running with their dogs were carrying them to the car to get the hell out of dodge.  I couldn’t figure out why, but I sat up, got my shoes back on and started to turn out of the parking lot… when I looked to the West and saw what everybody was running from.  The picture doesn’t do it justice (I was kind of in a hurry all of a sudden), but the storm, the lightning, and the friggin’ tornado fifty miles away gave me pause and made me very happy I had woken up when I did.  I’m a jackass…

… Congratulations Nebraska!  I had always just assumed that New Jersey was the worst smelling state I had ever been in, but Nebraska blows it away!  The entire state outside the “major” cities is one gigantic cow pattie.  I couldn’t get my windows closed fast enough passing one farm and had to resort to spraying my shirt with cologne and covering my face for almost twenty miles…

… Finally, some visual evidence of why bloggers don’t go out in the sun.  Normally, especially when I’m golfing, I plan ahead for the pending sunburn.  I hate sunscreen, so I just expect to be a little red and hope for the best.  Of course, when I’m golfing, I take off my watch.  Forgot that part at the ballpark yesterday.  Again, I’m a jackass…

I’m spending all of Monday and Monday night in Omaha hoping to get to the College World Series tonight.  The weather doesn’t look too promising, so I might end up just spending the day looking for a good chicken fried steak and watching the end of the US Open.  Then Tuesday, it’s off to Milwaukee, via Iowa (pending weather and travel time).

Lata.

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