Gastonia

On Yet More Driving, Interrupted by Another Ballgame

CaroMont Health Park, 2026

Friday, July 31, 2026
Hagerstown Flying Box Cars vs. Gastonia Ghost Peppers
CaroMont Health Park
Atlantic League (independent)
Gastonia, NC
7:00 PM 

Outside the Game:
I had a better night's sleep, and still woke up a little late for the breakfast buffet. But I wasn't missing much. It was a sad little offering, and I ate what I could manage of it before heading back up to my room for a nap.

I awoke, showered, packed, and planned my hotel for the night near the next stadium. I was out the door at 11 AM, and on the road for another four-hour drive across the unending state.

It was a decent drive, with a little construction blockage, but nothing too bad. I pulled in yet again near 3 PM around the corner from the hotel for the night and grabbed a quick lunch at Hardy's before finishing the drive and queuing up to check in at the Holiday Inn. I went up to my room, prepped, and napped.

I groggily revived, freshened up a bit, and then took the quick drive to the park around 5 PM. I parked in the lot of an abandoned store next door (apparently an approved lot), and walked over to buy my ticket and confirm I was okay parking there. I walked around and did all my outside photos, looking at the abandoned Coke bottling plant next door and eventually wandering into the bar just beyond the outfield walls because of a petting zoo they had set up outside with goats. Also, it was air conditioned, so any port in a brutally muggy storm. I played some pinball for a while and was just checking my phone when a woman came up to me to tell me that I looked just like Joaquin Phoenix. I wasn't quite sure what to do with this information, as it had been years since anyone told me I looked like anyone, and I'm not sure she was being complimentary with the comparison, as she kept talking about the Joker.

Seriously, though. Goats.

That was enough to make me leave the conditioned confines of the bar, and I eventually entered the park when the gates opened at 6 PM.

After the happy conclusion of the game, I packed into the car and started the short drive back to my hotel. However, it would be longer than expected, as the cops had shut off nearly all lanes of the one road I needed to get back to the hotel. Following the lead of someone in front of me, I did an illegal U-turn to get access to the one open lane, and driving by, I saw what they were circled around: a car burnt down to its frame, which was the second probable fatality I had seen so far driving on this trip, and it wasn't making me feel good about the karma around it at all.

Back at the hotel, I waited in line to buy some nightcap sliders and a Gatorade to replace everything I had just sweated out at the game. I ate my goods, took a shower, did a little prep, and then went to bed after unsuccessfully trying to call my mom.

The Stadium & Fans:

Home to center, CaroMont Health Park

Say what you will about CaroMont Health Park, but outside of the painfully generic name, it is not a painfully generic ballpark. The promenade goes around the park, and there is one seating area as per usual, but it is only five rows deep and right up against the field, so every seat offers an incredibly close view of the action. There is just a second deck of luxury seats right behind home plate, but also patio bars in the outfield corners, with the play area in right field. The scoreboard rises in center-right field against a tree-lined backdrop, above the curiously closed Gas House Bar & Grille. (Apparently, the namesake sponsor closed in between seasons.)

There are plenty of interesting extras, such as local area sports memorabilia in center, and a rent-a-charger station on the promenade. The main concessions are located flanking a dining area at home plate. Even mascot Peppy isn't generic, looking like a pepper man high on his own supply. Points against it for being a bouncy turf field that sent ground-rules doubles flying out of the park. There were a lot of duck-themed events between innings, with some local connection that I might not know.

There was a post-game MVP interview, and because of how the field is laid out, all the players have to walk passed the fans (usually seeking autographs or photos) on the way out of the park, which was another nice nod to fan interaction at the park, and the fans seemed to appreciate it.

The park is in the nascent "FUSE" district (Franklin Urban Sports Entertainment) that is clearly trying to re-vitalize an old factory section of town where the manufacturing has closed down decades ago. It is still a work in progress, but they are at least trying, which is all you can ask. It also sports Dr. Pepper/RC cola, which I think is a first for me, and is odd this far south, especially with an abandoned Coca-Cola plant next door.

 

At the Game with Oogie:

A "Gleezy" dog of some manner

I did my normal turn around the park, getting my pictures, hitting the team store, and then scaring up something to eat. The local favorite that was touted was the "gleezy dog," so I purchased the loaded dog and some fires and a drink. The attendant at the concession asked me if I was a surfer, which lead me to believe she hadn't met any surfers recently. It was also pretty disconcerting after the incident earlier at the bar.

I got a seat in the shade right by the home dugout down first base, which was good, because it was swelteringly hot and humid. I was in the same row as one of the player's girlfriends. She was sitting in my row all by herself, reading a book for most of the game. There was an Asian family in front of me, with the father dutifully explaining to his youngest daughter what was going on in the game. Behind me was another family with some rambunctious boys, as they can be. They apparently knew the starting pitcher for the Ghost Peppers, who they kept referring to as "Coach Nick." When Coach Nick left the game, they ran off somewhere, and the mother told me that I looked exactly like a professor she knows.

At this point, I was close to freaking out, because what the actual hell? She saw my reaction, and she pulled out a picture on her phone of an older Jewish gentleman whose only resemblance to me was having a beard. I did not know what to do at this juncture, and just resolved to stop talking to people at all costs for the remainder of the evening.

The Game:

First pitch, Boxcars vs. Ghost Peppers

This contest between the Hagerstown Flying Boxcars and the Gastonia Ghost Peppers was a much more sedate affair than the game the day before, but it also had a perfecto going through three.

The Boxcars squandered a single and walk in the top of the first, and Gastonia went in order. Hagerstown had a walk, a double, and another walk to load the bases in the second, but still managed not to score, and the Ghost Peppers went in order again. The Boxcars finally got it together in the third, with three home runs interspersed with a double and single to jump out to a 5-0 lead. Not to be outdone, Gastonia strung together two infield singles, a double, a walk, and a grand salami to tie it up in the bottom of the third (and break up the perfect game dramatically).

Hagerstown faced the same starting pitcher (Coach Nick, it would seem) in the fourth, who bounced back quite nicely and struck out the side. The Ghost Peppers also went in order. Coach Nick got the Boxcars in order in the fifth again before hitting the showers, but Gastonia strung a double and three straight walks into a run to take a 6-5 lead. Hagerstown went in order again in the top of the sixth, and so did the Ghost Peppers, but with a single in the middle that got thrown out trying to stretch a single to a double.

The Boxcars tied it up in the top of the seventh, thanks to a hit batsman, error, infield single, and a sacrifice fly. Gastonia took back the lead in their half similarly, with an infield single, error, and three-run homer, to take it to 9-6. Hagerstown went in order in the eighth, and the Ghost Peppers only had a walk to show for the bottom of the frame. The Boxcars went in order in their last licks in the ninth, and the home team walked away with the 9-6 victory.

The Scorecard:

Hagerstown Boxcars. Gastonia Ghost Peppers, 7/31/26. Ghost Peppers win, 9-6.

With the lack of a home scorecard, I was using the Huntington Baseball Company "Official Scorecard," a small-form factor stand-alone card. The cover and back were just advertisements with some summary information, while the interior fold held all of the scorecard proper.

It has ten player lines with one substitution, and each scoring square had a pre-printed diamond and four lined sectors. The batting lines had AB, R, H, and BB, and the inning totals had H and R. It had six pitching lines and totaled IP, H, R, ER, BB, and K. Each team had batting totals for 2B, 3B, and HR, and fielding totals for DP and E. The scorecard overall was a little cramped, but functional. There was enough space to sneak in some notes, but with all the space dedicated to batting and fielding, I think some more space could be found.

As opposed to the previous game, there was a lot less of note this time. I made a note about an error in the seventh where the catcher tried and failed to make sliding catch, I noted about a caught stealing in the bottom of the sixth where a runner was trying to stretch a single, and identified the strikeout player of the game (who did not oblige).

The Accommodations:

Holiday Inn Express, Gastonia, NC

I had a bit of a choice for the night, and as it was just another sleepover, I didn't want anything too fancy, but I also wanted something a little more than the night before, so I grabbed an always reasonable Holiday Inn Express. It was just down the street from the park that apparently just had been renovated.

My room had a bathroom with toilet and tub right off the entrance to the right, with the standard king-sized bed, nightstands, and easy chair on one side, and dresser and desk on the other.

Clean, quiet, and good enough.

Click here to see all the photos from this trip.

2026 Side Trip: NC Layoff Spectacular

Wilson

On a Lot of Driving

Wednesday, July 29, 2026
Springfield, VA

Outside the Game:
So, I had gotten laid off in the middle of July. Which was objectively not great. I decided to get in some travelling while I was still getting paid, so I made a quick plan to go down to the Carolinas and pick up the spares that had risen up since the world ended.

This particular day I woke up after another bad night's sleep. I was feeling stress for some reason. It was never properly defined.

I eventually dragged myself out of bed and got started on my daily tasks, taking a late nap and prepping the house for my absence. I got all my bags and headed out around 3 PM, making a quick stop at the post office as I left town.

The drive was not complicated, just long. I took the Parkway to the Turnpike, and then it was pretty much staying on 95 until the end of time. The drive did not begin fortuitously, as while still technically in north NJ, I saw a bird flying across the turnpike get hit by a car and live, only to be completely crushed by the following car. It was a powerful image that would stay with me for the rest of the drive, or at least until I passed another accident just before leaving NJ (with a truck that had clearly flipped a few times and was facing the wrong direction) that got to occupy my subconscious for the rest of the drive

The drive itself--scarring images notwithstanding--actually went pretty well. There was some rain that held things up a little, but I otherwise dodged heavy traffic effectively, hitting the Philly metro area before rush hour and the Baltimore/DC area afterwards. My biggest obstacle was not paying attention to my phone and having to hook it directly up to power on the road, as the long run on cell service constantly giving out directions nearly drained it to nothing.

Nonetheless, I got to the hotel around 7:30 PM, and I checked in and dumped my bags before heading across the street to a big mall to get some dinner before places started closing. I saw a restaurant called "Maggiano's" that turned out to be a chain, but I hadn't had Italian out in a while, and it had to be better than Olive Garden, as being worse than Olive Garden is impossible. And it turned out to be a great deal better. It was a corporate chain trying to emulate mid-scale Italian bistros, and in that, it succeeded. The food didn't end the world, but it was serviceable for what it was, and, as it turned out, I ended up over-ordering anyway.

I called my mother as I waddled back to the hotel. I got set up in the room, caught up on a few videos, and was in bed by 10 PM.

The Accommodations:

Wingate, Springfield, VA

My goal for the night was to get a safe amount south of DC so I didn't have to deal with all that the next day, so I picked a Wingate hotel just off 95 a little over 4:15 from home as the crow flies. Outside of getting put right by the elevator (which didn't turn out to be an issue), the hotel was exactly what I wanted.

The bathroom with tub and shower was just off the entrance to the right. The main room had a king bed, nightstands, and chair on one side of the room and desk, dresser, TV, and fridge on the other side of the room. It was generic, uninspired, comfortable, and clean, so it did what it needed.

On More Driving, Interrupted by a Ballgame

Wilson Ballpark, 2026

Thursday, July 30, 2026
Fredericksburg Nationals (Washington Nationals) vs. Wilson Warbirds (Milwaukee Brewers)
Wilson Ballpark
Carolina League (A)
Wilson, NC
7:00 PM 

Outside the Game:
I slept weird, having odd, inexplicably British-themed dreams that make even less sense in retrospect. I kept waking and falling back to sleep, eventually rising a little late for the start of the breakfast buffet, but I was quickly downstairs for a rather pedestrian offering. Just as I finished eating, a man came in and cleaned the place out. He was sporting second or third-degree sunburn on his face and arms, but milky white everyplace else, and he reeked as though he hadn't showed since he was burned. People literally fled from his presence, and I quickly retreated back to my room, happy I had made it down in time to eat before he arrived.

I went back to the room for some naps. I exercised, showered, packed, and planned for that night, booking a hotel near the ballpark. With another four-hour drive ahead of me, I was out at 11 AM sharp, checking out and grabbing gas before heading back onto the road. I returned a call to a recruiter on the way, and fought with some traffic south of DC partly because the little voice in my phone didn't take me on the express lanes, so I lost a good half hour there.

The rest of the drive was pretty uneventful, and I stopped at a Wendy's right around the corner from my hotel at 3 PM ET for a quick lunch and to call the park to see when they open. I then drove around the corner and checked in. I went up to my room and had a nap, then prepped for a bit before striking out to the park. I was originally going to meet a friend in this area tonight, but since their schedules moved, I decided to just go to the game tonight, since I was already there, and meet up with them on the way home.

I took the short drive to the park and couldn't find the lot. I parked on the street to buy a ticket and was informed that there isn't a lot per se, and I should just park on the street. I found a place a block or so from the stadium and jumped out to take pictures of the outside of the park and the Whirligig sculpture park just beyond left field. I saw a batting practice home run clear the fence, and I was able to pick it up in the parking lot, it having somehow managed to avoid damaging any cars foolishly parked in the crossfire.

Free money

I was still a little early, and there was a museum for the sculpture park right there. The Whirligig museum was closed, but there was a small, air-conditioned photography museum in the same building, so I looked around in there for a bit. I had to wait to enter, as the one person who was manning the museum needed to go to the bathroom just as I arrived. I was able to take in the small, but interesting, museum before heading out as the gates opened.

Fanciful

On the way out of the park, I gave the ball from BP to a kid in a blatant attempt to garner some positive karma. I was back to my car just as the fireworks ended, and I was blocks away before anyone that stayed returned to their cars. It was a quick drive back to the hotel, where I did some light paperwork and went right to bed.

The Stadium & Fans:

Home to center, Wilson Field

The generically named and clearly waiting-for-a-sponsor Wilson Ballpark was a little bit of a generic park in many ways. It had the one layer of seats stretching down from a promenade that circles the entire park under a second level that stretched from first to third base. There's a patio bar and kid's area in left field, a bar area under the scoreboard in center, and another patio area in right.

The view gave it some difference and a bit of dichotomy. The under-construction condos along the third-base line were generic enough, but the Whirligig park in left gave it some whimsy, and the rusted-out water tower in right provided reminders of the industrial past of the city. The mascot, Wilt (the Warbird), and the between-inning entertainments were suitably generic as well, but they kept the crowd entertained.

At the Game with Oogie:

Corn dog bites and Gatorade

I did my normal laps of the place, taking pictures and hitting the team store and the concessions stand. I settled on corn dog bites and Gatorade for dinner. I was also able to score the rosters and lineups, as well as a free souvenir cup, from guest services.

I had seats down the first base line, thankfully in the shade as requested. There was a young couple next to me on the aisle, but there were a lot of empty seats around me, most likely from season ticket holders not here for the weekday game. A group of the game's vendor sponsors, all in the same company-green shirts, had a bank of tickets in the next section over on the left and were progressively more drunk as the evening went on.

The Game:

First pitch, Nationals vs. Warbirds

The late-season match-up between the Fredericksburg Nationals and the Wilson Warbirds started out as an incredibly quick affair, but dragged out in the later innings to a standard three hours.

The Nationals started the game with two walks and a single, but didn't get anything across. Wilson went in order. Both sides went in order in the second, and in the third, the Nats went in order, and Wilson almost did, with a two-out error ending the perfect game, but getting put out on the same play to end the inning.

Fredericksburg went in order in the fourth, but the Warbirds got their first hit (an infield "single" that should have been an error), chasing the starting pitcher, before getting a single and nothing else. The Nationals only had a walk to show for the fifth, but Wilson finally got someone on the board with a double, stolen base, and a single, staking them to a 1-0 lead after five. Fredericksburg came alive in the top of the sixth, with a walk, two singles, and an error leading to two runs, placing them out front, 2-1. The Warbirds led off their half with a triple, brought home on a sac fly, to tie it at 2.

Both teams went in order in the seventh. In the eighth, Fredericksburg scored again with a single, double, and sacrifice fly getting the lead back at 3-2. The Warbirds went in order. The Nats went in order in the top of the ninth, but Wilson tied it up with another triple and a single, but despite another walk, they couldn't walk it off, leaving it knotted at 3-3 after the regulation nine.

With the zombie runner on, Fredericksburg went on a tear in the tenth, with two double and two singles brining in four to make it 7-3. The Warbirds were only able to scrape together a couple of walks, and went down with a whimper.

The Scorecard:

Fredericksburg Nationals vs. Wilson Warbirds, 07/30/26. The Nationals won, 7-3.

As expected, there wasn't a home scorecard for the game, so I decided to get some Reisner Scoring reps in with the 7-2 Double Play Small Ball book. It is a small form-factor design that has nine player lines with one replacement and six unnumbered columns with pre-printed diamonds (dots), designed for Reisner scoring only. There are places just for the names of pitches, notes, and summary data on the bottom of each team.

Scoring with the Reisner method again took some getting user to, and I found a very big weakness with the system: It cannot properly handle Manfred Runners. I initially tried to split the boxes for the zombie runners, but I ended up re-writing both zombie runner frames in unused cells and annotating them.

There was a lot going on this game. The visiting pitcher had a perfect game through nearly three. A home batter in the second was clearly hit on the knuckles, but no hit batsman was awarded. The perfecto was blown in the bottom of the third when the third baseman threw wild to first, but it bounded back to the second baseman perfectly, who threw to the shortstop, who tagged out the batter trying to stretch to two. The first hit of the game was awarded an infield hit when it was clearly an E6. In the bottom of the ninth, there was a foul ball at home plate that was originally a 2U-3-4t DP, but the ball was subsequently called dead.

The home team got five strikeouts, so everyone got a free 20 oz. Pepsi from Circle K.

The Accommodations:

Days Inn, Wilson, NC

Since this was essentially a nap hotel, I didn't really splurge, going for a Days Inn just down the road from the ballpark. It was definitely budget, but it was clean and quiet, so whatever. The check-in person was overly talkative, but that was just the capital-S South.

My room was on the second floor, off a promenade. The room had a king-sized bed, night tables and a desk on one side of the room and a dresser, TV, and lounge chair on the other. The vanity was at the back of the room, leading into the bathroom with toilet and tub on the left.

Nothing fancy; it did its job.

Click here to see all the photos from this trip.

2026 Side Trip: NC Layoff Spectacular

Malone, NY

On a Day of Bad Omens

Thursday, July 2, 2026
Malta, NY

Outside the Game: 
The stress of the short work week had me up early this particular morning, and it correctly anticipated the stress-filled day of work that I was to have. In addition to being continually yelled at about resourcing and budgeting problems that were out of my control, we were desperately trying to get some work out the door only semi-successfully, as the remaining staff that were there all had a foot out the door or were overwhelmed with the demands of other people who also wanted to get the hell out of Dodge.

I was cooking and doing laundry in the background of the chaos, when the biggest sign from god possible flashed from the heavens and into a telephone pole right outside my house. I was refilling my water bottle in the kitchen when I heard screeching tires, constant horns, and then a crash of metal and then a larger crash of metal, closer than the last. I went out to my porch office to see a car had plowed into the telephone pole fifty feet from my window the way you see in cartoon car crashes, with the entire front end wrapped comically around the pole. The crash had also left the car's horn permanently on. I didn't see what happened, but the other crash-damaged car in the median led me to surmise that those two cars hit each other and sent the former into the telephone pole.

After seeing if there was any danger of the pole coming down (it was unmarked and unaffected by the impact), I saw that all parties in both cars seemed to be uninjured. The police arrived, quickly followed by three additional police cars, three fire trucks, an ambulance, and two tow trucks. The participants in the accident were across the street, both yelling at a neighbor who had apparently witness the accident and neither appeared to like what that neighbor had to say on the matter.

This was a little after 4 PM, and I still had work to do. Specifically, I had to do a lot of math, which was made more difficult by the constant horn that eventually faded out with the car's battery after a half hour or so. The portends for someone who was going to be driving ten hours in the next few days was as clear as day, yet here I was.

The cars all started to leave in the reverse order of their arrival, the tow trucks taking away the stricken cars, then the ambulance (empty, thankfully), then the fire trucks, and eventually all that was left was a solitary cop car, presuming filing paperwork in the hundred-degree heat.

Work eventually wrapped up, and I started planning at about 6 PM. I booked my hotels for the next two nights as I was packing, and then I headed straight out on the road.

There was an unexpected amount of traffic at the crossover into NY for a Thursday approaching 8 PM, but I eventually made it through to clear sailing, until the skies opened up on I-78 at some point in the darkness in NY just before 9 PM. The rain got so intense at points that we were crawling along, trying to keep the tail lights of the car in front of us in view, and during this deluge, I called my mom from the car. As I hung up with her, we finally outpaced the storm, and it was clear sailing the rest of the way to the hotel. I pulled in a little after ten, to be greeted by far too chipper college kids manning the front desk who had me checked in and had me on my way in no time at all. I parked my car, dragged my stuff up to my room, and got ready and into bed by 11:30 PM.

The Accommodations:

Hyatt, Malta, NY

Sometimes, you accidentally book too much room for a sleepover stay. The cost was barely over $100 bucks, but I managed to book a suite in the Hyatt in Malta, NY, just south of Saratoga. The room opened into a living room with pull-out couch and coffee table, across from a small kitchenette and a desk. There was a king-sized bed and end tables in the bedroom across from a dresser and TV, and a vanity sink outside of bathroom with shower and toilet.

I lounged around as much as I could to make the most of it, but it was far more room than I needed just to sleep in and have a lazy morning.

On Into Every Life a Little Rain Must Fall, Again

Veterans Field, 2026

Friday, July 3, 2026
Malone Border Hounds vs. North Country Thunderbirds
Veterans Field
Empire League of Professional Baseball
Malone, NY
5:00 PM 

 

Outside the Game:
I was up early after having slept poorly for some reason or other. I was at the breakfast buffet just as it opened, and what a buffet it was. Hot food, well cooked, along with all the expected continental stuff. I ate a ton, as I was a little peckish from the night before, and I ate several servings before retreating back up to my room for another make-up nap.

I packed and planned when I awoke, then took a shower and checked out, getting back on the road a little after 11 AM. It was a decent drive for the rest of the way with no major hiccups. I pulled off after an hour to get gas, and found that two gas stations at the exit were either having power problems or hadn't been refilled yet, but the third establishment got me gassed up and back on the road. I decided to wait until turning off the interstate to catch some fast food, and lost my bet when I declined a Subway at the intersection, only top find there was nothing but farm road for most of the remains of the drive.

When I did finally pull into town, I went straight to the drive-in on the eastern outskirts that I had visited the year before and grabbed some ridiculous burger or other with too many fries and a homemade fountain grape soda.

Thus fortified, I made the short drive to the hotel and checked in with another all-too-pleasant desk clerk. I parked up and unpacked for the day before taking a nap to get the drive off of me. I was back out the door at 4:30 PM, and I arrived shortly thereafter, enduring a small rain shower on my commute.

Later than I was expecting, I was out of the park after the game with a newly washed car. I needed to stop at the Walgreens by the hotel because I forgot to pack toothpaste, but I pulled in just to find out they had just closed. I went across the street to the convenience store and paid through the nose for a travel toothpaste and some snacks.

I was pack at the hotel and up in my room in a flash. I showered up and tried to call my mother as I caught up on podcasts and the like for the rest of the evening before an early night's sleep.

The Stadium & Fans:

Center to home, Veterans Field

Veterans Field is literally an old VFW field that they upgraded by adding a scoreboard, some clubhouses made of barn parts, a covered grandstand behind home plate, and a batting cage and additional bleachers. It was a very stripped-down affair, but it had its own appeal. The supports for the grandstand blocked the field a little, but you hardly noticed.

The scoreboard a simple box-score digital affair, and it wasn't well insulated against the weather, as it glitched out when the rain came later in the game. The lack of lights came into play even with a 5 PM start-time, as the rain delay pushed the game to eventually be called early for darkness.

The only entertainment between innings was the PA announcer and some music piped in through the system. Locals gave a burly hound dog chant in support of the team, and as both of the teams that called the place home were playing each other, it was a mixed bag of supporters, especially after the rain caused everyone to seek shelter in the grandstand.

Unlike some Empire League parks, there was a concessions stand that served up cheap grub, so it had that going for it. Also worth mentioning was that the umpires were comically dimorphic, with the home plate umpire being a tall, burly gentleman and the field ump being a diminutive fellow of slight build.

At the Game with Oogie:

Red Hot and Gatorade

This was a small-time affair, and once I paid my admission at the gate, I had the run of the park. I took my pictures as I needed and then went to the concessions stand. There were a bunch of elderly volunteers running the place, and I ordered up a local hot dog and a Gatorade and grabbed a seat in the covered home plate grandstand before the game started.

There were about a hundred or so people at the game spread out around the park, which is actually a percentage point or two of the small town's total population. An older couple were in front of me, a grandma with her granddaughter on my right, and the guy doing the play-by-play for the online radio feed was sitting at the top of the bleachers behind me. (I was able to pick up a bit about the game from him.)

During the rain delay, I got to talking a little with the couple in front of me. Everyone was watching the players/groundskeepers trying to get the field into playing shape for two hours. The crowd reduced by a little, but most people stayed. I figured some of them were the rides for some players after the game, so they couldn't leave until they did.

I went to the concessions stand to get an order of onion rings before they closed it up for the night, and I got talking to a player who thought I was press because of the camera. He said that they didn't have any Diamond Dry, so they were just hoping the field would soak up enough of the water that they could continue playing, but he wasn't optimistic.

He was proven wrong, as play did resume, and as the game ended, I turned to the play-by-play guy to ask about the courtesy runner the catcher had gotten in the first. A guy in the bottom the stands answered, and also asked me if I was press. He was the father of one of the players for the Thunderbirds. He had been playing in the Atlantic League for the Long Island Ducks until last week when he got cut, so he came up here to continue playing. The family eventually pulled him away, so I said my goodbyes and went out to my car.

The Game:

First pitch, Border Hounds vs. Thunderbirds

This was a weird one for a bunch of reasons. To start, the North Country Thunderbirds were sharing the field with the home-team Malone Border Hounds, so the Thunderbirds were the home team for this game.

The top of the first began promisingly for the Border Hounds, with a leadoff error and an infield single ultimately going for naught. North Country similarly stranded a two-out double and a walk. Things got going in the second with back-to-back homers to get Malone on the board with a 2-0 lead. That lasted until the bottom of the inning, when the Thunderbirds hit got an infield single and a homer to tie the game before getting another double and walk to strand again. The Border Hounds got the lead back in the third with a leadoff single, a passed ball, and another single regaining the lead at 3-2. North Country took the lead right back with a walk, hit batsman, and a home run to get it to 5-3 at the end of three.

Malone just had a stranded single to show off for the top of the fourth, while the T-Birds manufactured another run, but with a break. Rain began to fall after the first batter walked, and he stole his way to third before a thunderstorm warning pulled the teams off the field with two outs. As the teams had rainouts in their pockets already and they were trying to get to a complete game before nearby lightning forced them off the field, they were trying to sneak in five innings before the rain got too bad. Two hours later, they resumed play, after the players-groundskeepers got the field in working order again, for a walk and a single to drive in the runner at third to make it 6-3. The Border Hounds just had a walk to show for the top of the fifth (and an official game at last), and North Country just had a walk in the bottom of the inning. Malone got on base with a two-out error in the sixth, but stranded him, and the Thunderbirds had a two-out hit batsman that was also left on base.

Double-duty

As the seventh began, the sun was setting quickly on the lightless field, and the officials announced that any delay of game of more than 15 seconds would be called an out. Malone tried to get something go with a two-out hit batsman, but it died on the vine in the fading light, ending the game for darkness after 7 played.

The Scorecard:

Malone Border Hounds vs. North Country Thunderbirds, 7/2/26. Thunderbirds win, 6-3.

I was trying out the notebook-formatted small ball Scorebook from 72DoublePlay.com. It is an interesting experiment to get a truly pocket scorebook by using the Reisner method of continuous scoring, no stat lines, and a minimum of space.

Each team had nine player lines with space for one replacement. There were six contiguous scoring columns. There were space for six pitchers with no stats, and six lines for notes. At the bottom of the visitor's part of the inning was a box score, and at the bottom of the home team page was a stat line for the game. Each scoring square had four diamond points to fill in the baseline as the runner progressed.

It was an intriguing experiment, but the printing came off with any erasing, so that needs to be fixed. I found myself re-writing in scorecard lines that had erased away. Also, I wonder if the scorecard can handle a high-scoring game, as this one only went seven and there was a chance of running out of room.

As for the game itself, there weren't a lot of interesting scoring plays of note, outside of the increased fielding errors, hit batsmen, and walks you expect in the low indies. The pitcher for the Thunderbirds hit for himself and got cries of "Ohtani" when he raked a homer early in the game.

To account for having to show pitcher and inning changes, I used red ink for pitching changes and black lines for inning changes. I'd probably do squiggles for pitcher changes if I only had one color.

The league has a courtesy runner rule for catchers on base to speed up the game not waiting for catchers to put back on their gear. I noted the various rain delays, as well as the 10-minute warning at the end of the game that had 90-second inning breaks and any delay of game more than 15 seconds was an automatic out.

I also wrote "called for darkness" for perhaps the first and last time at a pro game.

The Accommodations:

Red Roof Inn+, Malone, NY

I hadn't stayed at a Red Roof in a long time, having had it conflated in my mind with Motel 6 and bad experiences therein. It is a budget hotel to be sure, but it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought I remembered.

The bathroom with tub was right at the entrance to my room, and the room itself held two queen beds and nightstands on one side and a desk, dresser, and TV on the other.

It was a little shabby at the edges, but it was meticulously clean and maintained.

On the Holiday

Saturday, July 4, 2026
Clifton, NJ

Outside the Game:
I was up early after an odd evening of sleep with some odd dreams.

As soon as the breakfast opened, I wandered down to be greeted by a cheery front desk manager and made up a decent breakfast in the definition of a decent breakfast spread. I loaded up on bread and cereal in the indelible Red-Roof colored plastic bowls and sat and ate as wave after waves of active-duty Army personnel strolled through. I'm not sure what the deal was, but a ton of army men were at the hotel with me.

After I ate, I wandered back to the room for a nap. I woke up again to pack up and exercise before checking what was on the agenda for today. Roadside America yielded nothing of interest along my driving route, but there was an antiques market on the way out of town.

I packed up my car and check out right at 10 AM, but upon driving over to the antiques market, I found it was closed, likely for the holiday. So I pointed my car southeast and headed out to the road.

I clearly didn't check my Google Map closely, because I was again dragged through the country farmland roads, though in the morning daylight this was less of a concern than the dark of night in inclement weather. I did have one big scare, as the map directions took me on the main street straight of some town or another in upstate that was prepping to have its July 4th parade down the road I was on. I lucked out in that I was going in the opposite direction of the soon-to-happen parade, so I snuck through at the last minute, and after an hour or so I was very happily on the interstate south.

There as not much to it after that. Once on the NY Thruway, I stopped at a rest stop for a lunch at Panera. I picked up some snacks for the car, added in some scones and figs at a farmer's market set up outside, and then was back on the road for the rest of the drive home. After five hours, I became quite goofy for the last half hour of the drive, mostly screaming the chorus for Home on the Range for reasons that seemed valid at the time.

After that half hour, I found myself in my driveway baking under 100-degree heat, but happily unpacking and ready for some laundry and settling up. I grilled a porterhouse for dinner and that was about that for "America 250," as the neighborhood sounded like Beirut from fireworks both professional and amateur.

The Accommodations:
Home, sweet Clifton

Click here to see all the photos from this trip.

2026 Stand-Alone Trip

Volo [No Game]

On Reaching the Promised Land

Volo Museum, 2026

Friday, May 22, 2026
Volo, IL

 

Outside the Game:
At long last, it was Volo Day. Last year, at a living history farm of all places, someone told me about the Volo Museum and said I should definitely visit. And I did go the day I was leaving, but I literally had to sprint through the place in order to make it back to O'Hare in time for my flight, so I decided that sometime on this trip, I'd make a day of it. And this was the day.

There was no free breakfast at the hotel, and I didn't see the need for an expensive one at their restaurant, so I stayed up in my room for a lazy morning of packing, showering, and settling on a hotel for the evening.

I checked out and hit the road around 9:45 AM, and after a short drive with some annoying traffic lights, I got to the museum just after opening, and I was the third person to get tickets for the day.

I told the ticket lady that I was particularly looking forward to the Disneyland wax machines, and of course she said they were down for service, but that I should pick up some already-made ones at the gift shop. I went over and there was only one Goofy left, so I grabbed it before heading out to the exhibits.

I stopped in to watch the history movies that I forwent the last time. It told how the museum started with the first generation of owners finding a bunch of really rare cars in area barns, and eventually the car showroom came from that. The rest came from one of the owner's sons, who grew bored having seen every possible classic car already, so he started in with the Hollywood props, other vehicles, and sideshow stuff that made the place what it is today.

Then it was off to the first hangar-sized showroom of every possible classic car you could imagine. The place pays the bills by selling these to celebrities and other collectors, and if I completely took leave of my senses, I could simply pop into one of the sales rooms that lined the showroom and buy one right there.

Cars, cars, cars

Leading off from there was the new "Military Combat Zone" area, that was still being finished. It had all the hallmarks of the rest of the place, with really bad mannequins in a dizzying layout, with cool things snuck in. There was a trench periscope showing the POV of a night battle in WWI, right next to a clearly re-used Mr. Howell figurine in a jeep holding a map of the museum. There were actual Panzerschrecks and even a decommissioned Davy Crocket nuclear device down the corridor from some Viet Nam era "comedy" books that have not aged well. Among the many military vehicles were a questionable amount of Nazi memorabilia.

Boom

It was then into the second showroom, which in addition to classic cars as far as the eye can see, contained a ton of TV and Hollywood cars--such as the Bluesmobile, Ecto-1, and the Mach-5--in really bad dioramas, along with a wall full of sexist 60s and 70s ads. The next building was dedicated to snow mobiles and other snowcraft, and then 1950's hot-rod inspired power boats.

Not having had a proper breakfast, I headed back to the main building at this point to eat. I order a brisket sandwich and platter and waited at a table in the theater area for the order to come up. The theater area was several stages along one wall with a gaggle of Chuck E. Cheese's animatronics. (There was even a building outside that opened after Memorial Day with a complete Rockafire set-up from Showbiz Pizza.) There was even a prototype "Four Little Shavers" barbershop quartet animatronics for an ice-cream spin off that never happened. The one thing you don't realize unless you are sitting right next to the things--as I was--is that they are incredibly loud when they move around, and that the audio was jacked through the roof to cover the mechanical grinding that happened during the shows. 

Four Little Shavers

I ate my lunch and went back at it, hitting the sideshow room on crime and punishment that had things like a real electric chair and gas chamber, along with some medieval torture devices. The third car display room was again classic cars with more Hollywood cars lining the outside edge of the room. The Batmobile, the General Lee, Dragula... you lose count.

Burn all the witches, and bang...

The next exhibit halls were all about early travel in the Midwest, with stagecoaches and covered wagons. Then there was a more modern version thereof, showing the history of mobile homes, from the first modified Model T to a massive 1940s touring bus.

Next was a building just about the Ford v Ferrari movie before a big building with Disney stuff: old Disney store displays, old parade vehicles from the park, and even the aforementioned wax molds from Disneyland by way of the World's Fair. A gentleman was indeed doing maintenance on them, but he already had one up and working, and I got the Peter Pan mold to complete the set.

Live from the World's Fair

The next section was just old kids rides that you could use, but only if you were a kid, and not a passed middle-age man. Which didn't matter, as I went to the next area with all the old coin ops games that took up some of my time. The next buildings were old powered farm equipment, along with the first monster truck. There were some larger items outside such as a SHIELD jet from the Avengers and the train headquarters from Wild, Wild West. The last big building was a giant carousel and calliopes and player pianos. They even had the original Luna Park Wurlitzer organ that was one of the only thing to survive the fires.

The sole survivor

I went back to the main room and treated myself to some ice cream and a root beer while trying out the coin-ops machines they had there. That only left the giant antiques mall across the parking lot.

Actually there was one more classic car lot with the new arrivals, and the rest of that sprawling building was an antiques mall where various local vendors rented out individual stalls. I took a wander through the whole thing, and thanks to no luggage space, I managed to make it out with just a 1960s comedy book about the Kremlin accidentally buying a baseball team. I just had to.

That said, I had seen everything there was in the Volo Museum, and it only took me nearly the entire opening time of the museum. There was still technically a Jurassic Park kids area and a Titanic area (not open until after Memorial Day) that were extras charges that I didn't see, but I saw enough to say I had seen all of it.

I set out for my hour and half or so drive that was longer due to some outrageous congestion. At one point during my drive, my hotel called me, because whoever took my room reservation earlier did not record what type of room I wanted. We settled on a single King, and a got there a little after six.

The same woman checked me, and at some point, gave me my room card which I put in my pocket and completely forgot about. Another guest at the desk told me that she had given it to me, and I told them that I needed a shower. I parked up and went to my room to get unpacked and prepped for the night and tomorrow morning, taking said shower, and heading back down.

At the recommendation of the front desk clerk, I went to local burger joint "Johnny's" and got the "Big Daddy" burger, which was a double cheeseburger with gyro meat and BBQ sauce. Don't ever change, Illinois. Also of note was there an "adults only" door in the place, and I had to stick in my head on the way out, finding it was lined with slots machines being played by exactly the sort of people who should not be playing slots machines in the early evening on a Friday.

I went back to the hotel, bought some snacks, saw that the pool area was completely taken over by kids there for a soccer tournament the next day, and so went back up to the room for a lazy evening of paperwork and lying around watching podcasts before heading in for an early night after calling my mom.

The Accommodations:

Baymont Wyndham, Joliet, IL

Outside of being infested by soccer kids, the Baymont Wyndham in the outskirts of Joliet was a completely fine hotel.

It had a full bath just off the entrance to the room, and a couch and King bed and nightstands on one wall of the room, and a dresser, TV, and desk on the other.

Another room that did exactly what I need it to.

On Going to the Big House

Old Joliet Prison, 2026

Saturday, May 23, 2026
Joliet, IL

Outside the Game:
After a solid night's sleep, I was up early and down for breakfast just as it opened. There was a huge crowd of parents and kids eating early before the soccer tournament, so I ate my fill and retreated back to my room as quickly as I could, completely worn out from the experience and requiring a long nap.

I found myself up against check-out time, so I took a shower, finished packing, and booked my hotel for the night before checking out right before noon.

My first stop of the day was "the big house," Old Joliet Prison. I had wanted to go last year, but it was only open for tours on the weekend, so I missed out then and decided to use my down day to make good on it. (Joliet Prison was the origin of many prison stereotypes: the big house, used universally for prison, started as a reference to the large, castle-like structure of the prison, and the prison originated the policy of cladding convicts in black and white striped outfits, as well as chain gangs.)

It was easy enough to find, and I parked up and realized how hot the day was on my walk into the visitor's center. I got my ticket and went in to look around. It was very interesting, but also very depressing, as you see these 19th-century relics and realize they barely went out of service for prisoners 25 years ago. It was almost closed during WWII, but a new series of tunnels and improvements kept it open another 60 years. I was forced to imagine some poor slob put up for life in the 20's, spending twenty years in the place with truly inhuman conditions, and then just when you thought you were getting out, it gets renovated and you spend the next 60 years of your life there, just to die before it gets closed down. Guilty or innocent and wrongly convicted, that was just a hellscape to consider for your one and only time on earth.

The prison hasn't fully been renovated yet, and large sections of old industrial buildings (no doubt full of asbestos and god knows what else) are shut tight and the "improved" tunnel system for the guards is completely flooded to the entrance. The new-ish cafeteria is the most habitable building, and is regularly used for "BluesCon," the gathering for Blues Brothers fans. (And that guy serving life gets to see them filming a movie in his golden years--still unable to leave).

Minor water damage

The place did have an amazing chapel (now covered in graffiti and an extensive library (now bereft of books, thankfully), and the prison ballyard has been renovated for use by the local indie team, the Jailbirds, for a fundraising exhibition game or two a year (they hid bullpens behind a disused industrial building).

Big house baseball

I grabbed a soda from the gift shop on the way out, and dcided to leave my afternoon in the hands of Roadside America again. I went to Route 66 Park just across the river, although after a long wait for the drawbridge as some ship was going down the river that afternoon). It was a kitschy little park dedicated to the eastern terminus of old route 66. I walked around for a bit to get some fresh air, although the tourist attractions really didn't open until after Memorial Day.

Get your kicks...

The next stop was just up the road: The Planinsek Museum. The museum was an old local grocery and house that were donated whole hog to the local historic society by the daughter of the original owner. It hadn't been changed much since it closed, and it was an exhibit on the old local grocery itself, as well as the period house that was furnished the way that many immigrants such as my grandparents had done. I was ushered around by an attendant, and got to see the ancient basement boiler that looked like it belonged on a battleship, along with their smokehouse. There was an event going in the garage, but the family's old 1960s station wagons and coupes were still to be found as well.

Planinsek Museum

I was thinking about visiting a rocket ship attraction, but it was in the wrong direction, and it was getting late in the afternoon to the point that I would get there right before it closed, so I just drove down to my hotel for the night. The hotel, relatively airport adjacent as it was, was already packed, so I checked in and got settled in and prepped for the next day before heading out to a nearby Portello's for dinner of Italian beef and onion rings. I wandered around the local mall it was in for a bit, finding two slots palaces packed with people, before going back to the hotel and walking to the service station next to the hotel for some candy to find yet even more slots machines packed with day laborers. It was very depressing and put me off legalized gambling for a while more.

I settled in for a proper putter and got all my accounts and packing in as much order as I could manage before heading to bed early after calling my mom.

The Accommodations:

Baymont Addison, IL

The "Baymont" in Addison was clearly an old hotel renting the Wyndam property name. It was clearly a 70s or 80s property that was updated. It was outdated, had fire doors every ten rooms, and was shabby around all the edges. But even though it was packed, it was quiet enough and clean, so it did its job.

There was a full bathroom just off the entrance, and the room was a bed, bedtables, and a chair on one side, and a desk, dresser, and TV on the other.

The bed was new, the room was recently-painted, and I can't complain too much.

On Doing It Backwards

Sunday, May 24, 2026
Clifton, NJ

Outside the Game: 
I was up at the start of breakfast, or what I thought was the start of breakfast, as it didn't open until 6:30 AM and I had to wait a bit. The breakfast buffet was okay, and I ate and went back to my room for more sleep.

I showered, finished packing, and checked out at around 10:30 AM. I drove over to the airport with plenty of time, and realized I had even more than I thought as I got an alert saying the flight was delayed an hour as soon as I pulled into the rental car lot.

I dropped off the car and took the train to the terminal, and, of course, sped right through security. With a metric ton of time on my hands, I walked around the entire terminal to judge my dining options. I eventually settled on an Italian place and had a leisurely lunch of antipasti and pizza. Just as I finished, I got an alert saying my flight delay was only five minutes, but upon walking to my gate, the plane was literally just pulling in, so I walked around to kill some more time.

I got back again just as they were announcing the last groups, and they did both at once. So I was able to get in right at the front of the groups and get overhead space. There was a Hasidic woman sitting next to me who didn't say a word the entire flight.

There was lots of turbulence on the flight, so we barely got a water, but I pretty much watch most of Season 1 of Ted Lasso. Though bumpy, the flight was otherwise uneventful.

As we were landing, the pilot said there were a bunch of people who had connecting flights and one of the groups was at the back of the plane. Of course, as soon as the doors opened, everyone, especially the basic bitch couple across from me, immediately jumped up into the aisle. A guy right behind the first group of people who had to make a connecting flight started yelling to let the people in back through, and they got off, and there was security Karen right behind me who was making sure that "undeserving" people who didn't have flights didn't cut the line.

We eventually all got off the plane, and we were in the new terminal A, so I had to find the right bus to take me to the old Airtram station. In due time, I made it back to my car and drove home in a driving rain that didn't concern me anymore since I was on the ground. I started the laundry and loadout process and settled in for a night of putting crap away.

The Accommodations:
Home, sweet Clifton

Click here to see all the photos from this trip.

2026 Main Trip: Cheese Pigs Cars