Road Ramblings

I glanced over at the clock next to my bed this morning and it read 2:06 AM. The refrigerator in my Kansas City hotel room buzzed. A toilet flushed next door. Sirens wailed down I-70 for an instant and then they were gone. I grabbed The Soul of Baseball and read a few chapters. I love that book by the way. I'm sure I'll be blogging about it more in the immediate future.

Anyway, I'm currently in Kansas City for a couple of reasons. One of the publications I write for sent me here to write several articles this weekend about players from both the Tigers and the Royals. But I went in a couple of days early to spend some time with a good friend. A guy named Bear—the one I wrote about here last year.

He moved from Omaha to Cincinnati last year but he promised to meet me at least once this season so we could catch a Royals game or two together. Since early April worked out well for both of us, we met here on Wednesday and had a great time. We watched the second game of the Red Sox series together in nearly freezing temperatures. We enjoyed a couple of nice meals in area restaurants. And we got caught up with what's been going on in each other's lives.

We decided to watch the third game of the Red Sox series from a restaurant, where it wouldn't be so cold, and where we could share another meal before he headed back. We watched Dice-K and Zack Greinke duel, and then Bear hit the road. I went back to my hotel room--where I promptly feel asleep at a ridiculously early hour. So, by 2:06 AM I was feeling completely rested.

That's how life on the road goes sometimes. I don't travel often for publications that I write for, but when I do, I get a small taste of what it feels like for sports writers who do. As a single guy, I really don't mind it. You meet some interesting people. You do your interviews. You write your stories. And you accumulate all sorts of new experiences that work together to make you feel a little more alive.