2017 Challenges

This season, we are only going to two away games, so I was really looking forward to our trip to Baltimore.  The day of our departure arrived with fog and overcast.  As Thurston started loading the RV, the rain started.  When he pulled up in front of the Coach's Sand Crane Sanctuary, the skies opened further.  That was Tuesday.  We drove through the rain for Tuesday night, all day Wednesday, and part of Thursday.  The weather made it a dark, dreary, treacherous and exhausting drive, and really wore Thurston out.  He bravely did all the driving, keeping us safe on the road.

The RV and towed Jeep weren't going to make it any easier for Thurston.  First, the emergency brake was accidentally left on in the Jeep.  That caused the RV to react sluggishly - ya think? - but, in a scary incident, left the RV unable to climb a hill, and, wheels spinning, perilously start sliding back down.  Coach jumped, that is slowly and carefully climbed out, went back to the Jeep, and fixed the brake problem.  All set.  Here we go.  Uhhh - now what?

Once Coach was out of the rain and back in the nice warm RV, Thurston started driving.  But when he checked the rear camera while making the second turn, he didn't see anything.  That was a problem, because he should have seen the running lights and  turn signal of the Jeep.  The Jeep was there at least, but dark.  Circling back to the Crane Sanctuary, the Coach again ventured into the rain to check the power connection to the Jeep and test the lights.  Thurston, we have a problem.  Thurston came back and tried another cable, but nothing doing, we had no lights.  So, we decided to turn on the running lights, draining the Jeep battery, so at least it would not be unlit in the dark rainy night on the road.  Both wet from the rain, we returned to the RV and were finally on our way at about 7PM.  Driving through the rain for the next two days ...

So here we are outside of Baltimore on Friday morning.  It's still overcast.  I'm hoping we see the sun soon.

Having gotten in to the campground kinda early in the afternoon Thursday, we set up quickly, and even got the satellite working so we could watch Thursday Night Football, Eagles vs Panthers.  Thurston found an interesting Jamaiican restaurant, Unforgettable Flavors, and we ventured out.  The restaurant is hidden in an apartment complex, in the basement level of one of the buildings, next to a small convenience store.  Definitely a mom and pop operation, it had 5 tables and one of the friendliest staffs you can imagine.  We decided to order different combination dinners so we could try as many dishes as possible.  All were really, really good.  As island music played, we feasted on beef and chicken patties baked into tender crusts, braised oxtails, brown chicken stew, rasta pasta with chicken and shrimp, fried plantains, mac and cheese, spinach prepared like collard greens and curried cabbage.  The curried cabbage was amazing.  The oxtails were delicious.  The chicken was superb - everything was good.  We also got a pineapple juice and ginger drink that was refreshing and yummy.  They gave us samples of their chicken soup and beef soup which were both excellent.  I was so glad we found this place.  Great find, Thurston!

Tampa in the rear view mirror. Giants here we come.

We woke up this morning in a gray haze.  Unfortunately it turned out to be fog and not a bad dream that the Bears had played perhaps the worst game I have ever seen them play.  If you think about it, I don’t know that there were two passes all day that went where they absolutely should have.    When you add in the seemingly absolute lack of coverage of anyone that has a TE in the position title, it would seem that our Bears are on a swift slide to a good draft pick.  I am thinking QB? 

There were a few bright spots.  1. The weather was really nice for the game.  2. Because it was Eastern time and after Daylight savings time the sun had gone far enough so our seats were in the shadow of the upper stands.  So there was no bright sun or glare.  3. We can be absolutely certain that Jay is not going to work his way back to being QB for the Bears next year.

The Tampa stadium is a nice stadium.  Not the finest by any means, but it is easy to get to, there is plenty of close up parking available and the signage is great.  The club in the stadium is nice.  It has lots of seating, visiting cheerleaders, live bands for entertainment, free water dispensers with lemon and ice, and reasonable prices.   The food selections were fairly standard, but the pricing was great.  A soda was $4 or $6 with unlimited refills in a souvenir cup.   A burger with fries, and outstanding topping bar with everything from bacon, cheese, grilled onions and mushrooms to the standards of lettuce, tomato,  onion and pretty much anything else you might want on a burger.  The price - $10.  I think that is about ½ what they would charge at Soldier Field.

The biggest difference you notice from Soldier Field is how far away you are from the action.  Where at Soldier Field every tier is built on top of the lower tier.  In Tampa it just keeps going back and each level is behind the one before in on smooth set of tiers.  So big plus for SF.  Much better design.

We have left the wonderful Tampa Bay area and headed up to Colonial Williamsburg on the way to the Giants game.  You know how they say humility is good for the soul.  Well being a Bears fan in an away stadium is an exercise in extreme humility this year. 

After a couple of days enjoying the past we will dash up to the Liberty Harbor campground.  Now calling this a campground is being very, very generous.  It consists of a parking lot with electric posts.  Oh and lines on the ground so you know where to park.  But it does have the advantage of being just across the bridge from New York City, not far from the airports and fairly close to the stadium.  So that is where I stay when I visit New York in an RV.

I am of somewhat mixed feelings when it comes to the game.  I want the Bears to play well, but given that they have no shot at the playoffs, I don’t want them to blow their draft pick.  So maybe just a close game that they manage to lose at the last minute.  That might be best.

So far the journey has been truly epic.  I have been able to cross and recross the country east to west and north to south.  I have seen many places and enjoyed not just the locations I arrive at, but the journey to get there.  So let me close this by saying no matter what we Follow the Bears

GO BEARS.  – hey and wasn’t it great that at least the Packers and Vikings lost too.  Can we be looking at Detroit finally winning the division?

Back in the Saddle - Tampa Bay Eve

So we are back in the saddle again.   After a disastrous couple of games in Texas with an even worse game at home sandwiched between the coach and I were about ready to throw in the towel.  But an ok game against the lions followed by a reasonable game in Indianapolis and a win back at home against the Vikings have rejuvenated our adventuring spirit and given hope that perhaps our Bears will play well enough to be worth watching again.   So after a long bye week  spent trying to find some magic at either Disney World or Universal’s Harry Potter place we find ourselves in Tampa Florida awaiting yet another of our road games.

Tampa will make the 20^th stadium that we have visited (21 if you include Soldier Field) and after next week at the Giants we will have seen the Bears play 21 of the 31 opponents.   Actually if you include seeing them in London I will be able to claim seeing them play opponents in 23 stadiums.

We went out tonight in search of the Tampa signature dish, which depending on who you talk to is either the Cuban sandwich, just about any seafood dish, or smoked mullet.  We settled for just about every seafood dish.  Tomorrow I hope to get the smoked mullet.   We went to a Peruvian seafood restaurant and I think everyone had a good time.   After the meal we did our traditional pre-game trip to the stadium to get the lay of the land.

For this trip we have along with the Coach, my brother and a couple of nephews as well as some friends.  Tomorrow we will represent the true and loyal Bears fans and shout as loudly as possible.  Tomorrow we shall have victory!!!  Well to be honest I would settle for a really good game. 

A couple of side notes. 

1.  For those of you who are Harry Potter fans and have not had the opportunity to visit Universal’s Diagon Alley you are missing a fantastic experience.   I was far less enchanted with Hogsmead at Island of Adventure, but Diagon Alley is an experience not to be missed.

2. Epcot holds an annual International Food and Wine festival.   If you love long lines, fairly pretentious people and long lines, I strongly recommend you attend.  If on the other hand these do not have the appeal to you that apparently they did to the people attending the festival, stay away!!

3. If you ever get the chance to camp next door to a Lion Safari park I strongly recommend you take it.  There is something surreal about sitting at your camp and listening to a Lion roar.  It was quite the experience and I am glad the Coach and I were able to do so while on our sojourn to Tampa.

Not to turn this to politics - never gonna happen, but I did happen to see an incredibly funny post today.  

BREAKING NEWS:  Chicago Cubs are being forced to give up their World Series Title.

Cleveland Indians fans have rioted across the country in protest of the 2016 World Series.  Despite knowing the rules of the game prior to playing, they were unhappy they lost and demanded the outcome to be changed.  They could be heard chanting #NotOurWorldSeriesChampion all across America.

Even though the Cubs won 4 games and the Indians only won 3,  since both teams scored 27 total runs throughout all 7 games, they are being declared co-world champions.

When questioned, Commissioner Manfred stated, “We felt as though it was the right thing to do for the nation.  What kind of example would Major League Baseball be setting if we expected the adults who play this game, and their fans, to Gracefully accept defeat?  Instead of creating a bigger divide between the Cubs and the Indians, MLB is confident that the Cubs will gladly share their victory with the Indians”.

I hope you got as big a laugh out of that as I did.

Tomorrow is game.  The Bears are favored by most of the analysts so we have to cross our fingers and hope they have not been given the kiss of death.  Most of the team is back healthy(ish) and with luck we will see some calculated and precise passing from Jay and some outstanding defense.  I will report in tomorrow night with our impressions of the stadium and any interesting tidbits that turn up.

In the meantime – GO BEARS!!

GAME DAY Houston

I am going to write this as it happened.

Worry - what would the team do
HAPPY - they actually look like a football team
Second Half - why is it Bears coaches seem to give demotivation speeches at half time
Disappointment - they started out so good and raised my hopes only to have them dashed yet again.

We got to NRG park early.  This was in part because it was recommended that we get there early in order to get a parking space and in part due to the fact that there was no traffic and we were in our spot less than 30 minutes after we got into the car.  There were some outstanding tailgate setups there.  One group came in 5 large pickup trucks and set up by backing in to park in every other spot.  They then erected 5 popup shelters that covered the entire area in back of the trucks.  Music, smokers, bbq grills and great smells then emanated from the area for the next several hours.  They were not the most elaborate setup there by far.  But with the exception of the tailgaters we didn't see any other cars showing up for a couple of hours.  By 10:30 most of the lot we were in was still empty. 

We went into the Verizon club.  It is one of three different clubs they have at the stadium.  The club was nice, but nothing outstanding.  Good access, comfortable seats, open spaces and plenty of TVs and bars.  There was never much of a line anywhere.  Food choices were the stadium standards and also 4 specialty stands.  One was BBQ, one was tacos, one was make your own salads and the last one had Korean sloppy joes and some kind of a tater tot casserole.  The food was good.  Views from the seats were very good and they had a lot of leg room .  They provide beverage and food service by ordering from the app on your phone so there was much less getting up and letting people out than at most stadiums.   The scoreboards and video screens are large and easily seen from anywhere in the stadium.   And it was LOUD.  Even when the warmups were going on and the seats were less than 1/3 filled they were able to be extremely loud.  My one complaint was the bathrooms.  They only had two for the club and they were inadequate to handle the number of people there. 

The fans were mostly very nice as were the staff.  Everyone welcomed us to the stadium and there were only one or two people that were taunting or rude to the visiting fans.  Many people went out of their way to comment on how they thought it was a good game and how the Bears played well.  And they were not being sarcastic, just being nice.

Getting out of the stadium was incredibly easy and we were back at the RV in about 45 minutes.  The RV is about 25 miles from the stadium. 

I am not going to recap the game.  It would just be too painful.  But at least they stayed competitive into the fourth quarter.

Observations:
Stadium signage superb
Stadium staff incredibly friendly and helpful
Tailgate in full swing 4 hours before game time and quite elaborate
Cheerleaders - energetic
Chicago fans - present, but not abundent
Someone needs to teach White the plays - he looks totally lost out there





On to Dallas to position for the Cowboys game and then back to Chicago for the Eagles.

2016 - The journey continues HOUSTON

Well it is time for a new season and hope is blooming in our hearts.  We can assume the preseason was a fluke and we can count on all the new players to make a huge difference.  All of this is why in many ways this is the best part of the season.  We open our trip in Houston and then a quick trip back to Chicago to watch the Monday night game against the Eagles and then back to Texas to check out the Cowboys digs.


On the way down to Houston the trip was fairly uneventful.  Which is really how you want a road trip to be.  Almost invariably events = problems.   Fortunately we were able to arrive down in Houston with almost no problems other than my typical Texas problem of not ever being able to find the place I am looking for on the first attempt.  This has been an ongoing source of unhappiness with me for years.  And Houston did not disappoint.   We started by having the wrong address for the RV park.  Only a little wrong, but apparently 2800 on Sam Houston Parkway E and 2800 S Sam Houston Parkway E are some 25 miles apart.  So we got to the first location and then got to drive around all of Houston to arrive at the correct address.  There we  almost were run over by a dump truck who would not let us into his lane to make the right turn into the RV park so it was go around once more to the next exit and then back on the parkway in the other direction and try again to get off.  This time we were successful by coming to almost a stop in the road until someone was willing to let us in to make the right turn.  But all was good as we were guided to our spot and directed where to stop in the very long site they provided.  Where to stop was at the front of the site.  Where the hookups for water/sewer and electric was at the back of the site.  So it was go unhitch the car and back up so our hoses would reach.  That was when the monsoon decided to roll in.  For about 5 minutes, while we were going out to disconnect the car, it rained so hard you could not see your hand in front of your face.  But what the heck it stopped soon and returned to the high 90s and 80% humidity.  People pay a lot of money to sit in a hot sauna and we were being provided one by nature for free.

We eventually got all set up and everything was good so don't anyone worry.  We will be continuing to provide our observations on the NFL cities and the games as we travel around the country.

Houston does not have a signature dish.  One local paper tried to start a campaign to vote for one, but apparently there was not enough interest in the city to generate even meaningless results.  So we were forced to improvise.  We decided it was either BBQ as with most of Texas or some kind of Tex-? dish.  So we tried what was supposed to be the best BBQ in town at Killens and we went to BBs Diner, a Houston tradition for some huge number of years, for Tex-Cajun as that seemed to be a thing here.

Killens had a line outside that stretched down the sidewalk and around the corner.  Fortunately it moved very quickly and within 20 minutes we were inside being asked what kind of meat we want.  We decided that we needed to try most of them in order to judge the food fairly.  I will start by saying Killens is some of the best BBQ I have had.  Having said that here is our judging on the food:

Beef Brisket - A, Beef Ribs - A+, Pork Ribs (unusual in Texas) A, Smoked turkey A-, Pulled pork B, Bone in Pork Belly B-, Burnt Ends B-.  The sides were about as good:  Baked Beans B, Pinto Beans B, Mac and Cheese B and Creamed Corn an A++.  Unfortunately all this food was really good because when we got to desert we were only able to eat a bit of the A+++++ Bread Pudding.  All in all it was well worth the wait and the service was at least as good as the food.

BBs was not as disreputable as its reputation led me to believe.  The food was good, but not great.  Now to be totally honest we tried one of the suburban locations not their original location downtown.  Their house dish was something called Tex-Cajun Virgin.  It is shoestring fries topped with queso, gravy and roast beef debris.  While it was a heart attack on a plate, you would at least have a big smile on your face when you died.  The Po-Boys were not quite as good.  The bread was as good as anything I have had in New Orleans, but the sauce, shrimp and debris were not quite right.  The shrimp and grits were not bad, but again I have had better.  The grilled oysters were not a hit.  We had been hoping for a repeat of our first experience with them at Crawfish and Noodles (but I am getting ahead of myself).   For a diner in Houston it was darn good though.

Our first night in Houston we tried a very highly rated restaurant called Crawfish and Noodles.  It was a Korean-Cajun fusion seafood place.   Given that billing it was either going to be really good or really really bad.    Fortunately we got luck and it was really good.   We had grilled oysters, crawfish, Korean quail, some noodle dish and stir fried blue crab.  The oysters were very good.  The Coach needed to be shown how to properly eat a crawfish and the expression on her face as she sucked the head and got a mouthful of innards and juice was priceless.  But they were good and she was willing to try another.  The quail was outstanding and the noodles, while mild, provided a great counterpoint to some of the splicer dishes.  The crab as also very good.  I would strongly recommend you check this place out if you are ever in Houston.  

During the day we explored some of the sights in Houston.  We spent a full day at the space center and it was a great experience.  We saw the original control center where they ran the flights up through the Apollo missions.  It is amazing what they were able to accomplish without the computing power we have in a phone.  We also saw some great movies and presentations as well as a talk by a four time shuttle mission commander, Brian Duffy.  We also got to see the Orion capsule and the plans for the mission to Mars.  I hope I get to see it, it looks totally amazing.  

The next day was a mishmash of the unusual sites in Houston.  We saw a storage lot filled with huge heads of the presidents (15 feet tall and taller).  We drove by an art display run by a pipe company with some really unusual sculptures.  We saw a 15' tall silver armadillo with glowing red eyes, and mirrors on its back.  And some modern junk art work called tranquility park.  We also drove by the stadium to check it out and make sure we knew where we were going on game day.  
 

Tomorrow is game day and the day after we head for Dallas to get in place for the game in two weeks.  

I would like to close with a list of three observations about Houston.

1.  It is HOT - like really really hot
2.  It is humid - like in a sauna humid
3.  They have periodic monsoon periods - with no warning and often while the sun is still shinning
4.  Their highway signage sucks

Yes I know there are four items on my list of 3.  Everyone knows that things are bigger in Texas.

Chargers Game Day - and a bit about the days after

It is Game Day and we made our way to the stadium for Monday Night Football – at 1:30 in the afternoon.  Watching football on the west coast is weird.  MNF starts at 5:30.   So with an hour or more drive to the stadium and wanting to get there early as usual we are leaving our RV at 1:30.   By the time we get to the stadium it is about 2:30 and the parking lots are starting to get a few cars.  They don’t really start to fill up until about 4:00 tonight.   Getting into the parking lot is easy.  Just follow all the other cars off the highway and into the lot.   Unfortunately we are apparently at the wrong gate.  We find this out after the person at the lot takes the part of the parking pass they are supposed to take off and scans the pass.   They tell us you can’t get there from here – you must go out of the parking lot, around the stadium and enter on the other side.   We ask how do you do that?.  There is no road that seems to go around to there.  They say “I don’t know”.  I ask how will I get back into the lot, you have taken off the part of the pass and scanned it.  They say “I don’t know”.   I say so what should I do now.  They say – well you get the picture.   Finally someone comes over and says “oh no, all you need to do is go down to the end of the row there and use the inner ring road to get to the other side of the stadium”.  So off we head down to the end of the row and there we meet another person who says “oh no, the gate to the inner ring road is locked. You can’t get there from here you need to go back to the gate and around the stadium”.   We explain as before and ask the questions as before and he says – “I don’t know”.   We thank him and decide to seek our own path.  We drive in the direction where the letters are going down.  We are looking for lot A1 and are currently in G4.  So left and in are the directions we head.  Finally we find someone who says – “Oh, the only way open into the inner ring road is down by gate K”.  At that moment the other attendant opens up the gate to the inner ring road to let someone out and into the lot we are in.  Waving our parking pass frantically we go to the gate and she lets us out.  Finally we are able to drive around and get to the location for A1 where the attendant says that we are one of the few cars that have come in to this area and she can’t understand why because usually there are a lot more.  We do not bother to enlighten her.

From lot A1 it is a quick escalator ride up to the club level and after looking around the club for a bit we head for the little bar they have there.  We get a drink (we needed one by now) and order an appetizer.  Their new carne asada natchos.   The waitress takes our order and then comes back with another server about 10 minutes later to ask where we saw carne asada natchos because they are not on their menu.  We point to the large sign on the wall announcing their new for 2015 menu items and the top one which is the natchos.  They say oh, I didn’t notice that before (this is the middle of the season and signs are everywhere around the lounge).   Without hopes for a positive outcome we await our natchos.  Needless to say they fulfilled our expectations. 

We then headed for our seats because as far as a club goes there is absolutely nothing to recommend this one.  There are no special foods or drinks, no where to sit, no special give aways or programs or anything.   They do have wait service at your seats.  But unlike several of the other parks which offer this by way of the team app.  They offer it by flagging down one of the servers who steps over and on people to get to your seat and take your order and payment and then steps over and on people to get back to the aisle and when your order arrives they step over and on….. well you get the idea.   Apparently they don’t, but you probably do.

The “Jumbotron” is mostly advertising for their various sponsors with a small video space in the center to show replays.  I am fairly certain my TV at home is larger.  Certainly relative to the distance you are from the screen it is.  Now the advertisements were interesting.  You could see them very well because they were larger than the screen.   For example the charger gals want to thank California spray tan studio and the Beaches wax studio for their support.    Lets just leave this topic and head to the game itself.

As you all already know somehow the Bears won.  The crowd was about 20% Bears fans and with about 15% empty seats that became a significant percentage of the crowd.  On our side of the field it was probably 30% Bears fans.  That is huge considering how far away San Diego is and that it was a Monday night game. 

Leaving the stadium was easy.  You sat in the parking lot next to your car for about and hour and a half after the game until a large part of the lot emptied and then got in the line to wait your turn to exit.  Or you got in the line right away and waited over an hour to get out of the lot.  Your choice.  We chose the former.  Being in one of the inner lots we had to wait until all the outer lots emptied before we could have a shot at getting out of the parking area.

All in all I understand why the chargers want a new stadium.  The one they have is a dump.  At the moment it ranks as the second worst stadium we have been to.

We left San Diego Tuesday heading for Dallas to see some friends.   We stopped at Phoenix “on the way” to see some of the Coaches relative’s.   More about Dallas and the rest of the journey in a future post.  But before I leave you I want to relay some of the fun we had getting to Dallas.

ON THE ROAD

California Highway 78 is an interesting road.  It runs next to, and sometimes under, the California Dunes Recreation Area.   The under is part of the fun.  Here you are barreling down the highway and suddenly half the road is buried in a couple of feet of sand.  There are no fences or barriers to try and stop the sand and the highway isn’t raised above the ground level to keep the sand from flowing freely over it.  Nope it sits level with the ground next to it and becomes one with the dunes environment.  

After a while you leave the dunes area and enter a land of brown hills, brown desert and the typical brown sage brush farm.   These areas are interspersed with occasional bright green areas where someone has decided this is a great place to grow “insert plant here” and has irrigated the fields and grown a crop.   Parts of this road go around the hills and parts seem to enjoy becoming one with the hills and remnants of the dunes.  So it does things like do a straight up climb to the top of a tall hill followed by the crest and a swoop down the backside of the hill.  Followed immediately by a climb up the next hill.  The drops and climbs were so close together that you saw places where trucks had scraped the pavement because they were longer than the space at the bottom between the two hills.  Now anyone who is a fan of rollercoasters would have thought this was great, but even they would have been a little concerned when you get to the top of some of the hills and the road abruptly makes a sharp left or right turn and there is no longer a road in front of you.   After a couple of miles of these rollercoaster like hills we see a sign that says “Dips Ahead”.  I am not kidding you.   It turns out these new dips neither climbed so high nor dropped so far, but instead were like huge overgrown speed bumps placed 20 feet apart. 

And so it goes on California Highway 78.

If you will indulge me for a moment I need to engage in a little rant about driving in Texas.   This is different from the story/rant about driving on California Highway 78.   This is just some observations and you need to keep in mind the thought that runs in my head throughout this is “Who Does That?”.  Now the other thing you need to keep  in mind is that the speed limit on most Texas Highways is 70 mph.

Lets start with what had to be a fascinating budget meeting one day.   I imagine if you were a fly on the wall the conversation went something like this:

Sir, we have a problem with some of Highway 10.

Well what is it?

Sir, the road has buckled in some places and there are potholes and when that happened apparently the low bidder we used didn’t secure the road well and it kinda twists up and down a bit.

Well how much is it going to cost to fix?

Sir, it will be about $ome large number of thousands of dollars.

Well, we don’t want to spend that – what else can we do.

Sir, we could put up a sign telling people there is a rough road ahead.

Well, how much will that cost.

Sir, only a couple of thousand.

Well, lets do that then.

So end result, you are speeding along this highway at 70 and see a sign that says rough road and all of a sudden the road drops out from under you, twists and bucks like a bronco and then is straight and smooth once again.

WHO DOES THAT?

Next we have the guardrail.  Now we have all seen guardrails up on tight turns.  They are there to guide you and provide protection in case you miss the turn so you don’t shoot off the road into never never land or a corn field, or mesquite tree or whatever.   Sometimes these guardrails get damaged when someone hits them.  In Texas they apparently don’t fix them, cause someone might just hit it again and it would just get damaged.  So what do they do?   They put up a sign which says – wait for it – Guard Rail Damaged Ahead.   Like that is going to help stop a car which is plunging off the road.   “Oh look Marvin, the guardrail is damaged up ahead.   Maybe You shouldn’t hit it.”

WHO DOES THAT?

Next you have the signs over the road that point out which lane goes to which highway when they split.  In Texas they put the arrow on the line between the lanes.   Not in the center of the lane.   So you kinda get to guess, do they mean the left lane or the one next to it goes to that highway.  This leads to lots of last minute jockeying for lanes at 70mph. so people don’t miss their turns or don’t turn off on some road they don’t want.

WHO DOES THAT?

Last we have perhaps my favorite Texas road sign of all.  Various lanes closed ahead.   What kind of a sign is that?  What good does it do?  How does it help the driver speeding along at 70 do anything to avoid the closed lanes, help move traffic along or avoid an accident?   Why even have the sign.

WHO DOES THAT?

Last we have a feature of the drivers here in Texas.  Apparently they have mistaken a turn signal for a yellow light.  It means Drive Real Fast.   If you want to change lanes and you put on your turn signal everyone in the lane you want to turn into speeds up so you absolutely can’t get in front of them.   So in Texas the way you change lanes is you quickly turn on the turn signal as you turn the steering wheel and dart in front of someone into the next lane.

WHO DOES THAT?

I leave you as always - Go Bears.   On to the Rams.

Chargers Game Day - Tomorrow

Today is supposed to be football day.  It is Sunday, the holy day of sitting and watching the ultimate in sporting events.  A day dedicated to the body of the holy chicken wing done in the style of Buffalo and the blood of the hop done into a great beer.  From Noon on into the night we are treated to game after game and the chance to root for our beloved Bears.  But no, we play on Monday and so while we were privileged to see Green Bay fall in defeat, we had to watch it starting at 10:00 in the morning.  Something about the whole process seemed wrong.

But we were able to at least go in the afternoon in search of the fish taco.  By general agreement all the best fish tacos were to be had in food trucks.  So after noting the locations of a few of the highest rated and most recommended we set out.   The first spot we found was Mariscos el Prieto.  This is the the height of the food truck concept.  They have a person in the parking lot directing traffic and helping people in and out of spots.  They have a large table set up outside the food truck under a tent to give customers a spot to stand and eat.  They have made a deal with the cell phone shop they set up in front of to allow patrons to use the bathroom in the store.  The have a cauldron of seafood consume set up boiling away to give customers something to eat while they are waiting for their order.  And wait they do.  On a Sunday at 3:00 there was a line of people waiting to order and it took a good 10-15 minutes after you placed your order before you hear your name called out.  So was it worth the wait?  The shrimp cocktail that the Coach ordered came out first.  They have four sizes and she selected the chico.  A good thing because it came served in a 16 oz clear plastic cup and was filled with 1/3 of a pound of shrimp.  Not bad for $6.   And it tasted great.   Basically shrimp in a thin salsa.   Next came the tacos.  Between us we had three, marlin, "fish" and shrimp a la diabla.  The marlin was the best of the three.  Tasty chunks of marlin in a slightly spicy sauce with peppers.  The "fish" was the next best.  Interestingly they make their fish tacos here out with breaded fish.  The taco was quite good with slaw and a crema sauce.  Limes, pickled onions and radishes are available to be added to any of the tacos as are three kinds of sauces and salsas in bottles on the table.  The shrimp a la diabla had great shrimp, but the sauce was a bit salty and not all that spicy.   But it was still a good taco.  

Next we headed for another food truck Mariscos El Pescador.  This truck was also set up quite nicely if not up to the standard of the previous one.  They had a much larger selection of offerings however and the advantage of speaking at least some English.    They had a tv set up under their tent to show the football games.  Unfortunately their tacos were not up to the standard set by el Prieto.  The fish taco was good, but not outstanding and the octopus taco was good but nothing spectacular.  Service here was slower if possible then el Preto.  Their sauces were also a bit off and very very salty.

We did not try the other two places on our list out of the fear that we might be silly enough to order something and eat it and explode. 

So in summary - fish tacos were good.  I still prefer grilled fish tacos to breaded fish tacos, but an interesting and tasty signature dish in all events.

We then went to Qualcomm stadium.  Unfortunately they don't let you near the stadium.  All the entry gates are closed off to the lots and access roads and so we can only give you the impression that it is right off the highway.  How that will translate into ease of access and exit only tomorrow will tell.

So at this point I leave you saying - GO Bears - Green Bay Sucks!!

Chargers Game Day minus 3

Today we went to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.   I won't give a huge explanation about it, but if you happen to be in the area you should check it out.  Make sure you do the Caravan Tour.  It gets you out with the animals and there is nothing quite like feeding a 4 month old giraffe and having it bat its eyes at you.

The significant part about the trip today is it gave me my first chance to talk with Chargers fans about the team and the game.   Basically they have for the most part given up on their team this year.  They fully expect to have them lose to the Bears and suspect that playing for a draft pick is their best choice.  Should be an interesting game.

Tonight we tried a Mexican Barbacoa place.   Lamb traditionally cooked in a big hole in the ground and flavored with spices and the large leaves that it is wrapped in.   When you order you select what parts you want:  Meat, Ribs - the meat from near the bone, Head - just what is sounds like, the meat from the head, Tripe - mostly the stomach but some other parts as well, and Brain.   Not being a big fan of Brains (in case you can't hear it the Coach is snickering at that part), I elected to take ribs, head and tripe.  Surprisingly the tripe was the best of the three.   We also had fried grasshoppers and a huitlacoche quesadilla.  Well I had them anyway.  The Coach seems to think that perhaps I should have tried ordering some Brains.  At least that way I would have some.  The grasshoppers were good.  They were seasoned with a spice mix and would be great with beer.  They could have been a bit crunchier in my opinion.  The corn smut, or corn fungus, or huilocoche was ok but did not really sit well.

Tomorrow is of course at least partially dedicated to watching some football.   We will probably do a bit of sightseeing, but some down time would be well appreciated indeed.  We also still need to get a fish taco and review San Diego's signature dish.  It has been a busy week and we still have the Game, a trip up to Phoenix, a trip to Dallas, a stopover in Memphis and about 3000 miles to drive before we get back in time for the Denver game.   But that is looking too far into the future.  One day at a time.  And tomorrow is football.

Chargers Game Day Minus 4

Well here we are safe and sound in Chula Vista.   For those who are not "in the know" it is about 8  miles southwest of San Diego.   We got in a day earlier than anticipated and it was just in time.  I have had enough driving to last for a while.

To finish up our Roswell adventure we stopped for dinner at Galactic Sushi (no we didn't eat any raw fish).  It was an interesting restaurant all done up in sci-fi.  Signed pictures of all the star trek actors covered the walls along with other science fiction memorabilia.  A nice place other than the very bad Karaoke going on.

The next morning before we left town we stopped at the International center for the study of UFOs.   Now they take UFOs very seriously in this place.   They had all the information on the conspiracy and cover up of the crash, but then they pushed on from there and had a whole area dedicated to alien abductions, another on the ancient astronauts, another on .... well you get the idea.  And they take this all as Gospel.   Aliens may not be alive and well in Roswell, but you wouldn't know if from stopping in the Center.

Since I last posted an entry we have visited the White Sands National Monument,  seen the Saguaro cactus in all its massive glory, driven though the Cleveland National Forest (forests down here mostly mean scrub brush and if you are lucky some stunted mesquite trees), and crossed more miles of desert then I think I ever wanted to see.   

The most interesting of the places we saw was White Sands.  Imagine huge sand dunes all the purest white.  It was like massive mounds of snow.  And the way the park is set up you can drive out among the dunes.  So we did.  The RV towing the jeep out on the sands.   Along the path we saw people sledding on the dunes.  Yep, disk sleds skimming their way down the dunes as if they really were made of snow.  Now the really interesting thing is that some things actually live there.  A few lizards, some birds and mice mostly.  I am not sure what they eat other than each other, but apparently they live in this barren landscape. 

 Now interestingly enough another use for the White Sands is as a missile test range.   As you are driving down Interstate 70 you see signs that warn you when the highway is closed for missile tests.   For example if we had been 2 days earlier we would have had a 3 hour wait while the interstate was closed down for a set of tests.  Seriously they close the interstate to run these tests.

Another interesting situation happened earlier today.  As we were cruising down Highway 8 we came across a Border Patrol Checkpoint.   Now granted we were only a few miles away from the Mexican border, but we were not planning on going across the border and the highway we were on didn't go in that direction.  But nevertheless they stopped all the traffic on the highway and checked for illegal aliens (not the Roswell kind).  A third stop was as we came into California.  There they were checking to make sure that you didn't bring fruit into California.  

I am fairly sure that if they just decided to close I-80 and ask each car some questions there would be more than a couple of complaints.   But down here in the wild west apparently this is normal.   

By the way - if anyone wants to move down here.  Desert land in Arizona apparently goes for between $25 - $50 an acre in 1000 acre lots.   So you can have your own 10,000 acres of scrub covered, tumbleweed rich land for as little as $250,000.   My guess is they will offer you a discount on larger purchases.

The next few days we will explore some of what San Diego has to offer, we will check out the stadium (as we always do before the game day), we will let you know what the San Diego fans think of the game and we will try San Diego's signature dish (the fish taco).    Stay tuned for more in the next couple of days. 

Westword Ho - on the way to San Diego - Charge(rs)

It was a dark and moonless night.  They bounced down a rutted dirt road searching the night.  The glimmer of sunset in far horizon had faded away miles ago.   UFOs had been known in these fields and Area 51 was not far away.  Suddenly two green glowing lights appear in the road in front of them.  The dust drifting forward from the abrupt braking obscured everything ahead.  As the dust cleared a second set of glowing lights joined the first set.  Should they continue or was retreat the more prudent option.  Slowly they crept forward.  The car barely moving until everything became clear.  The outline of a shape, darker black against the black of night.  A small black cow and her even blacker girlfriend standing in the middle of the road. 

This was the scene a few hours ago as we were searching for the marker where UFOs crash landed near Roswell, NM oh those many years ago.   Most of the town seems to have put their notoriety behind them, but there are still many stores with little green men inviting you to come inside.  The worlds only UFO decorated McDonald is here as is the International UFO museum and research center.  But you can't find a UFO themed restaurant and there are only a couple of UFO shops in town.  Mostly Roswell is just another boring mid-America town as they have abandoned all that made them unique.  I don't know if I am more disappointed that my illusion of what I pictured Roswell as being from TV shows and movies is lost, or if it is the loss of the wonder and imagination that Roswell itself had given up.

We are on our way to San Diego to watch the Bears take on the Chargers and Roswell was a short side trip.  What fun is there in traveling around the country in an RV if you don't take advantage of being able to stop here and there on the way?    Anyway,  I think the Bears have a good shot at winning this one and I hope they do.  While I don't believe there is a prayer of them making the playoffs and if some miracle occurred and they did, I don't see them getting past the first round, I do enjoy watching a good game and if they lose at the last minute like they did the past two games, well that just helps keep the draft position high.  All that being said I really don't like being in an opponents stadium when they lose.  So as far as I am concerned they just need to win two more games this year.  They have to be competitive in all of them, but they need to win two.  This Monday against the Chargers and Thanksgiving against the Packers.   If they did that, finished 4 and 12, were competitive in the remaining games and got a top 4 draft position, I think they would have had about the best season we could have hoped for given all the changes.   With a solid offense, and a few good core defensive players, they can draft a difference maker or two and a few solid players and be very competitive next year. 

Ok, so I have been accused of being overly optimistic at times, but I really think they can turn it around in a year or two with some really good drafting.

Part of the trip down we paralleled the old Route 66.  So we got to see giant Paul Bunyan statues, Indian TPs, a pink elephant, long horn cow statues, a rusty metal sculpture garden, a giant cowboy statue, the quarter horse hall of fame and more garishly painted motels than you can shake a stick at.   We also saw a lot of abandoned motels,  empty restaurants, and building after building of empty stores.   In some ways it was a look back at a simpler time, in others a reminder of how those times are gone and so many towns are going away with them.  We also saw a row of lit up Christmas displays and as I was recently reminded every time a Christmas display is lit up before Thanksgiving an elf drowns a poor baby reindeer.   So save those cute reindeer and wait until after Thanksgiving to light up.

A more football post along with a stadium review will be coming in a couple of days, but you have to put up with the trips there and back and our observations about the cities we visit along the way first.   I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoy providing them for you.

Game Day - Chiefs are going down.

Well as you can guess this was written after the game.  I am pretty sure that there is no way I would have put in that heading before the game started.  But lets go back to that start.   Arrowhead stadium is not the prettiest stadium you have ever seen.   If you want to judge it's curb appeal you would give it a 2 on a 5 point scale.   It looks bleh from the outside.   But that really does not matter because what you are really looking at outside the stadium is the thousands of tailgaters.   Basically every parking lot around the stadium is open to tailgate and tailgate is what they do.  And in a big way.   There are the wimpy little people with a few chairs and a grill, but there are also many that do it up big time.  One, for example, had a full size smoker in the bed of his pickup and was smoking rack upon rack of ribs and who knows what else.  There was the group with an 8' table spread from one end to the other with serving platters and bowls and flower arrangements and crystal glasses and china plates.   There was the group who set up a teepee and was doing the tailgate in there.   There was just about every kind of anything that could be cooked on a grill being cooked somewhere.  There were touch football games and bags contests and ......  And they started at 7:30 in the morning.  By 8:00 the lots were mostly full and by 9:30 when we got there we couldn't find a spot in the lot we had a pass for.  Finally the guy directing traffic said if we could get the jeep over the curb to the grass we could park in this little spot at the end of the parkway.   Jeep, curb, no problem and spot found, but it was probably the last spot in that lot and the lot we were in was no different from most of the other lots.

Enough about tailgating.  One of the new things I want to do is to point out the differences or unusual things that each stadium has going for it.   For Arrowhead it started with the horse and rider on the field.   My only thought was what would Soldier Field grass be like after a horse trotted up and down the field.  It really is too awful to contemplate.   Other unusual things:  When they do the national anthem a large percentage of the crowd sings along.  I don't recall that from any of the other stadiums thus far.   When they end the national anthem instead of the "home of the brave" they say "the home of the Chiefs" and everyone shouts out the word Chiefs.   Not sure how I feel about that one.  As long as we are discussing the national anthem, another weird thing is they don't have a large flag banner being held by people on the field.  Almost every other stadium does.  Instead they have a large Chiefs arrowhead being waved up and down on the field.  Pretty sure I know how I feel about that one, but I will let everyone decide for themselves.  When they finish the anthem they do this whole guest war Chief thing where someone selected takes this huge mallet and pounds on a giant drum while the whole crowd does this war chant and does this tomahawk motion with their arms.   To be honest it looked like a bunch of wind up nerd robots the first time people did it.  By the 10th time it was just creepy.  Another unusual thing is that the fans stand up for every play when they are on defense.  For the whole game.   Very strange and to those of us wanting to watch the game a little bit annoying.   Now some positives is they applaud when a player gets up from an injury and heads to the sideline no matter which team it was.   This is different from most stadiums where they only do it for their players or a certain team from a city which supposedly promotes brotherly love but will otherwise remain nameless where they cheer when the opposing teams players get hurt and boo when they get up.

There have been some people who question which stadium is louder KC or Seattle.  Having had the chance to be at both two weeks apart, I must say Seattle is louder and the fans are more disruptive.  The Seattle fans start shouting from the moment the other team heads to the huddle, where the KC fans just yell at the line of scrimmage.

The fans were generally very nice.   They got a bit less nice in the last 5 minutes of the game or so, but you can't really blame them for that.  In any event there was only one person who was rude and she wasn't too bad. 

Bears fans were represented pretty well.   I am always amazed at how many Bears fans travel for the games, especially as almost all of us expected them to lose.   Probably between 5 and 7% of the stadium were Bears fans.   But boy, give us even a morsel to be shouting about and Lets Go Bears breaks out as loud and strong as you can want.

I mentioned in the last entry that I was going to make some observations about traffic and construction.   I have observed in the several thousand miles I have driven in the last couple of weeks that construction comes in 4 varieties.  There is the mile long set of cones to move you to one lane for the one guy doing something on the side of the road type of construction delay.   There is the several mile long set of cones because they are thinking of doing construction at some point in the near future, with near being a highly variable point in time.   There is the small warning before the lane goes away and you are suddenly upon the people doing construction.   And last there is the we are going to block off a lane on this side of the road because they are doing construction on the other side of the highway.   The last one seems to be limited thus far to Montana.   As you wander the streets and highways of our country let me know if you find any other major classifications of road construction.

Next week we take on Detroit.  As we have already been to that stadium and to be honest it was not a pleasant enough experience that I want to repeat it, we won't be following the Bears there.  But after the bye and the home game against the Vikings we will be heading out to San Diego.  We will give you all the scoop on the Chargers trip, so stay tuned and as always - GO BEARS.

The Day Before - Chiefs Gameday Minus One

It is the night before the game.  This is the time when I usually sit and think about the game and my expectations.  Unfortunately the Bears have me in that quandary again.  Do I hope for a great game and a win against the 1-3 Chiefs, or do I hope for a competitive game and a loss and let them get closer to a great draft pick?  At this point I don't believe there is any chance the Bears could make the playoffs, and even if they did, they could not win past the first round.   So on the surface hoping for the loss makes sense.  But it goes against every fiber of my being to not root for them to win.  Before the game against the Raiders I was content knowing they could not win a game.  But last week they actually looked good for part of the game.  And the Chiefs have the same abysmal record that the Bears have so maybe, but no - it is not to be and to get my hopes up is silly.

Enough philosophy.   The drive down to KC was easy.  All together it is about 9 hours in the RV.  We did most of it on Friday night and then finished the last 2 hours this morning.   The campground we are at is nothing special, but it isn't in the middle of a slum and the spots are almost, sort of, level and the hookups are close, so all in all not too bad.  We have a minor issue that none of the Nav systems can find the place, but hey we grew up with maps and so that problem was eventually solved.   No, I am serious the Nav systems cannot find the place.  I feel like I am in Brigadoon.   Once we got here I set the location in my Jeep's Nav and just to be sure I did a navigate to the location and it said I was there.   We went out and used the Nav to guide us back to the RV and it guided us to a place about 2 miles away.  The same place that the RV Nav said is where the address indicated the campground should be.  Google maps did no better.  It is like the place is in some other dimension and does not really exist on the surface of our planet.   Very strange.

Now those of you who read this regularly know that we always try to get the signature dish for whatever city we are in.  For Kansas City surprisingly that is Fried Ravioli.  I know you thought it was BBQ.  So did I.   But no, if you look on line it will tell you Fried Ravioli is the signature dish.  This presents a problem.  In all the restaurants we have gone to or looked at on line, no one has Fried Ravioli on the menu.   Now there is a list of the best fried ravioli places in KC, but they are all Italian restaurants.  Now it seems to me that a signature dish needs to exist at more than a couple of places.  We are holding out hope that they may have some at the stadium tomorrow.   Otherwise we may be doomed to miss the signature dish.

But fear not.  For those of you who think that BBQ makes more sense we agreed and set out to try some of the best BBQ in KC.   For lunch we went to a place called LCs.  LCs is a pit.  And I don't mean BBQ pit.  I mean dirty, greasy, slide on the floor, unwashed tables and you are afraid to use the bathroom kind of pit.   But it had some really fine BBQ.   Once we slid our way up to the counter and got our Burnt Ends, Ribs and Beans we headed for a table where some very nice Bear Fans we just getting ready to leave.  After discussing the state of the team for a while (they have the same quandary I have) we agreed that they are best off playing for the draft pick and discussed which QB they should take in the first round.  Three other tables of Bears fans joined in and our sitting down to lunch was a bit delayed.   Now something I should point out is there were only 10 tables in this place, so that is a lot of Bears fans having driven down for a game we all expect them to lose.   Well everyone except the Chiefs fan who isn't sure his team wants to win any more games this year based on how they were playing, but that is another tangent all together.

There is one other feature of this establishment that I should point out.   They have a smoker.  Not unusual in a BBQ joint you say.  And I would generally agree with you, but in this case the smoker is inside.  Now the kitchen area is maybe 15x10.   The counter runs along the long side and the cooks work in the middle and the smoker is at the back.  And every time they open the door of the smoker wonderful, fragrant, heavy white smoke billows out and fills the restaurant.   And when they spray the wood to cool the fire down more clouds of smoke along with steam fill the restaurant.  And when they open it to get the bbq goodness more clouds of smoke fill the restaurant.   If you are picturing a scene out of some demented BBQ gods world you are not far from wrong.   You walk out of the place and everyone for the rest of the day knows where you have gone.  But oh does it smell good.

Burnt ends - good but not great.  I like more bark and a little more well done on my burnt ends.  Ribs - really fine.  Some of the best ribs I have had.  Good flavor, done enough to be tender, but you need your teeth to pull the meat from the bone.   Just like it should be.  Sauce, rich, a bit tangy and not too sweet.  Beans really good.  Great flavor and a lot of the bark from the ends chopped into them.   Service - really friendly and helpful.  Overall score A-.

Now for dinner we decided to try a place that was listed as one of the 13 places you need to eat before you die by Anthony Bourdain.   It was up there with French Laundry, El Bulli and the like.   We get there and it is an old Gas Station.   And they still do pump gas there.  There was unfortunately a line that reminded me of the worst of the gas crisis.   They claim it was an hour wait.  At the end of 20 minutes we had moved forward about 15% of the way and most of that was other people leaving the line.  After 10 more minutes and watching the line move, but nobody entering the restaurant (line compression only apparently) we decided there was no BBQ on earth that good.   So we went off to another of the top 10 BBQ places in KC.  There was only a 2 hour wait at this location.  Another had an hour wait and so we finally decided that we needed to get out of that area and head to the outskirts of town if we were going to eat at any of them.     On the way to a place that said it only had a 25 minute wait we happened to pass a place that claims to have the best pan fried chicken in the city.  Well we had already had BBQ today, and they were here and not another 20 minute drive and 25 minute wait and ..... in we turned.

Now Stroud's has pretty darn good chicken.  And the sides are pretty good too.  It is a little strange because you order individual meals and sides off the menu, and then everything is served family style.  Really weird, but good.   Portions are more than huge.  The coach and I ended up taking home more than we ate by a good amount.  For example we ate three pieces of chicken between us and took home 4.  We finished 1/3 of the mashed potatoes.  1/4 of the green beans.  2 of the 6 cinnamon rolls.   You get the idea.

Tomorrow is game day.  We drove by the stadium to get the lay of the land today and it seems like it will be easy to get there.  Tomorrow will tell the tale.   Now it is time to get the game bag packed and get ready for the morning.

Tomorrow I will give you the update on the stadium and the fans.   I also have a few observations to make on road work, having had the opportunity to observe quite a bit of it on the last two trips.

Until Tomorrow.  GO BEARS  - I just wish I knew where I really want them to go.

Game Day - Bears / Seahawks

Gameday at a new stadium brings all sorts of feelings.  Excitement of course, a chance to see a football game.   Nervousness,  will we get to the field ok and on time?  How will the fans be?  How will parking be? Curiosity,  what will the new stadium be like?   Did I pick good seats for us?   Hope, will it be a good game?  Will the Bears win?  Today's game brought out many of those same feelings, but it also brought out a new one.  Resignation,  I went to today's game knowing they were not going to win and expecting them to be destroyed.   By the end of the game that expectation was realized.  But the Bears are cruel to their fans.  At the end of the first half they also left us with a bit of hope.   Not a lot of hope, but a spark.  Just enough light and heat to cause a faint little fire of hope to spring up.    Only to have it dashed within seconds of the start of the second half.   Cruelty at its worst.

The stadium in Seattle is quite nice.  Getting there is easy other than the usual problem of poor traffic signage that is rampant in Seattle.  Parking was easy and everyone was friendly.  The stadium itself is quite nice and provides fans with a large open area as you enter the stadium where there are games, bands, give-a-ways and a variety of vendors.   From the north parking lot you can see into the stadium and the field.   Once you go up to the club level you find a large variety of food vendors as well as a seating area and a few restaurants.   The largest impression is of openness.  There is no crowding of fans and pushing to get through.   The game seat area is well thought out with easy access to all the seats from either end of the aisle.   They offer seat delivered concessions and we saw many people taking advantage of the convienience. 

Surprisingly Bears fans were well represented.  And many of them came in from Chicago for the game.  

The thing that sticks out the most from our trip here is the fans and the support.   The whole town seems to support the team with at least 6 companies offering various free items based on the Seahawks achieving various goals.  3 sacks, a free double burger at jack-in-the-box.   100 yards rushing and free jerky and slushies from 7-11 and so on.  There were 4 different companies doing donations based on false starts, first downs and other items.  And everywhere you go about town you see large 12 signs.  This is their twelfth man and they take it seriously.  

The Fans also support the team.   Better than 80% of the crowd was in fan gear.  Most of them had jerseys, but there were a large number that did it all the way up with face paint and costumes and who knows what.   There are coordinated chants, total noise and bedlam as soon as the visiting team starts to get into their huddle and it lasts until at least the snap.  And that is on every play.  When the Seahawks are out there you can hear a pin drop in the stadium.  Making noise that might cause the Seahawks to miss a signal or cause a false start is grounds for flogging around the stadium.   And the fans are nice to the visitors.  We had several people ask us to make sure that no one had hassled us.   A couple of the security guards went out of their way to tell us to let them know if anyone gave us a hard time.   And it wasn't because they were sure they were going to win.  Before the game there was a legitimate level of concern and by half time there was some definite worry going on.

All in all I felt a lot like Misses Lincoln when asked "other than that one little thing, how was the play?"   Everything was great, if only the game had been better and the outcome a bit different.

Tomorrow we head on back to Chicago.  Our time in coffeeland is done and it is time to return to home and the solace of friends with whom we can share our pain and lick our wounds.

Tomorrow is Game Day

This post will cover the last couple of days.   Yesterday was mostly spent in driving from Montana to Seattle.  Unfortunately I had to be put on the injury report for the last couple of days with back problems.   Fortunately we had on board two wonderful new talents who were able to step up and jump right into the starting lineup.   The girls did a great job as a Driver/Navigator team while I did my best to rehab my back and get back into the lineup.

I can't give you many observations about the drive other than Idaho - lots of construction, and a quick observation that was made by the backup driving team that coming into Coeur D'alene Idaho, there was nothing but forested lands as far as the eye could see.  Once through Coeur D'Alene and Spokane (sister cities) they were back to rolling hills and scrub brush.   As one of the team said, I didn't realize rolling tumbleweeds was a real thing until this trip.

Our arrival at the campground outside of Seattle was interesting.  The campground is one large parking lot with very small spaces and lots and lots of RVs.   Our driver did a great job getting the rig into a spot and can pretty much be assured that any other RV park she rolls into will be easier.

After getting set up we headed for a restaurant in Seattle, Ma'ono.   As regular readers will remember we try and make sure we taste the signature dish for any city we play in.  For Seattle that is coffee.  Running a close (as in barely able to see the leader) second is Asian and Asian influenced foods, especially sea foods.  So we headed for Ma'ono which is supposed to have great Hawaiian dishes as well as the best fried chicken around.    Oh, and did I mention they also have an extensive whiskey list and do food/whiskey pairings?  Ok, I realize chicken isn't seafood, but Hawaii is Asian influenced.   The food was very good and we tried a wide variety of small plates.  We did not include anything with Spam.  I know - very nontraditional but I could not - just could not make myself do it.

Dishes included:
Manapua - Steamed BBQ PorK Buns
Kalua Pig Tacos - good flavorful tacos
Sesame Roasted Carrots - I was not so much a fan but everyone else loved them.
Stir-Fried Pea Vines with Garlic - really good
Warm Portuguese Sweet Rolls - picture large better tasting Hawaiian rolls
Mac N' Kimcheese
Fried Chicken - really good, but I wouldn't drive 2,000 miles to get it again.
and Loco Moco Wood grilled chuck, Portuguese sausage, fried egg, neckbone gravy, rice, grits, grilled pineapple.  Sounds strange but it was everyone's favorite dish.

Afterwards we checked out the stadium to get the lay of the land before the game and then headed back to the RV for some games and sleep.  

The next day (Saturday) we had a full schedule.    We started with coffee at this cute coffee shop called Wayward.  It is a geek themed coffee shop with Serenity posters, x wing fighter models, a variety of other movie posters and toys all sci-fi based.   The drinks were named to reflect the theme with drinks like Mals and Jayne's favorites.   For all of you who don't get the references, you have a lot of catching up to do.

After that we headed for Pikes Market.  This is the home of the flying fish.  Flying as in one person tosses fish to another person on the other side of the fish mongers stall.  There are also some hundreds of other shops.  I spent about 10 minutes there to satisfy tourist requirements and then headed back for the car.  A couple of hours later when the rest of the squad showed up we headed for EMP.

EMP stands for Experimental Music Project and it is so much more.   Dedicated to the history and exploration of popular music, science fiction, and pop culture. it is a geeks happy playground.  Again I worked on getting back on the field and rested by back while the squad went through the exhibits.  If you are ever in Seattle you should check it out.

Next on our busy schedule was Unicorn Bar.  It is in the LGBT neighborhood and it is a very strange place.   I am not going to try and describe the place in detail.  Carnival strips, weird taxidermy, arcade games, strange carnivalish foods, and an eclectic crowd is the best I can do.   Here is a description from one of the local papers:  The Unicorn, with its absurd name, rampant stripes, salvaged carousel panels, and menagerie of taxidermy, is insane. The bar serves Jell-O shots, and the place gets wild. The food is carnival-style deep-fry, including various corn-dog configurations, unicorn balls, and elephant ears, as well as good, inexpensive burgers made with Painted Hills beef. Additionally, you may have them DEEP-FRY AN ENTIRE HAMBURGER

After a drink or two, we headed out for Starbucks Reserve.   This is a special place that Starbucks has set up to create their small batch reserve coffees, to teach the public about special coffees and to show off their alternate brewing methods.   I hate Starbucks and I was really impressed.  The rest of the team got a coffee to go after we spent almost an hour there learning and watching coffee being prepared.  

Before I go on I need to say something about Seattle for those people who have not been there.  Lets start with - they are crazy for coffee.  You heard about the movie "Sleepless in Seattle"?  Maybe they should have tried decaf for some of the cups they had each day.  There is at least one coffee shop on each block.  Most of them have two or more.  And that is just dedicated coffee shops.  For example Starbucks alone has 108 free standing stores.  That does not include the several hundred counters that are not stand alone.  Like ones in gas stations, in Targets, in office buildings and so forth.  That comes out to one stand alone Starbucks per 6,500 people and one Starbucks of any kind per 2,500 people (man woman and child).   And Starbucks is not the only kind of coffee.  There are probably at least as many independent shops.  And they drive like they drink that much caffeine.  Enough said about that.

After our most recent coffee experience we decided to go to Mashiko, a top rated sushi bar and Japanese restaurant.   The food there was outstanding and I would go back there in a heartbeat.

I will detail the dishes at a later time as this post is getting a bit long.   Tomorrow is the game and interestingly enough the fans here are worried that the Seahawks will lose.  There does not seem to be a lot of confidence on either side at this point.  Of course if they new we didn't have our starting Quarterback or wideout and that the next two wideouts on the list are also questionable I think they might feel a little better.  But we shall see.