After our lunch at Rosie’s, we jumped on the famous highway to take us the rest of the way to the Grand Canyon.

We took an exit for gas and ended up getting lost somewhere in the middle of Arizona.  We were driving down dirt roads through fields of joshua trees and dodging the wild steer that inhabit the land.  We didn’t find our way back to 66 until close to dark, so instead of driving the rest of the way to the Canyon, we stopped in the tiny town of William, AZ and stayed in a little hotel that’s been there since 1891.

The town really had the feel of the old wild west and it was neat staying the night on Route 66 and having a couple beers at the saloon.

Yes that’s right we are officially over 20,000 miles for the trip. 20,013.4 to be exact. And are still roughly 1,500 miles from home. Here’s just an idea of how far we’ve traveled.

Philadelphia to L.A. - 2,709 miles

New York City to Tokyo, Japan - 6,762 miles

Alaska to Chile - 16,000 miles

Miami to Seattle - 3,355 miles

Entire length of Africa - 16,100

And just for fun because we are all Pennsylvania natives.. we could’ve driven from Eria PA to Philadelphia 52 times…yes Hertz will never let us rent from them again

The five and a half hour drive to the Grand Canyon from Vegas is not fun… there isn’t really a whole to look at.  But we made the most of it.

We went south down 93 and drove the Vanbino across the Hoover Dam.  Right outside the dam, we stopped in a little gift shop where we met some fellow Phillies fans.  It was nice meeting them all the way out in Arizona.

Rosie’s is a little restaurant we found on the side of the highway in the middle of nowhere.  We were hungry, hadn’t seen anything for miles, so decided to give it a try.  It was hot inside and there were flies.  There was one waitress and one cook and the other customers new them by name.  The place was old but it sure had character… and the food was some of the best we’ve had.  Homecooked meatloaf and $2 Coronas made this little joint a favorite spot of ours.

I wish it was a little closer to Philly so I could go back and try the roast beef.

What’s a road trip without stopping in America’s playground?

We arrived in Vegas around 9pm, walked the Strip, had a couple dollar margaritas (by a couple I mean six), played a little poker, then went to the fountain show at the Bellagio where we ran into fellow co-workers from back in Philly.  Small world.

Great time.

Today we had an interview with a local CBS station in San Diego then we hit the road to begin our drive home.  After having driven almost 20,000, the 3,000 miles to Philadelphia seems like nothing more than a trip to the grocery store.

John and Erik from CBS met us at the Tony Gwynn statue in the Park at the Park and we talked all about the trip.  Thanks for taking the time to talk with us, guys - we had fun.

We’ll be passing through Vegas tonight then the Grand Canyon tomorrow.  I bought a jaw harp when we were in Texas and I haven’t had the chance to try it out yet.  I think I’ll practice it on the drive home.  Joey’s in for a long ride back…

30 days ago, Joey, Pedro, Glenn, and I left Philadelphia to chase our dream of watching a game in all 30 Major League ballparks in just 30 days. With 15,000 miles of road and a daunting schedule ahead of us, we were driven to succeed with the single notion of  ”whatever it takes”.  

Yesterday, that dream was realized. 

As Peavy threw his first pitch, we knew we had succeeded. We sat together with friends and family in the San Diego sun and basked in the sense of accomplishment. I don’t think any of us have ever felt so fulfilled. 

It wasn’t always easy and it wasn’t always fun, but this experience was more than we could have ever hoped for. To everyone who helped us along the way - from those who helped foster the idea from the beginning to those who shared their beer and hot dogs at the park - each of you was instrumental in the success of this project and we truly could not have made it without you. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. 

Though we have now visited all 30 parks, the journey isn’t over yet. Over the next week, as we drive home to Philadelphia, the blogs and adventures will continue. Keep checking in. 

I’d love to say more, but right now…I’m tired.

The kids are tired, the van honestly looks like it threw up three 25 year old boys. But with all that said, nothing can stop us now.  Today we drove into California for the 3rd time in 5 days.  But whats interesting is that minutes, hours, days, or just the general sense of time doesnt exist to us right now.  Days feel like they happened weeks ago, and weeks feel like the span of months.  And today marks day 29 with the goal as close to us as Travis is to his only pair of shorts.  The weather is awesome and we are just about 7 hours from San Deigo.  We will pit stop in L.A for the night then head to Petco Park in the morning.  We will take our pictures, shoot our footage, eat our final hot dog (hopefully hold it down), and then head into the San Diego sunset to kickoff a celebration not just for us but for baseball fans everywhere. What a ride it’s been.

29 down.  1 to go.

So close to accomplishing what we set out to do but still so far away.

We have to drive the entire west coast (over 1,200 miles) before our next (and last) destination.  We’ve been extremely lucky thus far with weather….

It doesn’t rain much in San Diego, right?

Last night at the Pyramid Ale House across the street from Safeco, we had the pleasure of meeting Craig (founder of Ballparkchasers.com, see link below) and Ken, fellow ballpark chaser.  Ken has just two ballparks left to see (Citi and Yankee, which he’ll be seeing this summer) before he can check off all thirty.  It was great talking to Craig and Ken about their favorite ballparks around the country.

We were also able to spend some time in downtown Seattle before the game.  Just did the touristy things - the Public Market, the Space Needle… it’s a beautiful city.

We’ll have to add Seattle to our list of cities we need to come back to.

Driving from Denver to San Francisco in one night may not have been the greatest idea but we made it. The van stinks, we are as tired as ever, and Pedro’s beard is starting to grow legs. But San Francisco didn’t disappoint, with an unbelievable park. We started running to the park with excitement. OK, in truth we were late so we had to sprint like teenage girls at a JT concert. Half-way through Trav even needed an inhaler break. But hey that’s what a diet of beer, hot dogs and roughly 13,000 miles of driving can do to a guy. Once in the park we caught our breath and relaxed with some classic San Fran garlic fries and ice cold beers. We knew AT&T Park was a good sign of things to come when we ran into former Brewers and Cardinals All-Star Fernando Vina. I was as giddy as a school girl when asking for a picture; he’s a ball player though so you can’t blame me. What a great guy who was really interested and thrilled with what we were doing, thanks Fernando.

From there it was back in the “Vanbino” and across the bay to Oakland, our final double header. We parked the van and threw on some deodorant out of respect for the tailgaters down wind from us. The lot was actually full of tailgaters, a big surprise. We were even greeted by Jon, a Philly transplant living out in Oakland. He sported his Phil’s cap proud and welcomed us with some watermelon that he said was “special.” After a few bites we realized “special” must be code for “soaked in vodka.” This could’ve knocked a Russian steel worker on his rear-end; it was exactly what we needed.