I couldnt believe it when my alarm went off at 5:15am and I had to get up. Just didnt seem like it could be that early already, but it was, so I was up and getting ready to roll. By the time I was ready, had the car loaded and was pulling out of the driveway with the GPS on, it was 6:15am.The drive from Bartlesville to the interstate is a long one on a winding road. I did get to see the sun come up and that was beautiful. By the time I finally got to the interstate, I had to get me a bite to eat and use the restroom, so I stopped at a McDonalds in Blackwell, OK, which is where my Mom and I stopped for breakfast 3 years ago when we drove home from Bartlesville. My next stop was a ways up the road, at a Stuckey’s just west of Salina, KS to get gas. After filling up, I wanted to go in and get something that says “Stuckey’s” on it and some pecan logs, that are oh so good. I got to the door and the place was closed. I just filled my tank at the pump, and yet the place is closed, that sucked, but atleast I was able to get gas.
The rest of the drive to Denver was smooth, nothing exciting until I was about 30-45 minutes away from my hotel. I started watching this huge wall cloud and at one end of it in a field, I swear I saw a funnel cloud that touched the ground.. aka… a tornado. Now I must say that it wasnt that big at all and I honestly thought originally that it was a fire in that field and what I saw was the smoke coming up from it… until I saw that it was moving. It didnt last long at all, and I was unable to get into a good position to pull over and get any pictures until after it had already disappeared. I could see lightning flashing in the distance that way and I knew this was gonna be a nice storm to drive through.  I kept on driving and as I got closer to the cloud formation, the temp was dropping and it was getting dark fast! BLAM! The thunder and lighning got loud and bright! Before long I got to say, “We got hail!” The hail came down so hard that between it and the wipers, it cleaned my windshield nicely. I could see planes flying through it on the way to airport and I was so glad I wasnt on one of those cause it had to be rockin and rollin! The storm lasted a while and then I drove out of it just before I got to my hotel.
I checked in, took my luggage up and headed to Coors Field to get a bite to eat at Rounders and the Sandlot Brewery, which is down the first baseline there at the park. When I got there, it was closed. They close it to outside traffic on game nights, so I was unable to go in. I decided to wait for the gates to open and head in that way. I found out that there was already 2 gates open, A & D, so I headed around the side of the park to gate D to go in.
I went straight to the left field bleachers and took up a spot to watch BP. I must say that while Coors Field is a beautiful park and the air is thinner there, this BP session SUCKED! The entire time that I was there, almost an hour, there a grand total of 8 balls hit out! Only 3 or 4 of them were in the LF bleachers, and none in the section I was in. The last time I was at Coors, July 2003, balls were being peppered into the stands left and right. Not tonight though. I dunno if it was just that the Mets werent into it or what the deal was, but it was quite boring sitting there.
After BP I got me something to eat, nachos, and a beer and sat in left center watching the grounds crew get the field ready for play. The Rockies mascot, a big purple dinosaur (not Barney) had a group of kids playing kickball in leftfield, what an experience that must have been for those kids. By the time they were announcing the starting lineups, I was ready to get some sleep! I was so tired! But I had a game to watch so when they announced the starters, I was there filling out my scorebook. When they announced who was playing for the Rockies, something strange hit me. I knew who Todd Helton was, but as for the other 8 guys, I had no friggin clue who any of them were! 8 out of the starting 9, I didnt know! I dont believe I have ever been to a game where that has happened before… not even close!
After the first inning, it was 3-2 Rockies and almost 35 minutes had already gone by and I was getting more and more tired by the second. I decided I would stay until it became an official game, bottom or middle of the 5th, depending on who is winning at that point, and then I would call it a night. I knew I had a huge drive in front of me the next day, almsot 900 miles, so I needed some sleep! Truth be known, by the 3rd inning I was packing up and heading towards the Sandlot to have a beer or two, maybe something to eat and then go ahead and go.
The Sandlot is very cool, now this is a Sports Bar. They didnt have a big screen, that I saw, but they had a bunch of TVs all over the place playing different things from that nights Rockies game, to the US Open (Aggasi’s match) and even preseason football. I bellied up to the bar, ordered a Blue Moon Belgian White and drank it down. It wasnt that bad, but for my next beer I asked the bartender to bring me something different, whatever their best seller was. It turned out to be “Right Field Red”. Knowing it was a red, it was gonna be strong, but this baby was STTTRRROOOONNNG! I was glad I tried it, but it wasnt something I would want to get often.
So I had my 2 beers, talked to my wife on the phone a while and started my walk around the park back to the car. On the way I got dinner, a footlong brat with grilled onions, peppers and kraut. I ate it on my drive back to my hotel on the east side of Denver where I was in bed asleep by just after 10pm.
Miles Today: 682
Total Miles: 5806
New States Today: 1 – Colorado
Total Countries: 2 – USA & Canada
Total States: 18
License Plate Game: 0
Total Plates: 41
Games: 1 (Rockies won 8-4)
Total Games: 13
Beers: 3
Total Beers: 36
Hot Dogs: 1
Total Hot Dogs: 14