Saturday, July 25, 2009

Kj’s Baseball Collection: Nolan Ryan Exhibit Center



At the Nolan Ryan Exhibit Center I got a ball that has a blue strip and a white strip. On the blue strip it says Nolan Ryan Exhibit Center Alvin, Texas. On the white strip it has an image of Nolan Ryan pitching along with the number 34.

Day 67: Blue Angel Statue



The rest area we stopped at around 1am for Dad to sleep at was another Welcome Center one. This time it was in Florida. They have a cool large Blue Angel plane statue there. Now we are in the state of the final two ballparks of the trip. Still 7 hours until we get to campground, though.

Friday, July 24, 2009

Day 66: Mik Barely Caught in Another Nats Shirt



I got away without Mik noticing me take a photo of him in a Nats shirt yesterday. Today, though, when Dad ended up putting the other Nats shirt we got on him because he got his Dbacks shirt dirty, Mik caught me taking the photo with my phone. I still got the photo, though. He actually does not mind wearing this shirt because it basically just has Teddy on the front and the Nats logo is just a Curly W on the back, which you cannot really see when he is sitting in his wheelchair anyways. He just did not want to be photographed, but I did it anyways and am sharing the photo despite his threat to punch me in the face because I think the t-shirt is cool and he punched me anyways (not in the face, though).

Day 66: Cannon in Mississippi



We just entered Mississippi and stopped at the Welcome Center for a restroom stop. Across a pedestrian bridge from the parking lot is a cannon as part of the Vicksburg National Park. The hill the cannon is on gives a great view of the Mississippi River, especially with the sun setting right now.

Day 65: Mik Caught Wearing Nats Shirt



I took this photo yesterday with my phone and forgot to post it until I saw it while getting to the Texas one I just posted. The photo is of Mik at the campsite yesterday morning in Arlington, Texas, wearing his Nats shirt that was part of the things we received at the Nats game. As a Dback fan he was embarrassed Dad put it on him and he wanted it off right away, but I convinced him it is not that obvious of a Nats shirt and probably few in this part of the country will even think it is a baseball team t-shirt. Then this morning he did not want to change out of it until he fully woke up and remembered he was wearing a Nats shirt, so today he is wearing a Dbacks shirt. He will probably not be tricked into wearing it again , but I did get this photo catching him wearing it at least once.

Sent from my iPhone

Day 66: Back in Texas



Yesterday we left Texas to stay in Oklahoma before going to the Softball Museum this morning. Now we are partly backtracking the same route as we head to Florida. We just reentered Texas, but not for the last time on this trip, as we are coming back through and staying with friends a few days on the way home after Game 30. Anyways I thought this Texas statue at the Welcome Center on I-35 was interesting.

Internet on the road has been bad lately, so probably few if any posts until we get to Florida tomorrow other than from my phone. I do have some ready to copy and paste to post about the past few days, though, once I get a good connection again.

Sent from my iPhone

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Mik’s Mini Bat Collection: Nolan Ryan



At the Nolan Ryan Exhibit Center Mik got what I like to call a medium bat. It is not exactly a mini bat because it is longer than all the others. Even the fat ones (Cincinnati Reds and All the Ballparks Road Trip ones) are the same length as the regular souvenir mini bats. This one however is the normal thickness at the top, but it longer than normal. The reason for it being longer is because it has Nolan Ryan and four stats engraved on it.

The bat has a Nolan Ryan signature engraved in the middle of four accomplishments. The two accomplishments to the left of the signature are 324 Wins and 7 No-Hitters. The two accomplishments to the right are 5,714 Strikeouts and Hall of Fame 1999.