Awesome Inc. Remembers

Since it has been almost a month since our last post here, it's about time we stepped up. While we formulate some post topic ideas, we hope you enjoy a look back at one of the greatest trips in Awesome Inc. history. JH Naners (Joe), JT (Jamie), NW (Nick), and myself (BBL) took to the road for two weeks three years ago and here is what transpired. This is the first installment of four.

Enjoy!

BBL

Day 1 (June 18^th, 2003) - The first day of what would end up being two week trek around the Great Lakes and Northeast watching baseball began very early. The idea was to leave at 6 am so we could arrive in Milwaukee in plenty of time for the Miller Brewery Tour. The Honda Hybrid was gassed up and the trunk was loaded to the max, but Nick was not there. The members of the 2131 (Jamie, Joe, and myself) were all ready to roll, but we had to wait. The trip ended up only being delayed by 20 minutes, but knowing Nick we were all worried that it could have been a lot longer. Timeliness isn't one of his strengths.

After wedging his bag into the last remaining open corner of the trunk we were off...for 3 minutes. Having forgotten if we had locked the doors to the house we had to turn around and pulled into a driveway that had a huge pothole. The Hybrid took a hit, but was unscathed. This wasn't the best way to start the trip, but turned out to be one of only a few mishaps. After checking the doors we were officially on the road.

We found out that Nick's reason for being late was not getting any sleep after talking to his friend Patty the whole night. Smart move right there! It's always a great idea to start a two-week roadtrip on no sleep. For proof of no sleep here's a picture:

After making very good time we arrived at our hotel in Milwaukee at 2 pm. The first of many Priceline hotel purchases turned out to be very good. Although it wasn't near the ballpark, it was in a good location for our trip down to Chicago the next day. Everybody was pretty excited by now. After checking in, a task we would grow to know very well by the end of the trip, we hopped back into the car. Next Stop: Miller Brewery Tour.

The Miller Brewery is laid out over many big buildings called the Miller Valley and is pretty scenic when you drive through it down the main road.

The old Plank Road House is the first thing you see and looks very historic.

We hit up the Gift Shop and got our complimentary tickets. The tour began with a brief movie about Miller featuring the unmistakable voice of the Miller High Life commercials. After the infomercial we headed outside and were hit in the face by the smell of hops. I was overwhelmed by the smell. The highlight of the tour was seeing the warehouse. America drinks a lot of beer!

We finished the tour with beer samples and writing postcards to ourselves taking advantage of Miller's generous offer of free postage. My love of beer is shown here:

Jamie, Joe, and Nick took advantage of the fine products in the gift shop on our way out and on to Miller Park.

At Miller Park, it was six bucks to park and the lot was pretty full of tailgaters even though the Brewers were off to another poor start and the game was still a couple hours from starting. The smell of brats filled the air. After we grabbed our cheap $10 bleacher seats, we walked around the stadium since the gates weren't open yet.

There wasn't a whole lot to see around the stadium, but there were a couple points of interest. The original home plate of County Stadium with a tribute to the old Milwaukee Braves is next to a junior baseball field and a memorial to the three construction workers who died when a crane fell during construction of Miller Park is just outside the main entrance. While waiting for the gates to open we saw a credit card offer with the gift being a Brewers stocking cap. This is the first of many credit card signups on the trip.

The gates opened and we headed in to check out the stadium. The roof was closed unfortunately, so the atmosphere was a bit lacking from the start. Jamie and I immediately went to the concession stand for brats, a Milwaukee staple. A little special sauce and sauerkraut made it extra good. Joe partook in an Italian sausage later on in the game. During batting practice we went out to our Bleacher seats in left field and met a very interesting character. Some guy in a Marlins hat, at a game between the Brewers and Cardinals, ended up next to us some how and began talking about a load of different topics. Batting practice was his first area of expertise. He shared with us the ins and outs of where to be for each batter and how to snag the balls away from small children. The four baseballs he showed us were proof of his successful technique. After a few homers flew our way and watching this guy move so gracefully after them, we decided to move to the next section over. Marlins guy managed to find us again though and proceeded to tell us how to take full advantage of the Kohl's $5 off coupon every fan received at the game. He first told us how you can get a ton of them by digging in the trash. Then the trick was to buy socks or other items just over $5, leave out one door, come in the other door (obviously fooling everybody), and repeating the process until all coupons had been exhausted. An absolutely brilliant piece of information that we were lucky enough to hear. Here's a pic of me showing my appreciation of his wisdom:

After the excitement of batting practice and another brat for Jamie and me, the game was almost underway. Time flies when you are listening to a crazy guy and eating brats. The game itself was rather uneventful with the Cardinals rolling to an easy 9-1 win with the highlights being an Eduardo Perez homer for the Cards and a "Hard-hitting" Eddie Perez homer for the Brewers. Glendon Rusch had some great stuff for the Brewers, but still managed to give up 8 runs in one plus innings pitched.

http://baseball-almanac.com/box-scores/boxscore.php?boxid=200306180ML4

After filling out another credit card form for a Brewers t-shirt to go along with our stocking caps, we moved around to other seats and ended up lying down on the metal bleachers in right field. Nick fell asleep again, while I went up to experience the stadium from the last row in the upper deck. It was quite the view from that high up.

Day one came to a close after arriving back at the hotel and a quick trip to the nearby gas station for some food. Arizona Iced Teas were on sale and Joe and I took advantage of that sweet deal. Was a good first day, but many more memorable days would be upcoming.

Day 2 (June 19, 2003) - The next day brought even more good times. After waking up a little earlier, we grabbed breakfast at a nearby Perkins. After the delicious and filling meal it was time to hit the road to Chicago. It was a quick hour and a half trip south to our hotel on the Chicago River. The Hyatt Regency was awesome! Free internet allowed us to download the pictures we had taken and check up on fantasy baseball of course. We checked in early and headed straight for the El. The Red Line took us right to US Cellular Field for the White Sox game against the Red Sox. We grabbed the cheapest tickets available ($14), a credit card offer t-shirt, and started the trek to the upper deck. The top of the pedestrian ramp did provide a great view of the Chicago Skyline:

We were lucky, or maybe unlucky, enough to attend the game on dollar dog day. I had a couple of these very salty franks only because they were so cheap and I wish I hadn't. The game itself was pretty good. The Red Sox were held to one hit for nine innings, but managed to score 3 runs on that one hit. The game went to extra innings tied at three where Billy Koch gave up the winning run in the tenth. http://baseball-almanac.com/box-scores/boxscore.php?boxid=200306190CHA

After the game we headed back downtown for some deep dish pizza. After regrouping in our hotel, we headed out for the pizza, but as we reached the hotel lobby we noticed a small entourage by a limo outside. As the group moved inside we noticed it was none other than Don King! He moved quickly, but we did manage to get a picture.

After the Don King experience we walked across the river and to Pizzeria Uno, the birthplace of deep dish pizza. We put in our order while we waited for a table. The place is in an old basement type room that is pretty unique. The pizza was pretty good, but the crust was extremely hard. It might have been better had I not had those dollar dogs. We took to the streets after the pizza and walked the Magnificant Mile to Lake Michigan. It was freezing cold for it being the middle of June and didn't make the time on the beach very enjoyable.

A stroll past the bars at Rush and Division was next and then we got back on the subway. After riding that around for a while and getting on a couple of wrong trains we finally ended up at the Sears Tower. We had to hustle to get on the last trip up to the observation deck for the night. It was well worth the $10 ticket to see the city and surrounding areas at night. It was a fantastic view and a great way to end a very full day two. (Side note: We included the current Maxim cover in some of these pictures because we thought about entering the magazine's road trip contest. After seeing that the "Fabulous Prizes" were a tent and other camping supplies we passed on even entering.)

Day 3 (June 20, 2003) - A long day starts with checking out from our excellent hotel and jumping on the subway to Wrigley Field. We were lucky enough to get free tickets in the famous bleachers for the Crosstown Classic against the White Sox. We got there early and took in the sunny day while the White Sox took batting practice.

We grabbed third row seats in right center field and nearly caught a couple BP homers. The game itself wasn't terribly interesting although the Sox did score six in the first on their way to a 12-3 win.
http://baseball-almanac.com/box-scores/boxscore.php?boxid=200306200CHN.

Eddie Vedder singing the 7th inning stretch was pretty cool, but the real craziness was watching the fans in the bleachers. Loads of drunken guys making idiotic comments, lots of swearing, not nearly enough shirts being worn, and one woman who decided it was spring break and started flashing for the camera phones. The woman was going to be thrown out by one of the ushers, Stanley, but the pleading from the drunken guys changed Stanley's mind. Even with the sunburn and stupid fans in the bleachers it was a fun time experiencing one of the historic ballparks from a new vantage point.

After the game, we needed some grub before hitting the road and wanted to try another pizza place. We hit up Gino's East and it was much better than Pizzeria Uno. The walls were covered with written messages and the place was just a cool general.

The pizza was outstanding since they figured out a way to make the crust much softer than Uno's. After eating, we got on the road to Toledo. Along the way we made a quick stop in South Bend to see the Notre Dame campus. It wasn't as impressive at night, but was still cool to see and take some pictures.

The campus stop only took an hour and then we got back on the road. After a long day, we arrived in Toledo at 1:30 am and crashed into bed right away.