Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Meeting a Kindred Spirit and Exploring Detroit

We got into Detroit yesterday, May 14. I’d heard the Detroit area has lost a lot of money, jobs, and population over the years. But in my mind, I've always thought of it as a blue-collar town sure to have a lot of great people in it—and I wasn’t wrong. When the ride began yesterday, we got into an area known as the Irish Hills. We passed dozens of abandoned homes, motels and businesses but in other parts of the city we saw signs of renewal: community gardens and hints of gentrification. It's like I got to visit Detroit right in between what it used to be and whatever it is turning into, and that is neat.
 
 
 
Kindred Spirit

Detroit’s people and ballpark have been great. We've been staying with Justin and his son Peyton, 15. Peyton got a cochlear implant when he was 6 and is the biggest baseball nut I've ever met—even including myself! Peyton can name the all World Series champions and his room (thanks for letting me take a picture Peyton!) is astounding. Between the baseball connection and the CI, I felt like I had really met a kindred spirit. Peyton gave up his baseball shrine of a room for Jack and me during our stay. And his dad cooked us a great homemade dinner. Who could ask for anything more!

We saw a great game although the Tigers didn’t win. But it was exciting to the last pitch. The Tigers had given up two runs in the 8th to break the tie, and in the 9th, they got the bases loaded with two outs. Miguel Cabrera was up (Peyton's favorite Tiger) and he hit a shot all the way to the wall. Unfortunately, the Houston centerfielder had a great bead on it, jumped up and caught it as it hit the wall. But that's baseball, you know.

We're leaving tomorrow for Chicago. We're doing three games in three days; Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. Plus, we have to cover 100 miles from Chicago to Milwaukee AND see a game on the same night. Crunch time. We are looking at doing some extra miles on Friday and/or Saturday to get a head start on Milwaukee to take the pressure off.

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