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Travelling The 50 States – Arkansas

Over my 47 years, I’ve done my fair share of travelling across these United States.  I thought it would be an interesting experiment go look back at those trips to each of the 31 states I have visited (62% isn’t bad, is it?) and see if, and when, I may be returning.  Working in alphabetical order, we start today with the 25th state to be added to the Union: Arkansas.

State: Arkansas
Joined the Union: 1836
Visits: 1

My one brief visit to Arkansas was part of a bigger, Elvis-themed road trip back in 2015.  On the way from Memphis to Tupelo, Mississippi, we detoured through Arkansas for a delightful dinner at a local favorite known as Cracker Barrel.  And that was it.

Will I return?  Honestly, I can’t see why unless, like this trip, it is on the way to somewhere else.

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Book 35 (of 52) – The House Across The Lake

The House Across The Lake – Riley Sager

A semi-famous actress, banished to the family lake house due to her drinking following the death of her husband the year before, gets enmeshed in the lives of the former supermodel and her tech mogul husband across the lake. When she spies upon them having a fight and, the next morning, the wife goes missing, she assumes the worst. But, she’s about to find out that the worst has yet to come. In order to save the day, she will need to face her demons, both physical and metaphorical.

For the third year in a row, I’ve finished Riley Sager’s latest offering, The House Across The Lake being this year’s entry, while out of state on vacation.  This time, he leans firmly into the supernatural while telling a compelling story about an otherwise tired story of the busybody spying on the couple across the street/lake/whatever and seeing the wife seemingly disappear.  Sager has become a reliable and annual presence on my bookshelf and I look forward to what he has to offer next year.

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If You Build It, They Won’t Come

One day before the Cubs and the Reds are set to battle in the second Field of Dreams game in Dyersville, Iowa, word broke that MLB will not be returning to the site in 2023.  Frank Thomas, the former White Sox star who is part of the new ownership group that owns and operates the site, said that construction plans at the movie site will prevent MLB from returning next year.

Thomas and his partners, who bought the site after the inaugural game last year, plan to put in a youth baseball and softball complex that they hope will begin construction later this year.  The construction work will impact the site’s accessibility.

Will a game return there in 2024?  Too soon to tell, though breaking the inertia of making this an annual tradition will be a hurdle that will need to be jumped.

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The Jason Heyward Era Ends

In news that was both surprising and unsurprising, Jed Hoyer announced before last night’s game that Jason Heyward was unlikely to return from his knee injury this year and that he and the Cubs would be parting ways this offseason.  Heyward, who has been on the IL with a knee injury since late June, has one year remaining on his contract.

Signed to an 8-year, $184 million contract back in December of 2015, Heyward never quite produced enough to justify his lofty contract and, as the Cubs failed to sustain their 2016 success, he became as much of a scapegoat as anyone else on the roster, seeing his playing time reduced.  However, his place in Cubs lore was set when he was credited with leading an inspiring players-only meeting during the 17-minute rain delay at the end of Game 7 of the 2016 World Series, after which the Cubs stormed out and took the lead in the 10th inning.

In addition to a World Series ring, Heyward won Gold Glove awards in both 2016 and 2017.  His numbers with the Cubs, both in games I attended and overall, were:

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FB8 – Week 28

Another bad week, falling back below 30,000 steps.  Things got off to a bad start on Sunday, as I finished with only 3400 steps.  Monday saw that number nosedive, coming 8 steps away from 2700.  A baseball game on Tuesday night led to the highest total of the week, finishing with exactly 6200 steps.  Wednesday fell off again, jumping back down to 3300 steps.  Thursday saw a slight improvement, going up to 4600 thanks to a night out with Val.  Friday was another bum day, dropping down to 3000 steps.  Saturday saw a decent enough improvement, going up to 4300 steps.

Total steps: 27,731

Daily average: 3961.6

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Travelling The 50 States – Arizona

Over my 47 years, I’ve done my fair share of travelling across these United States.  I thought it would be an interesting experiment go look back at those trips to each of the 31 states I have visited (62% isn’t bad, is it?) and see if, and when, I may be returning.  Working in alphabetical order, we start today with the 48th state to be added to the Union: Arizona.

State: Arizona
Joined the Union: 1912
Visits: 2

Both of my trips to Arizona have occurred within the past seven years, first in 2015 and then again in 2018.  Both visits can also be connected to my job, either directly or indirectly.

In 2015, my first trip to Arizona was for a work recognition trip in March.  Staying at The Phoenician resort for three nights, we enjoyed the facilities (especially the pool), took a rafting trip down the Lower Salt River, and travelled to an offsite ranch for a farewell dinner.  Outside of the work-related activities, I also managed to sneak in a Friday afternoon trip to Sloan Park to see the Cubs battle the White Sox in exciting Cactus League action.   Rather than heading home, I extended my stay for a couple of days.

Saturday, after a trip to the airport to pick up a rental car, we headed to Camelback Ranch in Glendale to watch the White Sox take on the visiting A’s in another installment of the Cactus League.  Looking for some non-baseball activities, Sunday consisted of a lake cruise along Lake Pleasant while Monday started at Heard Museum, which claims to be one of the premier Native American museums in the United States.  When that turned into kind of a bust, we headed to nearby Chase Field for a tour of the home of the Diamondbacks.

I returned to the Phoenix area in 2018, following another work trip.  A conference in Las Vegas led to me stopping in Arizona for the weekend before heading home.  I again took in some Cactus League action, this time at Camelback Ranch and Peoria Sports Complex, seeing the White Sox, Cubs, and Mariners (twice!).  I also enjoyed a trip to the slot canyons and Horseshoe Bend in Page, followed by a quick trip to the Grand Canyon.  I also managed to see my dad for the first time in years (and, to date, the last time I’ve seen him).  He had recently moved to the Tuscon area and drove up for a quick bite to eat before going back home.

Will I return?  I have to assume that yes, I will return to Arizona someday.  Leaving aside any future spring training action, I do need to take in an actual game at Chase Field at some point.  I will also likely need to deal with something related to my dad.  So I’d say the odds are much better than 50/50.

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London Calling

One of the casualties of the lockdown following the corona virus pandemic in 2020 was the cancellation of the series in London between the Cubs and the Cardinals.  While MLB returned in full force in 2021 and this year, the series in London did not.  Well, MLB announced yesterday that the series would return in 2023 with the Cubs and the Cardinals finally getting their chance to battle overseas.

MLB played in Europe for the first time in 2019, when the Yankees swept a pair of games from the Red Sox, and looked to further expand the game’s popularity throughout Europe by making it an annual excursion.  I imagine if next year’s tilt goes off without a hitch, the annual rollout will continue as originally planned.

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A Deafening Thud

Last year, the Cubs and the White Sox made a lot of noise at the trade deadline, making six deals involving stars like Craig Kimbrel, Javy Baez, Anthony Rizzo, and Kris Bryant.  With the White Sox looking to make a move to overtake the Twins and Guardians in the AL Central and the Cubs looking to further divest themselves of championship pieces like Willson Contreras and Ian Happ, this year’s deadline was sure to be a wild and crazy time.  It wasn’t.

Sure, each time made some small moves, with the Cubs emptying out their bullpen of anyone with a pulse and the White Sox adding a bullpen arm, but those expected big moves didn’t happen.  Willson Contreras, a free agent at year’s end, is still a Cub.  It is safe to say nobody had this on their bingo card.

So where do we go from here?  For the White Sox, Rick Hahn and company have to hope that getting their stars healthy provides enough of a boost to sneak into the postseason for a third consecutive year.  On the north side of town, things are a little stickier.  By not trading Contreras, he will play out the year and will likely be given a qualifying offer heading into free agency, which, at best, will cost him money and, at worst, could leave him sitting at home well into the start of the 2023 season.  Ian Happ is under team control for another year, so, short of an offseason deal, he will go through this same dance next July.

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FB8 – Week 27

We start the second half of the year with a nice bounce back week, thanks to a midweek trip to Denver.  Things got off to a pretty decent start on Sunday, as I finished 12 steps below 5700 thanks to an afternoon at Guaranteed Rate Field.  Monday fell off quite a bit, dropping down to 2600 steps.  Tuesday was the high point of the week, thanks to a trip to the airport and then a White Sox/Rockies game at Coors Field, leaving me with 8700 steps, the best day of the week.  Another afternoon in Denver and at Coors Field on finished at 8200 steps, my second straight day over goal.  Thanks in part to an early morning arrival at O’Hare on Thursday, I was able to come 16 steps away from 4500.  Friday was another disappointing day, coming in 7 steps shy of 2900.  Another White Sox game on Saturday pushed me back up over 5800 steps.

Total steps: 38,522

Daily average: 5503.1