In normal times, this is where I would take a look back at all of the trips I took over the past year and look ahead to what, if any. travel plans I already have for 2022. Unfortunately, 2021 continued to be far from normal times, as the global pandemic raged on for a second year, though things did manage to open back up slightly.
My first “trip” of the year, if you can call it that, was in March. On a Friday afternoon, I drove down to Purdue to pick up Danny, before continuing on to Indianapolis so we could watch Purdue in the NCAA tournament. They managed to completely crap the bed, which made the whole effort worthwhile. After the game, we traveled back the way we came and I was home early the next morning.
In August, I made my only big trip of the year, driving down to Florida for some fun in the sun. I had rented a condo on AirBNB that was right on the water, which, thanks to the spacious deck, let me enjoy the view while relaxing and reading. I also managed to make my first two trips to Tropicana Field, as the White Sox were in town to battle the Rays. Those experiences did not turn out quite as well.
On the drive home, I stopped in Atlanta and managed to take in a game at Truist Park to see the Yankees battle the Braves. The following day I completed my journey, making it home in the midst of a torrential downpour, which made the last hour or so of driving so much fun.
The only other trips were back down to Purdue for football games, one in October and two in November. We didn’t manage to make the second game in November, but it’s the drive that matters.
Looking ahead to 2022, despite the rise in COVID cases due to the omicron variant, I’m planning to return to Hawaii later this month and the family is headed to Boston in May for Angelina’s graduation. Other than that, there are some baseball trips I want to take this year, but nothing is solid just yet. Here’s hoping that the world returns to some sort of normalcy, though I’m not optimistic.
For the first time in the history of man kind, the #1 ranked men’s college basketball team in the country calls Mackey Arena home. The 8-0 Boilermakers were a unanimous No. 1 in the poll released earlier today, moving up #2 last week following victories over Florida State and Iowa and a Duke loss to Ohio State. Prior to this week, Purdue had the second-most appearances in the AP poll, 379 weeks, for a school that had never been ranked #1, behind Maryland with 434 weeks. Purdue goes on the road this week with a Big 10 game at Rutgers on Thursday and the Basketball Hall of Fame Invitational against North Carolina State on Sunday in Brooklyn.
