The Omaha Adventure - Day 1 The Toledo Model A Club

It started innocently enough our adventure to Omaha.  I had decided that Toledo Ohio would be our first destination.  A mere 11 hours away "as the crow flies,"  Toledo seemed like a good idea.  When I was younger, my family and I went to the outskirts of Toledo to visit my aunt and I remember that the drive was a great adventure.  I didn't have Pokemon Go, Instagram or Snapchat then either.  How bad could it be for the boys?

We make good time through Massachusetts and the Albany area.  We stop at a couple of rest stops along the way, including a McDonalds that required us to go over a bridge over the thruway to get to it.  While the boys were struck at how fast the cars underneath them were going, I was just looking at my watch thinking "I really want to get there in time for the restaurant to be open."

After driving through the Buffalo region and a great ride through Cleveland seeing Progressive Field (Jacobs Field to me), Toledo seems just a stone's throw away. 

Finally, after 13 hours - that trip to McDonalds probably took an hour itself - we get to Perrysburg.  A little bit closer to us than Toledo, the boys were excited to be at the destination sooner than we thought.  Even better, the hotel was right off the highway.  Little did we know that we would be the youngest people there by about 30 years...

I don't have words to describe this scene.

The Model A Restorers Club had its annual rally in our hotel, at the same time that we stayed there.  While dodging guys in walkers and trying to navigate the "Model A Parking" signs we stop in to the restaurant, a quasi Irish pub that served the most American of pub fare. What the Hell is going on with all of the old people and older cars I ask the waiter in the nicest of terms. It seemed that we were just at the beginning since all of these guys and their trailers were just starting to grease things up.  Seriously, what the Hell is going on?

After listening to his answer, the waiter starts in with how we were in Town for a baseball tournament.  C tells him that its actually the College World Series in Omaha where we are going, and the guys starts going nuts.  He starts going off on tangents about Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo and he starts talking about how he goes to Cincinnati by himself to watch games.  While I acknowledge his flamboyance, the boys just think he's "crazy."

"I can't wait to tell everyone on Tuesday that I talked to a couple kids about the College World Series and they are going to be there!!"  the waiter exclaims.  C just shakes his head and laughs.  G is looking at his phone.  I order my Guinness and tell him that we have tickets to the Tigers game.

"Kate Upton is all I'll say"  he tells us as he walks to get more drinks.

After dinner, we take our weary bones (or is that just me?) and play some pool and ping pong in the nice indoor courtyard.  Overall, a nice place despite the fact that I was looking around to see where all oft he AEDs were...just in case.

Day 1 was in the books.

The Omaha Adventure - Preface

7 Days.  5 baseball games.  3 Men. 1 Car. 

It would be a trip of a lifetime for C, G and JMR.  C's baseball team was going to a tournament in Omaha, Nebraska (well actually, Council Bluffs, IA) for the Slumpbuster Tournament.  The options included flying in or driving.  Being an "On the Road" kind of guy, I took the road less traveled and decided to drive.

It would take 3 days to get there and 2 days to get back.  We spent 2 full days in "Omaha."  Over the next couple of days, I will catalogue our adventures.

Would C hit a home run?

Would G be called up to play?

Would JMR find a Dunkin' Donuts?

Would all 3 of us come back alive - or would one or both of the boys be left in Nebraska?

7 days.  5 baseball games.  3 men.  1 car.