Globe Life Field and Beyond

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We did decide to see the San Francisco Giants play the Texas Rangers on Wednesday, August 5th in Arlington, Texas. The drive from the campground took us about 45 minutes and we were able to find a local church within walking distance of the ballpark that was selling parking for $20 in their lot as a fund raiser. I was able to purchase tickets at the stadium for $30 each. Globe Life Field is a beautiful baseball park with a retractable roof that was closed for today's game. The temperature inside was in the 70's and very comfortable, in fact Karen needed a light jacket while we were inside. The outside temperature that particular day ended up a blistering 101º F.

Once we enter the ballpark our plan is to walk around the stadium checking out all the views and eateries. Before the first pitch we took advantage of "Dollar Dog Wednesday" and picked up five before finding our seats on the second level along the first base side of the playing field. This game was my 22nd MLB ballpark on my quest to visit them all. We enjoyed our seats up to the 7th inning and then decided to see if we could get seats behind the third base line at field level. We found some unoccupied seats at about row 22 between home plate and third with some nice cushions that we moved to for the remainer of the game. The Giants lost 6-0 to the Rangers, so the locals were very happy about the outcome. I felt sorry for all my Giants friends back in California. It's has been a rough year for them.

After the top of the ninth inning we started our departure out of the stadium and back to our truck. Nice ballpark and I'd like to come here again to see the Dodgers play if we are in the area next season.

We departed our campsite on Thursday, August 6th on our 31th wedding anniversary to drive back to Smithville, Texas. We arrived back to our lot in the village and hooked everything back up. Because we spent the day on the road and were tired we chose to wait to celebrate. On Saturday, August 8th we went out to dinner at Robert's Steak House in Flatonia, TX. We knew a number of villager's who recommended it to us and we thought it was a good place to celebrate. Dinner was delicious. I had a 12 ounce ribeye, baked potato and salad. Karen got the filet mignon. Everything was great! The steaks were perfect. Service was super fast and our server did a great job taking care of us.

Since the next week was scheduled to be busy, we decided to lay back over the remainder of the weekend relaxing, enjoying church on Sunday and having lunch with our village friends, Cat and Tom. On Monday we started earnest preparations for our trip to California without the RV and then on to our scuba diving adventure in the Maldives. We decided to leave the rig back in Texas because we plan to return with our cargo trailer that has been in California for the past four plus years. We can store the trailer in the village once we get back to Texas. This is the last vestige of our physical lives still in California. Once the trailer leaves, we are officially California FREE.

We brought the diving gear out of the storage shed; it needed to be checked over, sorted and packed into our checked luggage then weighed, All our clothing for the trip had to be sorted and packed into either carry-on luggage for the trip to and from the Maldives or duffel bags for the three day trip to and from California. This had to systematically be done between all the doctor appointments we had scheduled through Wednesday. If all our plans were executed flawlessly we would leave the Austin VA clinic on Wednesday afternoon and head for California.

The route was expected to take three long days of driving. Leg one was Austin to Fort Stockton, Texas in about a five hour drive. We stayed at a Spark by Hilton. Spark by Hilton is Hilton's first dedicated economy and "premium economy" brand, targeting a lower price point than Hampton, Tru, or DoubleTree. Instead of building new properties from scratch, Spark grows entirely by converting and renovating older, existing budget hotels, offering a simple, clean, and standardized stay with bright, colorful styling.

Leg two was Fort Stockton to Green Valley, Arizona and was an ambitious 11 to 12 hours. We stayed with our friend Mary Johnson at her home that Thursday night.

Leg three was from Green Valley to Bakersfield, California on Friday; another 11 to 12 hour drive. We liked the Spark by Hilton enough to stay at another one here. The final leg of the journey was to Healdsburg, California on Saturday and was expected to take about five hours. Without the RV we made exceptional distance over the time we drove. Our range was double what it is with a fifth-wheel attached, but the fuel cost was probably more than an airline ticket would be from Austin to San Francisco. The overall trip was surprisingly easy with the shared driving and multiple stops along the way. We arrived at our Airbnb in Healdsburg owned by our friends, Greg and Lorri Herrick where we would stay until Tuesday, August 18th. While in Sonoma County for a brief 3 days, we enjoyed visiting some dear friends we hadn't seen for a while.