Los Angeles and Interstate 10

So, I’m sorry that I haven’t posted anything for a few days, but it’s not really my fault. The Marriot that we stayed at in Phoenix was good for everything we needed except for providing steady Internet access. With that said, there are a few things that I need to tell you all about.

The first goes back a few days and about 600 miles to Los Angeles. If you ever have the chance to go to Los Angeles, DON’T. Dan and I both agree that LA is a place where you can have fun if you have more money than you know what to do with and/or the patience to drive through the sprawl of massive landmarks that they call a city.

Seeing a game at Dodgers’ Stadium was probably the oddest experience we’ve encountered so far on the road trip, but then again, eating at Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles was at the top of that list as well. But watching that Dodgers’ play in LA felt like being a spy in the enemy’s base in more ways than one. First, in order to get to the stadium you have to drive to Dodger Island which is this small section partitioned off from the entire rest of the city sprawl. Then you have to trek up the hills to the ticket gates, where you will first encounter the largest, most disgusting sea of blue that you will ever want to see. Even the security guards’ jackets seemed a different shade of blue that could only be described as “Dodger Blue.” And they were handing out free Dodgers’ beach towels that day, which made everything worse. After crawling under and through the thick concrete walls, which made me feel like I was taking a tour of the Hoover Dam, I finally saw the field and stands raucously cheering “Let’s Go Dodgers.”

Now, I’m not one to be completely bias so I will give credit where credit where credit is due and say that the crowd knew when to start a cheer and I did see the wave going briefly. I guess what I’m trying to say is that the game would have been a lot of fun if (and only if) I were a Dodgers’ fan. But I’m not going to join that cult, and I was extremely happy to get out of that stadium and that city.

Then next interesting experience was the drive across the desert to Phoenix. First the billboards started advertising trucker gas stations every 30+ miles as opposed to the Lakers’ and Dodgers’ games. Then the ground along the highway went from solid cement dividers, to dirt and gravel, and then finally just dust and tumbleweeds. And of course the air, put simply, went from polluted and smoggy to warm and dusty, while the temperature rose from 90˚ to 100˚. But now after briefly recharging in the hotel, it’s time to head over to Chase Field to watch the Diamondbacks host the Boston Red Sox. It’s our first BoSox game of many more to come, and it is also our 4th straight game in a new city. Four down, seventeen to go.