Back when we were on our 2013 Road Trip, you may recall that we visited The Mayor and friends in North Carolina. He informed me that he, Vernon and Randy would be making the trip to Chicago for The National Sports Collectors Convention - basically, an enormous baseball card show covering more than 350,000 square feet with nearly 800 vendors peddling baseball joy in the form of game cardboards and other memorabilia. They invited, nay, demanded, that I join them on the trip. And when Rednecks make a demand, you obey. We worked out the details and the time came for me to make the drive to Windy City.
Fortunately, Julia's car needed some body work after some storm damage while we were on our road trip and it coincided with this trip. That meant that I got a rental car for the journey FO' FREE! Nice, huh? Coincidentally, Brother Peter was in Springfield, IL, so I stopped and picked him up and chauffeured him back home to Chicago. Weird how that worked out...
Here's the gist of the trip:
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| The Show |
Thursday-Saturday: We attended the convention for a minimum of five hours each day. On Thursday, we were there from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. before leaving for the Cubs game. The feet, knees and lower back functioned as pain centers after ambling around the concrete floor for seven hours. I covered the entire place on Day 1. Admittedly, I skimmed many of the booths, looking only at things that caught my interest. However, with 350,000+ square feet of stuff, there's bound to be some repetition, which I ignored. In contrast, Randy the Redneck covered only 1 1/4 aisles on Day 1. He looks at every single item in great detail and converses with every vendor, thus, becoming lifelong friends. Randy made 800 new friends over three days.
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| Read the sign to know where we are. |
Thursday Night: Dodgers vs. Cubs at Wrigley field and our first time seeing the Dodgers'rookie phenom, Yasiel Puig, play in person. He had quite a night going 2 for 4 with a double and a home run. He also got thrown out at the plate, which was fun to see.
Friday: Day 2 of the convention. 10-6 p.m. I was slightly smarter on Day 2. I took several opportunities to park it, thus saving a bit of wear and tear on the old bod.
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| Mr. Vernon and the rose water tower |
Friday Night: Dinner at Giordano's, which The Mayor can't seem to remember, so he says "Geraldine's." It's the best pizza in Chicago...WAY better than Gino's East...no matter what somebody told Vernon!
Saturday: Day 3 of the convention. I'd say Vernon and I were done on Day 2, but A) we still had tickets for Day 3, B) The Mayor and Randy still hadn't covered everything and C) there was still so much to see. However, Vernon and I decided that we didn't need to stay for the raffles at 2 and 3 p.m. since they guy picking the numbers always pulled form the top of the pile and never mixed them up. We knew Randy would join us and that The Mayor would be the only one who would need some convincing. It didn't take as much as I thought it might and we were off.
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| North Carolina and Tina Turner on Michigan Ave. |
Saturday Night: We met up with Brother Peter at Hancock Tower and took a walking tour of Michigan Avenue with a few side stops (Hard Rock Cafe and Harry Caray's). It was quite the tour, but it was over much too soon. After a few great hours spent downtown, we headed back to the hotel so that The Mayor could attempt to pack all of his new stuff, both for him and the store. By the way, I'm pretty sure he's obsessed with USA softball Olympic gold medalist, Jennie Finch. He left the show with at least 20 autographed items including cards, photos, a bat and a batting glove. In his defense, he has coached softball for more than three decades, and JF is probably the most popular player ever. I'll give him that! Unfortunately, I think his obsession may go beyond that a little bit.
Sunday: We all got up, threw their bags in the Impala and I dropped them off at O'Hare for their flight back to the homeland. I then went back to the hotel and packed my stuff and headed to Mt. Carmel Cemetery to visit Al Capone's grave. It was recommended by the Roadside America app that VanDaWillyWonka, a friend and sometimes Ding Keeper, got for a road trip to Minnesota and recommended to us for our trips. It was quite a cool destination before heading to Brother Peter's and Wrigley Field for my second Cubs game in a week.
Monday: Tonight, we're going to the White Sox game to see if A-Rod does, indeed, play after being handed a big, fat suspension today. He's said all along that he would appeal, and if he does, he gets to play until his appeal is heard. We shall see.
Here are links to the photos from the Great Chicago Trip of 2013. Enjoy!
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