Heading Out On The First of Two Summer Trips To Get Seven More States Plus Ballparks

 

On the verge of leaving this week on the first of two trips this summer to complete my quest to cycle in all 50 states, I opened up the travel section of the Washington Post this morning (yes, I still read a paper newspaper—at least on Sunday) to find a timely story dealing with something that I’ve been wondering about—what I will find out there on my first post-pandemic trip, especially in regard to masks and social distancing.

I’m not too concerned about the cycling part of my trip.  I’ve been riding mask-less since last summer since riding is essentially a solo activity as long as when riding in a group you maintain adequate distance from other riders.  I always carried a mask just in case I ran into someone I wanted or needed to talk to, or had to stop at a store for more water or sports drink.  And the cycling on this first trip will end up being solo (the second trip will conclude with the Hotter N Hell Hundred in Wichita Falls, Texas where I’ll be riding with about 13,000 cycling companions.  But that story will be two months from now.

This first leg will include several activities involving others.  First I will visit for a day with my wife’s cousin outside of Pittsburgh.  I know she’s vaccinated (as I am).  I will take her out to dinner and I’m glad that I’ve actually gone inside to a restaurant for the first time this week, since I’ll have to do it again.  When I leave there it’s off to Akron, Ohio where I will meet a friend from my Amtrak days.  He and I will ride the Cuyahoga Valley Railroad train to Cleveland and back.  I wondered whether that train is considered public transportation meaning that masks are required.  Indeed they are since that requirement has not yet been rescinded by the Department of Transportation, even for those who are vaccinated. 

After our three hour train buff trip it will be in the car, with a hotel overnight in western Ohio.  When I stop to eat I plan to primarily use drive-thrus.   I will have a container of wipes which I will use on all the touch surfaces in the hotel room, but otherwise am not too concerned about a hotel stay.  

 A drive to Chicago will put me at a friend’s house for three nights.  Both he and his wife are vaccinated. On Sunday we will go to Milwaukee to see the Brewers play the Colorado Rockies, and I will reduce the number of major league ballparks I need down to four.  I have already been to games at Nationals Park in Washington and Camden Yards in Baltimore so it won’t be a new post-pandemic experience.  Although both ballparks said vaccinated fans could be mask-less, I chose to wear a mask whenever I was in a crowd (except in Baltimore there were so few fans that there was nobody sitting within 15 feet of us, so I did remove my mask except when going to get something to eat or to visit the men’s room).  I’d say about 15 percent of fans were wearing masks in Washington and Baltimore.  I will be interested to see how Milwaukee compares.

Monday my friend and I will take a bike ride keeping enough distance between each other  (no new states—I already have Illinois and Wisconsin) and then go that night to see a game between the Chicago White Sox and the Minnesota Twins.  No new ballpark, but for us a battle of loyalties—he’s a Sox fan, I’ve rooted for the Minnesota Twins since 1959 when they were the Washington Senators!

Then Tuesday it’s off in the car again to the Omaha area where a 25 mile ride will get me both Nebraska and Iowa.  I’m actually staying in Council Bluffs, Iowa at the Harrah’s Casino Hotel because it was the least expensive good hotel in the area (hotels in Omaha are very expensive because of the annual NCAA College Baseball World Series going on during my visit.  As it turns out, Harrah’s is perfectly
located.  A bike path that is part of my 25 mile loop goes right past the hotel’s backdoor.  I’ll arrive at the hotel Tuesday evening, get up early Wednesday to take my ride which will cross the Missouri River twice, once on a bike lane which is part of a road bridge, and then back on the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian (and bicycle) Bridge.  Check out is 11 a.m. and I’ll begin the trip home, with a hotel night in Indiana, a night visiting a cousin in Ohio and back in time for the July 4^th holiday weekend.

Then the big trip comes in August which will get me the last five states—North Dakota, Montana, Colorado, Utah and Nevada as well as three ballparks—Coors Field in Denver, Globe Life Field in Arlington, TX and Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.  That will leave on Pac Bell Park in San Francisco to get.  But more on the late summer trip after this week’s trip is done.