Meeting fun people

I got up the morning after the Toronto game and started headed towards Boston.  I sent a message to a friend from basic training and told him I would be driving through his area later that evening.  We arranged to meet up and I was pretty excited.  I hadn’t seen him in six years.  As I was driving on the New York thruway (turnpike) I got spotted by a New York State Trooper.  I was texting and didn’t realize how fast I was going.  I looked down at my speedometer and realized that I was going 85 in a 65.  Oh crap!  I hadn’t even passed the officer and he was already pulling out to pull me over.  The lights came on and I moved over to the shoulder.  The officer approached my passenger side and requested my license and insurance and I gave him the documents.  No small talk, all business.  He went back to his vehicle without giving me a chance to weasel my way out of this.  I immediately started tweeting and face booking that I was pulled over.  Everybody said to use my military status to get out of it.  I’m not a big fan of using that to get out of trouble.  The cop came back and explained the ticket to me.  I kept asking question trying to get a conversation started but this man wasn’t having any of that.  I gave the officer a card with all my information on it and told him that he would be included in my blog!  If you’re reading this and would like to take away the ticket now, I would be ok with that. 

I made it to Catskill, New York where I was meeting my buddy.  It was an hour before we were supposed to meet so I decided to go to their downtown area and get some writing done.  I was looking for a place with Wi-Fi so I could post when I was finished.  No such luck.  This town was everything you think of when you think of a small town.  It was just after 5pm and everything closed at 5.  I walked around looking at the store fronts and noticed that most of them had something supporting the anti-1% movement.  This isn’t a political blog so I won’t go into my feelings on that. 

I met Cory and his wife at a local pizza shop.  We played catch up talked about our tours overseas and how life is being out of the Army.  We reminisced on life in basic training, and our evil yet awesome Drill Sergeant, Drill Sergeant Garcia.  If you see that man, thank him for his service, and then run as fast as you can in the opposite direction. 

I stayed that night in Boston and the game wasn’t until the following day.  I wasn’t sure what to do with my day when I got an idea.  I figured I would get to as many states as I could that I had never been to before.  In that area that consisted of Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut.  I started driving north towards New Hampshire and once I arrived there I stopped to try to find a post card.  The first place I stopped didn’t have any post cards so I kept trying over and over again with no luck.  Eventually I made my way into Vermont without finding a postcard.

When I arrived in Vermont I decided to take a random road and see what I come up with.  I found an old country store that looked like something strait out of a movie.  I went in and grabbed a Red bull and found some post cards.  They had a New Hampshire postcard so I was rather excited and expressed this to the lady when I was checking out.  She asked me what I was doing in the area and she I explained to her my trip.  She then told me that she was a Tigers fan!  I quickly told her that I was a Tigers fan as well.  She told her husband to come over and we started talking.  They were originally from the Detroit area but ended up moving around a bit for work.  Before I even told him about my blog he asked me if I would be writing a book about my journey.  I told him that that would be excellent and it’s something that I may attempt to pursue.  He started to tell me stories of baseball.  Regarding my trip to Boston he informed me that Fenway Park and Tiger stadium were opened up the same week the Titanic sank.  He told me about how he saw the first ever night Cubs game.  He didn’t have tickets for the original first night game but because it got rained out he was able to see it.  He also told me he has an old friend who has written a few books and I should contact him.  After checking Facebook I was given his name and number.  Come to find out the writer is from my home town.  Small world!  The owners of the store gave me a free bowl of maple creemee.  Its vanilla ice cream mixed with real maple syrup.  It doesn’t sound like it’d be too great but it was amazing.  If you’re ever in Quechee, Vermont stop by the Route 4 Country Store and say hello to Tony and Margie Battaglia.

After leaving there I was in a great mood.  I drove back to the Boston area and decided to meet up with my friend Ashley.  Ashley is a good friend who was a manager at a movie theater back when I had my first job.  My friends and I weren’t exactly the best employees so it was always an interesting time.  Over the years Ashley and I have become friends and she always sent me packages when I was overseas.  I pulled into the Movie Theater and was pleasantly surprised on how awesome it looked.  There were bars and restaurants throughout the theater.  I had them page Ashley and we played the catch up game.  She told me I had to see a movie in the “Luxe” area of the theater.  It is a luxury dining experience while watching a movie.  I watched American Wedding and ate steak.  It was a great experience and National Amusements always gets it right.  I said goodbye to Ashley and drove to Rhode Island to get another state off my list.  I was kind of tired after all that driving so I returned to my hotel and called it a day.  The next day was the Fenway home opener and I didn’t know what to expect.

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Keep On Smilin-It's Baseball Season!