Houston, we have a problem…but its not with your 1,2 Baseball punch! Separated by just 23 miles, the Astros and Space Cowboys 🀠 share our Countrys fourth largest city…

23 miles is all that separates Constellation Field, home of the AAA Sugar Land Space Cowboys and the Astros MLB stadium 🏟.

When you finally get ” The Call πŸ“ž ” to the Show ” its a local call. Seattle and Tacoma have a similar situation out in the Pacific Northwest.

Getting to Round Rock, Texas earlier today completed the Class AAA Baseball ⚾️ Loop and the goal now for me is to not create any more Loops !!!

The AAA trek absolutely happened by accident over the years, until the past few weeks. Albuquerque, El Paso, Salt Lake City, Sugar Land and Round Rock were the remaining ones. Easy enough to finish off.

Softball is a more enjoyable watch for me but there’s something about the individualality ( not sure if that’s a real word) of the Baseball parks, at all levels.

MLB, AAA and four of the Class A leagues are among the 100+ ball parks that I’ve attended and each one is different from the previous ones.

Round Rock, home 🏑 of the Nolan Ryan Express.
Albuquerque, New Mexico
El Paso wins the Award for most original ways to feed their Fans !

In a few hours it will be an Early Bird 🐦 flight ✈️ out of Houston, 5am departure might be way to early Bird….

A quick stop βœ‹ over at Duke University and an important trip to The Hill on Thursday morning πŸŒ„.

Cool 😎 Scoreboard, rivals the one they have in Nashville…

Some of the Treks :

ACC Basketball πŸ€ arenas

ACC Football Stadiums 🏟

Major League and AAA Baseball ⚾️

All 41 NCAA Football 🏈 games

61 years of Duke University Football Bowl 🏈 games – easier than you think being there has only been 11.

Every golf β›³ course in the Old Dominon, playing each that I could talk my way on to.

Visiting all 50 πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡² States in the same calendar πŸ“… year.

WNBA arenas

Each college in the Commonwealth where Basketball πŸ€ is played.

Proof of that one, which was actually enjoyable !

It’s time to collect the final 7,000 steps πŸšΆβ€β™‚οΈ needed to keep the streak of 20K everyday going so its a great stopping point.

Let’s call this one the story about Wayne Carter, Shawn Montgomery, Phil Mickelson and Aaron Sorkin….

Death Valley National Park is a special place in that its the hottest place on earth 🌎 , the lowest elevation in the United States πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡Έ and the largest National Park in the lower 48 states. Biggest, Hottest and Lowest are just three of the things that it has to its credit.

Furnace Creek

  Monday morning I headed over to Death Valley and to get there from Enterprise, Nevada one must drive through the desert 🏜 town of Purump.

  Aaron Sorkin put the town on the map when he wrote it into a two part episode of his show, Studio 60 almost 20 years ago.

It was wanting to see Purump πŸ‘€ for myself, years ago, that led me to my first trip over to Death Valley. Trip number two came as a means to gather steps πŸšΆβ€β™‚οΈon a Monday.

Wayne Carter is my oldest brother and someone who gave his adult life to the education of others. Now in his early 70’s he is searching for the meaning of Life and I can totally relate to this because it is a question I ask myself on a daily basis.

We talked a bit on my drive over and then I headed in to the extreme Heat that is Death Valley.

Welcome πŸ™

On the way you drive through Death Valley Junction which is the definition of a deserted little community that adds to the lore of the name.

The day held only one promise, it was going to be HOT πŸ”₯. Otherwise, it was just an adventure waiting to happen. Well, it turns out that the lowest elevation that a person in the United States πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡Έ can play golf β›³ at is -214 feet below sea level. But you have to be off the course by 1:30 pm because of the temperature 🌑. Literally, to HOT to play golf β›³…

  Golfing was not on the radar when the day started, not even a little. But when you find yourself at the doorstep of the lowest elevation golf course, how do you not grab your clubs???

The gentleman running the course was over the moon πŸŒ™ helpful and full of stories about the history of the place. One of those stories was about the day that Phil Mickelson was driving through the Valley with his family, saw the same sign that I did and pulled in to play the course.

  The line about the Lottery is that you cannot win if you don’t play. It’s a catchy phrase that applies to life itself, at least to me. You never know what you might stumble upon if you are open to exploring.

  Was on the ninth green with a long putt for 39 but it wasn’t meant to be. The back nine will have to wait βœ‹ for another day because it was 1:00pm and 119Β° so the course was shutting down for the day. Side note πŸ“ Green Fees were only $22.00.

Now we have to take the story full circle πŸ”΅ and that means Shawn Montgomery. Mr Montgomery, like my brother, has spent his life teaching and coaching other people’s children. At Carroll County High School he teaches Social Studies while coaching both Cross Country in the Fall and Outdoor Track πŸ‘£ in the Spring.

Our current project, running πŸƒβ€β™‚οΈ through the month of July, is assisting Coach Montgomery in replacing the worn out High Jump area. There is still time to join the effort and if you write ✍ a check for $100.00 to Carroll County High School you will receive a round of golf β›³ with a cart at Olde Mill Golf Resort in Laurel Fork.

Have yourself a Blessed Day πŸ™Œ!