The Border

Long day! We spent the morning in Mexico, the day driving through the American Southwest, and have now reached a great hotel in Scottsdale, Arizona. We'll spend Thursday here in the Phoenix area, giving us some much needed time to regroup. I'll write-up our travels from today by pool-side manana...

Ay Chihuahua!

Today started out innocently enough. We awoke with Matt and Tori so that we could say our goodbyes and thank you's, get final instructions on how to lock up behind ourselves, and see them off to work.

After they left, Mark and I prepared for the long trip ahead. As we were getting all packed up Hurricane Texas decided to come through and bless us with a little rain, a little lightning, and a little thunder. This would not have been a problem if our car hadn't been parked 75 ft. from the entrance to Matt and Tori's. Now for Mark's long legs 75 ft. is not that much but, for my Cristy-sized legs it's a bit farther. Add to that the fact that Mark parked in the storm drain because he thought that the water would drain better and cause less of a problem...it didn't. He failed to realize that all the water would drain TO the car causing a puddle of enormous proportions which I now had to wade through to get to the car (Mark was busy composing the previous blog in the comfort of the Malony apartment). Needless to say I returned to the safety of the apartment slightly wetter and a little colder than I had left it. Once I pulled the car into the garage it was easy to load the car up dryly and we were on our way.

Our trip continued on to become probably the most pleasant part of the drive we have had so far. Yes, Texas is pretty flat, but it did have some rolling hills and a few interesting little towns here and there. I must say that it was not quite the stereotypical landscape I had pictured -- you know, oil drill/derrick/rigs scattered throughout the landscape. In fact, we saw very few of these initially, but eventually came to a stretch where they dotted the landscape as far as the eye could see.

Just outside of Van Horn we paused at a nice scenic overlook, or at least it used to be a nice scenic overlook. Don't misunderstand, the view was spectacular! It's just the site itself has been overlooked for several years.

In general I feel that I can safely say that western Texas has one of the most beautiful landscapes I have seen on this trip so far. It was a genuinely pleasant drive, with our company consisting only of a few semi-trucks and some trucks pulling trailers. The most astonishing thing, I think, was the fact that the speed limit was 80 mph for cars and 70 mph for trucks. We cruised!!!

Our day of driving concluded in the Chihuahuan Desert and El Paso/Juarez. Don't worry we are not crossing over into Mexico. Neither Mark nor I brought our passports and we figure those would probably come in pretty handy when we decided to cross back into the U.S..

From the hotel we are staying at we have a clear view of the evening landscape that is Juarez, Mexico, including a lighted caricature of a man done on the side of a mountain. We can't figure out who it is but, we assume it's someone important. The zoom on my camera isn't strong enough to get a clear shot of it, but we could see it with the binoculars that Mark brought along.

Tomorrow we continue on to sunny Phoenix, AZ. We will be spending two nights there so that we can recuperate after having driven 1,100 miles in two days.

The "Big D"

Today was our day to tour Dallas. Both Cristy and I have visited here in the past -- I spent the summer of 2005 here (during which time Cristy visited for about a week) and we were both here for Matt and Victoria's wedding last summer. Beautiful wedding.

The day kicked off in spectacular fashion. While looking for the Irving Mall, we found the perfect place for lunch: Pancho's Mexican Buffet. It's a local chain that I went to while living in Arlington and delivers exactly what you would expect a Mexican buffet to deliver. And more. The third picture is one of the Pancho Pinatas that Cristy talked me out of getting.

After Pancho's and the mall we headed to the Texas Book Depository building to take a tour of the JFK 'Sixth Floor' Museum. And of all coincidences, today was JFK's 90th birthday. Remarkable. Kind of interesting that he would still be that young. That's only seven years older than George H.W. Bush. And Bush was elected 28 years after JFK.

The museum was alright. The first third of the exhibit set the context of New Frontier 1960's, Camelot and all that. Lots of moving oratory. The second third revolved around JFK's re-election trip to Texas as part of the 1964 campaign. Dallas was the fifth city he visited in the state and the one that carried the most resistance to his policies -- there was great concern before the visit about an incident, with someone even purchasing a full-page ad in the Dallas Morning News criticizing his "treasonous" pursuit of Civil Rights and "pro-Communist" policies. Dallas did not come off looking very good. The final third consisted of the assassination and subsequent conspiracy theories. Cristy thinks the Cubans did it. Well, not really...

After the museum, we headed back to the Malony's for a nice evening. Matt cooked, I broke their Internet, Cristy and Tori played Star Wars, and everyone had a great time. It was good to catch up -- we really enjoyed ourselves.

Tomorrow we cross the unforgiving Texas plains. Abilene. Midland. Odessa. We're hoping to make it all the way to New Mexico, but we'll play it by ear.

Texas Stadium (Home of the Cowboys):

American Airlines Arena (where Warriors reign):

In Summary

Today we explored the city of Dallas. We have had the privilege of staying at Matt and Victoria Malony's apartment. We woke up late, had lunch at a fabulous little Mexican place and then toured the 6th Floor Museum in Dealy Plaza.

Dinner was lovingly prepared by Matt and we stayed up late into the night talking and catching up on old times.

It is very late now, so I can't go into detail about the day's events but, I will during the day tomorrow and add the pictures that we took today.

The Road

Today was a travel day. A BIG travel day. Nearly 700 miles from Birmingham to Dallas, taking us through the widths of Mississippi and Louisiana.

Before leaving Birmingham we had to make two quick stops. The first was to Quizno’s for lunch where we got a call from Brad confirming that Vanderbilt had secured the #1 overall seed in the impending NCAA Baseball Tournament. (Yes!) The second was to Dick’s Sporting Goods to get a plastic case for Cristy’s newly minted Vandy 2007 team-signed baseball. This Dick’s was huge – like the size of a supermarket but with a second story. The fishing and hunting section was massive…

We finally cleared Birmingham around noon. My idea for a way to pass the time was to identify the silliest city name between B’ham and Dallas. Second place: Toomsuba, Alabama. First place: Chunky, Mississippi. Which was, of course, accompanied by the Chunky River.

Mississippi wasn’t terribly interesting – like any other Southern interstate but with a few more magnolia trees. We stopped in Vicksburg for gas and were able to take a quick 20 minute tour of the Vicksburg Civil War battleground. It was interesting – Vicksburg was the last meaningful Confederate defense on the Mississippi River and once the Union took it, they severed the Eastern Confederates from Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas with all the supply chains that went with them. Pretty neat – with a little extra poignancy on Memorial Day.

After passing the mighty Mississippi River, we cruised through Louisiana. We went right through Shreveport which had (1) some glittering casinos, (2) a giant football stadium in the Independence Bowl, which I can’t imagine gets used for much more than the annual bowl game, (3) a rain storm to made the Floridian in the car blush, and (4) an awful catfish place where we stopped for dinner. Wasn’t much impressed with Louisiana.

We drove through East Texas after dark and arrive at Matt and Victoria’s house around 11:00 to crash. It’s amazing – we drove for 650 miles and never left the Central Time Zone. We’ll spend tomorrow in Dallas – probably check out the JFK Museum and maybe see a movie before having dinner with the Malony’s. Then Wednesday it’s on the road again to finish crossing the Lonestar Republic.

The Champions

I'm at a loss for words...what an incredible day!!!

But the day that will be remembered forever in Vandy history did not have such a pleasant start for these faithful 'Dores fans. We will suffice it to say that I (Cristy) will not be having Panera again anytime soon. It was almost enough to sideline me and lead me to watch from our hotel room. However, I was not about to let a little food poisoning make me miss such a momentous event. So onward we trekked.

We arrived at the Hoover Met about an hour before the game and parked a couple of rows from the entrance. What time is it? GAME TIME!!

Mark wrote about the proportion of Commodore fans at last night's game. Today it was a different ballpark, literally. The crowd was about 30% Arkansas, 10% neutral, and ... 60% Vandy fans!!! It was electric.

The game itself was much like every other game we've won this season. We came out quick and scored four in the first. We never lost the lead, although they would have cut it down to 1 if Matt Meingasner hadn't thrown a runner out at home. In the end we were victorious. Final score Vandy 7, Arkansas 4. As we prepared to receive our championship trophy cheers of "Omaha! Omaha!" could be heard throughout the stadium.

In addition to the championship we had 4 players selected to the All-Tournament team:

- Shea Robin C
- Ryan Flaherty SS
- Dominic de la Osa OF
- Pedro Alvarez 3B - Tournament MVP

Visit the SEC website to see the records we broke this weekend.

Some personal highlights for me today that made the weekend complete:

-- A group of older Vandy gentlemen printed out the words to "Sweet Caroline" and sang them a cappella during the middle of the 8th inning, just like we sing at the Hawk.

-- I was able to get an SEC Tournament baseball and have it signed by the entire team ($10)

-- In completing my collection of signatures (I had to wait for Tyler Rhoden 'cuz he was still being interviewed in the press conference) I was fortunate enough to hold THE SEC tournament champion trophy. Tyler had it in his hands and needed someone to hold the trophy so that he could sign my ball. It was not as heavy as I imagined, but still pretty substantial.

-- The entire team lifting their caps to the crowd in thanks for the support they have given.

What a special weekend! What a special team! It could not have worked out any better.

We're a back on the road tomorrow as we head off to Dallas to visit with Matt and Tori.

The Bracket

The Thrill

Quite a day at the Hoover Met.

We arrived with James Guthrie at the ballpark around 11:00 this morning to catch the second half of the Arkansas and Carolina semi-final. First off, Hoover Met is a great size because it's small enough to feel intimate but large enough that you can sit wherever you want. Even with 7,000 in attendance (capacity of 10,000), we settled in a few rows behind home plate to test our mettle against the Birmingham heat. It was a hazy, humid day and man -- it was hot. Needless to say, there was a lot of maroon (well, garnet and 'cardinal') in the stands. The Hogs won (Cristy and I got to call the Hogs twice) and head to tomorrow's final with a tidy 3-0 record thus far.




Vandy's first game against Ole Miss started at 1:00, and we moved down the third base line to join the Black & Gold contingent. It was probably 70% Ole Miss, 20% Vandy, and 10% neutral in the stands. The neutral fans are awesome -- these are real baseball fans who come to every tournament game, keep score, and appreciate good SEC baseball.

The weather cooled a bit -- nice breeze and some clouds -- while Vandy came out red hot. With a homer by Pedro Alvarez in the first and homers by Dominic De La Osa and Parker Hanks in the second, Vanderbilt grabbed an 8-0 lead that Cody Crowell had no trouble holding. The only real drama was when we were one out away from winning by 'slaughter rule' (up by 10 after seven innings) when the Rebels grabbed a run of their own. A 2-RBI double by Flash in the 8th helped give us the 13-1 win after 8 innings.



Following a forty-five minute break and another mediocre Hoover Met meal (we thankfully brought sandwiches for lunch earlier), it was time for a Vandy Ole Miss rematch and Vandy's fifth game in four days. The game started off looking like a slugfest against thin pitching staffs -- both teams scored two in the first and an additional run by Ole Miss in the 3rd chased Ty Davis. With Davis out, it was Jason Cunningham's turn to take the ball.

Cunningham is interesting for a few reasons. One, he wears a single digit number (#2) which always looks bizarre on a pitcher's back. I think in all of MLB history there are only seven or eight single-digit pitchers -- and we had two this game with Cunningham and Ole Miss' Saderwhite (#7). Two, Cunningham's delivery is 95% arm and 5% legs. He just takes a step and throws the ball -- no form at all. Three, he was the team manager last season! A true walk-on who has thrown two innings all season and emerged to throw 4.2 shutout innings in the SEC semi-final against the reigning Tournament champion. You can't make it up -- it's not believable.

After Cunningham, Weathers came in and did his thing (he ended with 8 K's in 3.2). So we enter the bottom of the 9th down by 1 run facing their ace reliever Cody Saderwhite. Lead-off double by Shea Robin (more on him later). Ryan Davis drops a bunt and Ole Miss gets greedy trying to get Shea at third -- safe, men on the corners with no one out. After a foul out, David Macias hits a long fly ball down the line in left that scores the run and ties the game! Can't score the runner from second, though, so we head to extras. After 10 hours at the stadium, we get even more free baseball...

The top of the 10th was pure baseball agony. Weathers strikes out the first guy. Then Overbeck (who had 4 E's on the day) knocks a nice single. Ole Miss gets two cheap infield singles and loads the bases with nobody out. With Farr up, Ole Miss tries a squeeze and misses the bunt! Shea gets the runner on third in a rundown and then... throws the ball high and out to left field. Two runs score and the runner from first goes all the way to third. Ole Miss brings that guy home and we're down 6-3 heading to the bottom of the 10th.

The Ole Miss fans were hoddy toddy going nuts -- some pent up exuberance after getting silenced in the first game -- and the outlook wasn't pretty for the Vandy nine this day.

Bottom of the 10th with Saderwhite still pitching. De La Osa leads off with a HR! Down by two. Pedro smacks a single. Flash hits a single, first and second. Meingasner goes to sacrifice the runners over, and Overbeck throws the ball ten feet wide of first!! Alvarez comes around to score, Flash to third and Meingasner to second.

And then up strides Shea Robin -- 18 innings behind the dish and the goat of the game with his error just ten minutes earlier. So what does he do? Smacks a single to right! One run in!! Two runs in!!! VANDY WINS!!!!



It was nuts! We were losing the whole game, scratch out a run to tie in the 9th, drop down 3 in the 10th, just to score 4 runs (in five batters no less) in the bottom of the 10th! Just great story stacked on top of great story.



So, one more day in Birmingham -- the SEC Championship will be played between Arkansas and Vanderbilt tomorrow at 3:00. Vandy may be stretched a little thin -- five games in four days and no Weathers available -- but who cares! This team just wins -- they find a way.

We'll probably goto church in the morning, grab a healthy lunch ('bout time), and then get to Hoover Met early to grab some good seats. It should be another wild day...

The Beginning

Hey all,

Let's begin at the beginning...

Today was the last day of the 2006-2007 school year for Overton High School. All praise and honor due to the Lord above for giving teachers an entire summer to recharge their batteries. Our school day usually ends at 2:30, but this being the last day and all teachers were allowed to leave as soon as they had completed their checklist and the head principal had signed off on it. I was one of the first ones done and got out at about 11:30. My heart goes out to those who waited until the last day to get started on closing procedures.


After finishing up some last minute packing, we were on our way. The 2.5 hour drive down to Hoover is really nothing special. It was highlighted by a rousing game of leapfrog with a gentleman pulling a trailer holding another trailer. It didn't last long enough for me to get a picture, but we enjoyed it nonetheless.

We made it in to Hoover, Alabama just in time to watch Florida get eliminated by South Carolina [insert obnoxious crowing gamecock noise here].

Our game began at about 6:55 before a decent crowd of 6,137 and proceeded to become one of the most entertaining games I have watched in recent memory.

Our beloved Vanderbilt Commodores demolished the Ew-T Vols by a score of 15 - 2. After the fireworks on the field we were treated to fireworks in the sky [which I'm guessing is an SEC Friday night game standard procedure]. I must say though, that these weren't quite as entertaining as the ones we get at Hawkins Field.

Anyway, it was a thrilling night. I got 11 autographs including David Price, Casey Weathers, Dominic De La Osa, Pedro Alvarez, and Alex Feinberg. I'm certainly looking forward to tomorrow's double header versus the Rebels of Ole Miss. Two words -- GO DORES!!!

--Cristy

The Launch...

Today is the first day of our rambling, American journey. We'll be leaving after lunchtime for Birmingham to catch Vanderbilt in the SEC Tournament and hopefully staying through the championship game on Sunday. (Hopefully.)

We'll do our best to keep this updated throughout the trip so everyone can read what we're up to. Vaya con Dios!