While I’d been planning this notable cross-USA road trip for over four months, I couldn’t have planned a more beautiful day to depart. Making our first turn onto Route 1, I found myself behind a Bentley owned by Bill Miller (license plate: BL MILR), which seemed quite appropriate since this was a gentleman who was instrumental in the initial establishment of Las Vegas as a haven for Hollywood entertainers back in the 40s. This fact, I thought, was quite fitting, since Las Vegas will be our 15th stop on the trip. Mr. Miller drove his Bentley down route 1 below my usual 40 mph threshold, which usually prompts a grunt and a groan or an occasional expletive on my part. But even though I realized starting out a 10,000-mile journey at a snail’s pace wasn’t good karma, the idea of following a legend—especially with particular relevance-- overshadowed my usual impatience. At the first light, my friend Frank happened to be stopped adjacent to us, so I pulled over to bid a short “see ya”, and begin heading toward Philly.
At the Thomas Edison rest area in New Jersey I pulled out my wallet to pay for our lunches at the Roy Rogers, happy to see they took American Express, only to find out within seconds that they can’t take an American Express I DIDN’T HAVE. Nice start. And at this rest stop, here’s a site they don’t mention in the guidebooks: In the bathroom I couldn’t quite get to the sink to wash my hands as I noticed a strange site indeed—an Hasidic Jew standing there with only his shirt on at the first sink as the typical summertime crowds scurried in and out of the bathroom. Scary site, let me tell you-- made even more horrifying when I realized he was washing his underwear in the sink. That was before lunch. Good diet plan.
So our first task in Philadelphia was to visit the historic American Express Travel Related Services office to get a replacement. Most people think Liberty Bell. I think about wasted frequent flyer miles.
With new card in hand, we did do the Liberty Bell, followed shortly by a visit to our first ballpark, Veterans’ Stadium. As we exited the cab and made our way to Gate E, the rains greeted us and stayed around for a hot dog or two, forcing an hour and a half delay for the first pitch. No problem when you’re enjoying the comfort of a very nice suite, and you’re the only ones there to enjoy it—for the time being.
Veteran’s Stadium notes: Terrible acoustics. We never heard a word on the PA system from the rather comfortably done-up Comcast SportsNet Super Box, which made the game a little less enjoyable than it might have been, especially though not much happened of interest other than a .193 hitter for the White Sox slamming his second home run of the season in the fourth inning. So, it didn’t matter that we never heard his name announced. Hot Dogs: (Using Shea Stadium’s Kahns grilled babies as the benchmark of 10), a 5.
Overall, a great start to the trip. No complaints. Nice weather for tooling around Philly… took some great pics, and quite a nice hotel, thanks to William Shatner and Priceline. Tomorrow: Pittsburgh.
Well, we finally got the car starting for our trip! We packed up, then left. We passed through Connecticut, then finally got to New York. We hardly even were in New York. Then we came to New Jersey. Some of the scenery was very ugly, as a matter of fact, most of it was. Then, I was relieved when we finally came to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. We got to the Marriott, our hotel. Then, we walked outside and went to see the Liberty Bell. It was neat to see historical things close up. It was really amazing. Then, we went back to the hotel. After a while, we went to our first baseball game out of 13. We went to Veteran's Stadium, (In a taxi) the home of the Phillies. They were playing the White Sox. Unfortunately, there was a rain delay. Lucky though, we had luxury suites. After an hour or so, the rain stopped, and the game was on. After the 6th inning, we left when the score was tied 1 to 1. We got back to the hotel, and according to the TV, the Phillies won it 4-3.
~Parker
Day 1 6-19-02
Today is the first day of our trip!!! I’m excited! We went to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for today. I saw the actual Liberty Bell. Also, the National Park Service Employee told everyone a story about the Liberty Bell. A few centuries ago, the U.S. had the Liberty Bell to be carried on a big ship, because the bell was big and heavy. Then when it arrived, it was tested to be rung. They then discovered it was cracked. Then they re-molded it to cover up the crack. Then, on the day of George Washington’s birthday, the bell was rung across the whole city so that everybody could hear it. (Buildings were smaller back then so they wouldn’t block sound.) Then, after the Liberty Bell was being rung so much, around noon, it cracked severely — worse than it was before. Then they decided to not ring it ever again. Then later on, we went to a ballpark. It was the Phillies against the White Sox. Also we were in a suite while watching the game. A suite is good because you can sleep in it, and so you get a lot of room (and get to be inside for once!). And the Phillies then won the game, 4-3.
Austin
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