On the Road to Spring Training

I've turned into a baseball fan...specifically a Royals baseball fan. Last year it occurred to me that we probably could attend spring training. With a little research I discovered that the Royals train in Surprise,AZ, that they share the stadium with our other favorite team, the Rangers and that we could attend practice and games! So, here we are.

Our trip began yesterday after I worked my required 3.5 hours. We left Wichita about 10:15 and our first stop was an hour and a half later in Greensburg, KS. As most of you know, in 2007 98% of Greensburg was obliterated by smile wide, EF 5 tornado. We last visited Greensburg two years ago. Yesterday we decided to take a quick spin through town to see how things look seven years later. The town is slowly being rebuilt. Very slowly. The new Big Well Museum is open so we decided to go in and check it out. What a nice surprise!  The building is beautifully designed in a spiral representative of the spiral of nature, the spiral of time and the spiral of the well. The center of the building is the well. A spiral staircase reaches down into the well and upward to a second story observatory looking out over the new Greensburg. Around the circumference of the well there is a beautifully interpreted museum telling the history of the town and well, the story of the tornado, and the rebirth of the town.

Following a quick lunch we were back on the road headed to Tucumcari, NM. Lot's of little towns between here and there. We passed the Nurseanickle Motel and the Whiskey- the road to ruin Bar. Both made me chuckle and made me think of Ken's mom who loved funny little names like that.  Got to Tucumcari at dinner time. Tucumcari is a tired little town on Route 66,  known for the tagline of "Tucumcari Tonight?". We decided to give in to nostalgia and stay at a refurbished vintage motel called The Motel Safari. It's a "Googie" or Do wop style motel. The room was small but nice. However, the wall heater was loud, the bed hard and the pillows were too soft. Neither of us slept well. To add insult to injury, there was no hot water in the morning. As Ken said nostalgia isn't all it's cracked up to be. Dinner was at the Pow Wow restaurant and Lizard Lounge, recommended by our desk clerk. It's attached to a scary looking semi-vacant motel turned flop house. I wasn't altogether sure our car would be there after dinner. We both ordered enchiladas which were edible but not remarkable.

Following our fitful night we had a great breakfast at Kix 66 and got back on the road. Bought some fry bread from some Navajo ladies at the AZ welcome center and fought the 50 mph winds on I-40. In Winslow we found the Standing on the Corner park complete with a flatbed Ford made famous in the Eagle's song  " Take It Easy". Took the obligatory pictures, bought some t-shirts and then stopped at the La Posada Hotel. The La Posada is the last full scale Harvey House hotel built in 1923 and refurbished over the course of 15 years. John Wayne, John Ford, Maureen O'Hara and others have stayed there over the years.

We arrived in Surprise at 6:30 and quickly figured out that AZ doesn't observe daylight savings time so we are two hours earlier than home.

Tomorrow we have tickets to the Rangers game but for now, it's time for a snack.