After a visit to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, we turned east toward St. Louis to visit Busch Stadium. On the way, I continued to call Airstream dealerships to see if anyone could fit us in to repair our air conditioning system. I had already called the Airstream factory once, but tried them again in hopes they could squeeze us in between Cincinnati and Cleveland later in August.
After playing some phone tag, I got ahold of Kevin in the service department. He told me that they had a cancelation for the next day. Could we be there at 7:00 a.m.? I said yes immediately! Then we looked at the map.
This will be a very long day. More on that later.
Ryan’s Fans
While Busch Stadium didn’t have the intimate feel of the Kansas City Royals’ home field, people were very friendly. We enjoyed the enthusiasm of two young fans next to us in our bleacher seats overlooking the Cardinals’ Bull Pen. When they found out that Ryan plays high school ball and is a pitcher, they peppered him with questions. It turned out that they know one of the pitchers on the Cardinals team (James Naile) and picked the seats they were in so that they could watch him.
Meeting these two young fans made this Ryan’s favorite stadium to date. He was thrilled to hear their enthusiasm and knowledge about the game. As a proud mom, I shared the most recent story of Ryan in My Edmonds News with the boys. I chuckled to see their jaws drop when I said that the picture was from the local paper!
At the end of the game, they asked for his autograph on the game ball. I’m not sure who discouraged that idea most quickly, the three dads who were standing there or Ryan! He encouraged them to get Naile’s autograph instead. But he did give them his custom-designed Baseball Fan Grand Slam stickers, and his phone number, and told them to watch his YouTube channel for the brief clip they filmed together.
Our Impressions of Busch Stadium
Our Seats: Busch Stadium is not as intimate as Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City. On the other hand, despite the more than 44,000 seats (almost all of which were filled), our seats in the outfield didn’t feel that far from the action. We were seated in Section 109, Row 11, seats 9, 10, and 11, just over the Cardinals’ bull pen.
The Food: We all had the same dish, recommended by The Ultimate Baseball Road Trip: Broadway BBQ’s Beef Brisket Sandwich. Conveniently, it was located right behind us. Unfortunately for my readers, the scent of freshly roasted brisket completely distracted me. I didn’t realize that I hadn’t taken a picture until I was nearly done!
Non-Alcoholic Beer Review: Kauffman Stadium has Budweiser Zero at several places through the stadium. It went very well with my barbequed brisket!
The Visitors Win – and so do Employees Experiencing Homelessness!
The Minnesota Twins beat the hometown Saint Louis Cardinals in a close 5 to 3 game. The Twins contributed two home runs to Home Runs for Housing while the Cardinals contributed one.
At every game, we spend time talking to other fans about the impact the cost of housing has had on asset-limited, income-constrained employees in major cities like the ones in which MLB teams play. You can learn more in my post about ALICE. Please take a few minutes to make a donation to our campaign. We appreciate the support!
But Wait! There’s More
While most fans went home to bed, we went back to the campground, DraftKings at Casino Queen RV Park, after the game. We hitched up the trailer at about 11:00 p.m., pulled up the Airstream Service Center in Jackson Center, Ohio, on the GPS, and started to drive. At 5:30 a.m, we pulled up to the front doors of the service center and settled in for a nap.
Our Hero!
While the Airstream Service Center manager, Kevin, made sure we knew we were squeezed into the schedule, our service team made us feel well cared for during our stay! We would like to send a special thank you to Bob and his colleague (Chad? Or Chas?) for helping us out!! They admitted our poor Airstream at 7:00 a.m., and when she came out of the service center at 4:00, Bob and his team had replaced the air conditioner, put a new control board and fans in the refrigerator, fixed the catch on the closet, repaired an issue with the door, repaired some delamination on the countertop, and answered a dozen questions about other minor issues.
We have air conditioning again!! [Insert sound of the Hallelujah Chorus here.]
A Visit to the Mothership
While we waited for the Airstream to be repaired, we visited the Airstream Museum and factory. We were struggling to stay awake by this time, but it was fun to think that our Airstream came from that same factory floor. After our tour, we returned to the service center to wait for Bob and his team to finish.
An End to our 40-Hour Day
We drove out of the parking lot just after 4:00 that afternoon. Our little home on wheels was ready to back on the road, and we were anxious to get to our campsite. About four hours later, we arrived Fox Den Acres in Pennsylvania.
Up Next:
Tomorrow, we’re off to Philadelphia to watch the Phillies play the Kansas City Royals, then on to our campground in Jersey City!
I can’t imagine how you all did that on so little sleep! At the Airstream Museum they probably talked about the inventor of the Airstream. Fun fact, he was born in the small town of Baker City in eastern OR where I grew up. The local history museum there has a nice display dedicated to him and Airstreams.
We have now had two crazy nights like that. The one where the air conditioning melted down and we didn’t want to sleep in the Airstream when it was 106 degrees, and this one when we finally got an appointment to get the air conditioning fixed! I’m hoping we won’t have any more.
And I didn’t know that about Wally!