September results and National planning!

Had a busy September. My wife had her wisdom teeth removed so I spent a couple days helping her out, plus we're making a trip to Houston in two weeks (from which I should have some info in my October recap), and I've started assembling stuff for the roadtrip to the 2018 National with Arron-- selling stuff on eBay and some Facebook groups, planning routes and games to hit, all that.  I'll get into that after I recap. Right now, the list of stuff...


SEPTEMBER 1
Kyle Petty, c/o office, 2/2, 2 weeks
Danny Sullivan, c/o home, 2/2, 2 weeks
Carl Erskine, c/o home, 2/2, 2 weeks
Jerry Don Gleaton, c/o home, 6/6, 2 weeks

SEPTEMBER 2
Jim Vatcher, c/o home, 4/4, 1 month
Brad Smith, c/o home, 3/2, 2 weeks, wrote note on envelope
Denny Hocking, c/o Rainiers, 4/4, 2 weeks
Dan Plesac, c/o MLB Network, 6/6, 2 weeks

SEPTEMBER 5
Tim Naehring, c/o home, 4/4, 1 month
Richard Childress, c/o home, 3/3, 2 weeks

SEPTEMBER 8
Lee Stevens, c/o G.J. Rockies, 5/5, 5 weeks

SEPTEMBER 9
Greg Gross, c/o Aces, 4/4, 3 weeks

SEPTEMBER 12
Ron Hansen, c/o home, 3/3, 1 week

SEPTEMBER 14
Dave Marcis, c/o home, 5/5, 1 week

SEPTEMBER 18
Jay Bell, c/o home, 4/4, 6 months
Regan Smith, c/o Regan Smith Racing, 2/2, 1 month

SEPTEMBER 19
Ken Forsch, c/o home, 3/3, 1 week

SEPTEMBER 21
Jeff Newman, c/o home, 4/4, 2 weeks
Denny Vaninger, c/o home, 1/1, 1 week

SEPTEMBER 22
Cecil Cooper, c/o home, 4/4, 8 months
Bill Elliott, c/o home, 4/4, 1 month

SEPTEMBER 23
John Russell, c/o Orioles, 4/4, 2 months
Joey Logano, c/o home, 1/2, 2 weeks, returned one unsigned

SEPTEMBER 25
Brett Bodine, c/o home, 4/4, 3 weeks

SEPTEMBER 28
Ray Herbert, c/o home, 2/2, 5 weeks

SEPTEMBER 29
Jeff Reardon, c/o home, 4/4, 2 weeks

SEPTEMBER 30
Loy Allen, c/o home, 4/4, 6 weeks

OCTOBER 2
Ron Fearon, c/o home in UK, 4/3, 1 year (with US stamp and postmark), wrote note back
Johnny Sauter, c/o Thor Sport Racing, 2/2, 3 weeks

* * * * * * * * * *

So... The National. Dates have been officially set as August 1-5 in Cleveland.

Looks like it may just be Arron and me.  Outside chance another local guy, Josh (whom I may have mentioned before), might join us, but its looking like it'll likely be a two-person venture. We may also split hotel costs with a guy I work with who might just fly in and out.

Arron and I talked about the possibility of hitting a few games on the way up and on the way back, turning this into a gigantic 'graphing bonanza.  Clearly, I'm all in favor of it.

As of right now, there are a few routes we can take, and with the minor league schedules coming out, I'm paring it down to the best.  Several teams along our potential routes haven't released their full home schedules (namely Arkansas, Tennessee, Louisville, Tulsa, Columbus) so we certainly could add options to these. I was fortunately able to identify a few missing ones from other teams' schedules. But here are a few options, all leaving the morning of Friday, July 27. Note that some of these may or may not be doable due to game times. I'll list them wherever known.

OPTION A
Friday drive to Jackson TN (vs. Biloxi, 6 pm) or Birmingham AL (vs. Tennessee).
Saturday, drive up to either Bowling Green KY (vs. Fort Wayne), Louisville (vs. Rochester), or Cincinnati (vs. Philadelphia).
Sunday, depending on what we do Saturday we have the option of Louisville (vs. Rochester), Cincinnati (vs. Philly), or Dayton (vs. Lansing, 2 pm), on to Cleveland

OPTION B
Friday drive to Birmingham AL (vs. Tennessee).
Saturday drive to Kodak TN (Tennessee vs. Chattanooga), or Lexington KY (vs. Rome).
Sunday drive to Charleston WV (West Virginia vs. Asheville), on to Cleveland

OPTION C
Friday drive to Oklahoma City (vs. El Paso).
Saturday drive to Springfield MO (vs. NW Arkansas), or Indianapolis (vs. Buffalo, 6 pm).
Sunday, if we do Springfield drive to Indianapolis (vs. Buffalo, 2:30 pm), on to Cleveland.

OPTION D
Friday drive to wherever we feel like stopping.
Saturday drive to Cedar Rapids (vs. Quad Cities, 6:30 pm).
Sunday drive to Chicago (White Sox vs. Toronto), on to Cleveland.

While in Cleveland, we likely will do...
Monday 7/30: Indianapolis at Columbus, or Louisville at Toledo
Tuesday 7/31: Great Lakes at Lake County (11 am) AND Bowie at Akron (7 pm)
Wednesday 8/1: Show starts in the evening, so take the day off
Thursday 8/2: Show in daytime, Bowling Green at Lake County (7 pm)
Friday 8/3: Show in daytime, Indianapolis at Toledo or possibly something in Columbus
Saturday 8/4: Show in daytime, Los Angeles AL at Cleveland
Sunday 8/5: Last day of show; possibly skip it to hit the road early?

OPTION 1
Sunday drive to Fort Wayne (vs. Lansing, 3 pm) or Toledo vs. Indianapolis (6:30 pm), begin driving to Cedar Rapids
Monday drive remainder to Cedar Rapids (vs. Beloit, 12 noon), drive to Des Moines (Iowa vs. Las Vegas). Other options would include Quad Cities at Peoria, Wisconsin at Clinton, Kane County at Burlington.
Tuesday drive to Omaha (vs. Salt Lake, 12 noon), drive to Kansas City (dinner with friends). Another option would be doing Las Vegas at Iowa again if it's an early game.
Wednesday drive to Texas

OPTION 2
Sunday drive to Charleston WV (West Virginia vs. Augusta)
Monday drive to Chattanooga (vs. Mississippi)
Tuesday drive to Rome GA (vs. Delmarva) or Pearl MS (Mississippi vs. Mobile)
Wednesday drive to Texas

OPTION 3
Sunday drive to Toledo (vs. Indianapolis, 6:30 pm)
Monday drive to Bowling Green KY (vs. South Bend), Nashville (vs. Sacramento), Memphis (vs. Fresno) or Jackson TN (vs. Tennessee, 6 pm)
Tuesday drive to Texas

I've heard bad things about Jackson and Omaha, so we may try to avoid those. Fortunately reviews were good on Lake County, Akron, Toledo, Columbus, Chattanooga, and Iowa.

So, what say you, graphers?  What places would you recommend hitting? What would you recommend avoiding? Any teams you expect to be tough? Any you expect to be easy? Any info on schedules for Arkansas, Tennessee, Louisville, Tulsa, or Columbus? Any info on game times?

If so, leave a comment!