For my first career, I was a banker in Charlotte, North Carolina. For my second career, I am currently a golf professional in coastal Mississippi. For my third career, should I be so lucky, I am going to be a father/son sports trip travel planner.
My nine year old son and I have formally now done Dallas, Boston, Memphis, Detroit, Los Angeles, Houston, and Cleveland. We’ve informally done Miami, Chicago, and New York City as part of family trips. And we’ve done Charlotte, Atlanta, and New Orleans multiple times with our eyes closed.
There’s nothing quite like these trips and the bonds that they build. And as we learn more and our tastes change, so do the trips. So for the first time last week, the father/son expanded into father/son/granddaddy.
You’ll have to ask him, but I bet he’ll be back next year.
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The first rule of these trips is that there is no such thing as a perfect trip. Stuff will happen. That’s just a part of the deal.
The second rule is that there will be a set itinerary of games and events but plenty of room for surprises.
The last rule is that each location does not have to be sexy or glamorous, just real. (abk is less Disney World, more Cleveland.)
And as such, we gassed up the car and headed north.
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The trip was awesome. Absolutely awesome. But it was so imperfect, it was laughable. I mean, seriously, strap in.
After an absolutely beautiful first day of driving, our first real stop at the request of my retired Air Force father in law was the United States Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio. As we literally pulled into the parking lot, it started pouring rain. We had one small umbrella. My son is the size of a small adult. I am 6’4”. My father in law is even taller. I will never forget walking through history completely soaking wet. Good times.
By the time we left, the sun was shining, and it was time for Charlotte FC at Columbus Crew in Columbus, Ohio. It was an incredible vibe until halftime when the severe weather sign popped up on the Jumbotron and asked everyone to seek shelter. The Crew stadium is super awesome and super intimate, but it is not built for 15,000 fans to seek shelter together. An hour later, the weather passed, and awesomeness resumed.
The following day, I did something I had never done in my life: I walked out of a restaurant without paying. Not on purpose, of course. It just happened. We were just outside of Columbus at a local pizza joint, and when we were done we just left. Fifteen minutes down the road it hit me, and I called the restaurant laughing, gave them my credit card, and apologized profusely.
A couple of hours later, we arrived at our beautiful downtown Cleveland hotel, only to be informed that starting at 10:30pm that night through the following morning, the water in the entire building would be turned off. No shower, no bathroom, no nothing. Brilliant. I was hungry and thirsty, so we went straight to the hotel lounge. They had this beautiful mango orange tequila drink that would hit the spot. I ordered it immediately, and to this second, I have still not received it. I can only laugh.
The following day, apparently, the airline world shut down due to some CrowdStrike/Microsoft thing. I would have never had a clue except for the next day I was playing in a 110 person golf event, and these people were flying in from all over the United States. All of a sudden, our Discord group chat started blowing up. All flights are cancelled. Literally all of them. It didn’t affect me as I was already there, but I felt for everyone else. But like the sickos that we golfer junkies are, everyone, no matter where they lived, jumped in a car and started driving. 108 of the 110 made it. Unreal.
I couldn’t think too long about this issue because midday, my car battery died in the middle of a Cleveland intersection. We were barely able to get it restarted and went straight to the local dealership. $650 and a few wasted hours later, we were back in business. Fancy ass cars and their fancy ass batteries.
The following day at the historic Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio was damn near perfect. Beautiful courses, great weather, new friends, and I played well. However, on my 36th hole of the day almost ten hours after I began, I started feeling weird. Not bad. Not good. Weird. I stayed focused, birdied the last hole, and shook everyone’s hand. But I needed a restroom. And some water. And a restroom. And some water. And another restroom. Eventually, I made it back to the hotel.
I still felt a little unusual the following morning, but I made the decision to make a slight detour for one final excursion. The weather said it would be mild and cloudy in Pittsburgh, and I had heard that PNC Park was incredible. We arrived, met a college teammate of mine, and then the sun came out and it felt like we were sitting on the Equator. The laughs I had with my old college teammate were the best medicine of the day, and then we started the trek home.
My son is infatuated with Cracker Barrel, so we finally, after six days, took him to Cracker Barrel. It was near closing time, there were only a few tables in use, but all of the people there appeared annoyed. One wanted a manager. One yelled at the waitress. It was downright weird. Our meal was fine, and then we made our way over to our final hotel, unaware of one last hurdle we would need to overcome.
Due to the CrowdStrike/Microsoft thing, the hotel still could not make key cards, so the worker on call had to literally walk us to our room and unlock it for us. If we wanted to go to the pool, we would need their assistance. Workout room? Assistance. Luckily, we had already eaten and were wiped out. No pool. No workout. No assistance needed once we were in.
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When I say the trip was awesome, I mean the trip was awesome. Each adventure always has a few hiccups, but this one made me laugh. Something or some things happened every single day. As a seasoned traveler now, I know that is simply part of the journey.
Although I never need to have a car battery die in an intersection in Cleveland ever again. Ever.
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Have a great week.-Benj
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