After a two summer delay, the Grand Stadium Tour II got
underway with converging flights to Boston, MA—Joseph coming from Dallas via
Kansas City and Milwaukee and Patsy and I from Austin via Nashville. Joseph
arrived some two hours ahead of us due to weather on our adjoining flight
coming into Nashville from
who-knows-where. Dilin could not join us this time due to a scheduling problem
associated with school and his night job—too bad!
Tuesday
By 0900 hours, we had
dropped off the Pups and cleared security at the Austin
airport. By 0920, I was holding the second hottest cup of coffee ever
produced—why do airport concessions have to make their coffee so HOT? By 1125,
we were in the air and headed for Nashville.
I was sitting next to a nice young lady named Marie, a grant writer for the
Austin Mexic-Arte Museum who was headed to Boston for three days of work and
then to Maine for a friend’s wedding.
Southwest was on time to Nashville
where we had a two hour layover. Around to 1320 hours, I searched out Gibson’s
Café and tried to order a chicken fried steak. Both James Lee Carter and I had tried in 1970 to get a
chicken-fried in Nashville and were
turned down flat—waitress said: “Not only do we not have chicken fried steak,
we don’t have steak fried chicken either.” My friend and I were on our way to
Ft Lee, Virginia
start our careers in the Army at the time. It seems that in forty plus years,
there has been no forward development in Tennessee.
Patsy and I settled for a Burger King combo meal.
The connection aircraft to take us to Boston
was late arriving due to weather and its departure airfield so we were delayed
some thirty minutes getting out of Nashville.
On this leg, I sat next to Bill, a young man traveling from Colorado
back to Boston for a few days and
eventually up into New Hampshire
(his original home) for a friend’s wedding. A lot of wedding party people
moving about the country today—most of them sitting next to me. Joseph had to
wait for some two and a half hours on us at the airport. We caught the Hampton
Inn shuttle and were eventually at our first destination.
Unpacked, we headed back downstairs and got Jimmy, the
shuttle driver to haul us over to Jeveli’s Italian joint where we had a filling
meal—not much taste involved, but filling just the same. If you go lookin’ for
Jeveli’s, it is right next to the Neptune Laundry and across the street from
Boston Car Keys. While we were waiting on our chow, the upstairs of the café
unloaded. It looked like forty guys pored out of the room and all resembled
members of the Boston Mafia I had seen detailed on the Whitey Borger trial
updates over the last month—a gruesome looking bunch.
Wednesday
After breakfast, I placed a call to Sherman D. Roberts—a
friend from Stephan F
Austin High School
and Texas A&M
University. We hadn’t seen each
other in forty plus years and decided to get together for lunch sometime in the
middle of the day.
0900 hours, the Old Town Trolley picked us up at the Hampton
and we headed out to re-discover Boston.
Thinking we would ride around and determine the best areas to visit after
getting the lay of the land.
Our first stop was Paul Revere’s house (built in 1680 and
bought by Revere in 1770), most of
which is original; well the frame is. From here, we walked over to the Old
North Church
(real name - Christ’s Church). I looked around and found, by accident, a pew
that Theodore Roosevelt had sat in during 1912—as much as I admire TR, I had to
sit in this pew for awhile, at least during the guides lecture. One side note,
the church had the oldest pipe organ in the United
States.
Back on the trolley, we searched for a stop near a transit
point so we could meet up with Sherman.
Finding one, we were in Cambridge’s
Harvard Square waiting on Sherman
to show.
Sherman arrives
and directs us to his Natasha’s favorite pizza joint and we order lunch. The
slipped some tofu into my salad, but I managed to eat around it and didn’t
become sick. We spent an hour or so catching up on mutual acquaintances and
who-shot-John before Sherman gave
us a personal tour of Harvard Yard. We even snuck in the back door of the
chapel—front was locked—and looked over the inside. Amazing to see some of the
places you have only read and heard of all your life.
Sherman D. Roberts
Back on the trolley, we visited Faneuil Hall, Quincy Market
(oldest market in US) and the downtown Cheers replica tavern killing some time
before time to head to the ballpark. While drinking a beer in Cheers (replica),
a couple from Nova Scotia sits
down near us and we strike up a conversation covering baseball and hockey. One
odd point, because of where these guys lived, they had to go north to get
south. They were really interesting.
We soon found the blue line train (nice and new) to Fenway
Park, switched to the green line
(old and crowded) and walked the gauntlet of vendors for several blocks to
arrive at our designated gate. Inside finally, I bought myself a Boston Red Sox
cap, a couple of dogs and a coke.
Here to see the Red Sox take on the Baltimore Oriels, we
climb up the tunnel to field level, and then 34 rows up to our seats—noses
began to bleed—and found ourselves just six rows from the top. Huffing and
puffing, we made it.
Soon we are joined by a bunch of college guys from Canada
wearing purple shirts (2 had on red). Turns out they were a groom’s party. They
made racket during the entire game, unmercifully picking on the Baltimore
players. Just after the purple shirts got under way, one of Joseph’s former associates,
Kim, joins us for the game—she now resides in the Boston
area.
Baltimore starts
out the game like they are the team leading the division instead of Boston,
scoring in the first inning. Then things loosen up a bit and both Baltimore and
Boston score in the 3rd.
Through the 6th inning, we
have seen two home runs over the Green Monster (one by each team –
Machado-Baltimore and Davis-Boston). Baltimore
leads going into the 7th, but fail to score. Boston
ties the game in the bottom of the 7th causing fear of extra innings
to set in.
Fenway Park
Green Monster
The Game is on!
Boston’s Mike
Carp pinch hits for third baseman Bogaerts and smacks a Texas Leaguer to
shallow left just over the outstretched glove of the Baltimore
third baseman scoring Jarrod
Saltalamacchia and sending Stephen Drew
to third. Carp is replaced by pinch runner Will Middlebrooks, who stays in to
play third in the top of the ninth. But that’s where the rally ends with Boston
ahead. The Boston closer Koji
Uehara comes in for the 9th and three outs later the game is over.
Even though the Orioles seemed to be able to put runs on the
board at will, I had the feeling that the Red Sox were never out of the game
and felt they could do what it took to win.
We made our way out of Fenway and ran the gauntlet one more
time to get to the trains—worse now than getting to the park. The Green Line
was really crowded but room cleared out when we switched to the Blue Line for
the trip out of downtown to get to the Hampton.
We were finally in the sack at 0045 hours.
Thursday
We made it downstairs for a lazy breakfast and caught the
shuttle over to Wood Station for another trip into Boston;
this morning heading for the U.S.S. Constitution.
The swabbies lecturing the ship tour were all in the 20 – 22
year old range, but did a fantastic job of telling their stories. The ship and
its accompanying museum are very much a class act.
After our visit, we are back on the trolley and heading for
the tea party ship anchored in the downtown harbor. We had been there in 1979
and wanted to get another shot of Joseph tossing the tea over the side. The re-enactors
conducting the tour were fantastic at their jobs as well—these guys made the
adventure well worth the time spent. And yes, I got a shot of Joseph tossing tea!
Joseph in 1979
Joseph in 2013
Departing the ship, we felt ready and energized enough to
take on the Red Coat Regulars ourselves.
Soon, we were again on the trolley, this time headed to Beacon
Hill. When the driver found that we were getting off at 8 Beacon
Hill, we were serenaded to “Where Everybody Knows Your Name”—everybody
on the trolley singing.
Down the steps, we enter the real Bull and Finch Pub
(Cheers) and start with a beer. Having not eaten since breakfast, we decided to
have dinner here. Patsy orders a pinini, Joseph goes for a Reuben and I take
the Norm Burger Challenge—ya gotta live sometime, I’ll show them.
Man, that burger was big. It stood about eight inches tall
on the plate which was full of fries also. I dug in and got after it. I managed
to do the burger in and the beer also but had to go wash up after finishing.
Back from the hand washing, I found that I had been inducted into the “Norm’s
Burger Society,” complete with a certificate and all—waitress told Joseph that
very few ever finish the burger and even fewer clean the plate completely. What
an honor! And all I had to do was bite, chew and swallow.
Norm Burger Society Meritorious Achievement Award
To walk off the eats, we walked across the street and
strolled around the adjacent end of the Boston Commons (America’s
first public park). We felt right at home with all the pigeons, squirrels and
ducks.
Heading back downtown, at one of our station changes, I
noticed we were at the Scollay Square Station at government
Center. I had been singing a
portion of the Kingston Trio’s 1959 hit M.T.A. all the time during or
adventures around Boston and now
here I was right in the middle of the song:
“Charlie’s wife goes down to the Scollay Square Station every
day at a quarter past two,
And through the open window she hands Charlie a sandwich as
the train goes rumbling’ through!
Did he ever return?
No. He never returned!
And his fate is still unlearned. (Poor ole’ Charlie)
He may ride forever ‘neath the streets of Boston,
For he’s the man that never returned!”
Scollay Square Station (at Government Center)
Arriving back at the Hampton,
this effectively finished the Boston
portion of this years’ Grand Stadium Tour II. We had now been to a game in the
oldest Major League ballpark—Fenway Park—what
a thrill!
Now, it’s on to New York City.
