This is part of what we have been up to since arriving. Spring training is in full force and there are several teams training in the area which is known as the Cactus League in March. So far we have been to two Rangers games and watched them play 17 consecutive innings without letting their opponents score. The only runs scored against them in the two games came in the bottom of the last inning played but the Rangers still won.
The first game was played between Kansas City Royals and the Rangers at their shared training facility in Surprise, Arizona. Just a hop, skip and jump from where we are but as you can see from the sign post, quite a ways from Texas.
It is interesting to watch these games because you are so close to the action and the coaches are letting a lot of different players play to see how they perform in game situations. I was able to score some autographs and plan on getting some more. We have visited two of the stadiums used for the Cactus League and thinking we might do this again in the future.
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| Pre-game Warmup, Prince Fielder on right acting silly |
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| That's me in the beige hat getting Mitch Moreland's autograph |
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| National Anthem time at Surprise Stadium |
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| Pre-game warm up at Goodyear stadium Rangers versus Cincinatti Reds |
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| Mitch Moreland swings while Adrian Beltre watches waiting his turn |
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| Seats cannot get much better than this!!! |
We found a church the first Sunday here and the Pastor and his wife used to live in Brownwood, TX. They have a relative that lived in Longview for awhile. It is truly a small world when you find folks from your home state living and working right down the road from you. Funny though, nobody seems to have any problem identifying us as Texans as soon as I open my mouth and say something. What’s up with that?
The name of the church is First Southern Baptist Church of Buckeye. We thought that was a unique name and it drew us in. We are enjoying visiting various congregations and find it interesting comparing orders of service, selection of worship songs, etc. The main constant that has not varied is teaching from God’s Word which is comforting to know the truth is taught everywhere.
We also made a trip to pickup our tickets for the NASCAR race at the Phoenix International Raceway. We made our way to the track only to find out after driving ALL around it that we were in the wrong place. A very nice and funny security guard directed us back to the location where we could pick up our tickets.
David and Sophie watched a local show on PBS and saw some local dining establishments highlighted. One of the places receiving high marks was named Flavors of Louisiana and owned by some folks from Louisiana. Since it was located close to the raceway ticket office, we decided to mosey over there to give it a try for lunch. Oh my! It was good! So good in fact, we are going back again before we leave the Phoenix area.
The rules for entering venues of large gatherings of people (such as the raceway) are changing. There are many restrictions of what you can bring in with you. Our ladies discovered they cannot bring purses in unless they are made of clear plastic. This led to a constant search for this particular item. Ultimately it had to be ordered online and we are happy to report they have arrived in plenty of time for the race.
Our seating at the racetrack is bleacher bench seating with no backs. This led to another dilemma with the new restrictions. You are not allowed to bring into the venue a stadium seat that has hollow tubing of any kind. So after much research and looking we finally found some soft-sided seating without the hollow tubing.
Coming back from the trip, we made a quick stop at Wal-Mart and to our amazement there was one of the race cars from the upcoming race. Not only that but we spotted the driver. Funny though, he is a lot older looking in person than on TV.
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| Joey Logano NASCAR number 22 rig at Wal-Mart |
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| Grey hair? I thought these guys were all young bucks! |
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