Viva Lost Luggage
August 19th, 2014 | by mmb5 |Other than two days to go to the Frozen Four in April, I haven’t really had a lot of time off. So it’s time to go on vacation…and more importantly for you…another quasi-patented trip report. The trip this time begins with a trip to TCONA, followed by a driving trip through the lower half of the Mountain Time Zone.
Day 1: Detroit to Las Veags through Phoenix
The first day begins simple enough, a flight to Phoenix. I chose Phoenix rather than Las Vegas as the airport because it’s cheaper, not as noisy, and the trip was going to end a lot closer to Phoenix than it would to Las Vegas. Despite having #47 on the direct Southwest flight — I got the prime exit row seat I love. And my bags were the first off the flight! Everything is turning up Milhouse. A quick jaunt to a copy place to make copies of all of the questions for TCONA, and begin the five hour drive to Vegas.
Diversion Alert: One of the things I bought while in Phoenix was an old school Rand McNally atlas. Although I do have my barely-trusty GPS with me, there’s something about having the classic oversized maps. While looking at the maps, I noticed that there is now an I-2 that skirts the bottom of Texas. Although technically it’s the right number, it doesn’t hook up to any other Interstate, and it’s only 47 miles long. They’ll make any road an interstate these days.
Anyway, I got to Vegas without incident (traveling on US-93 or the future I-11) and get to the Tropicana. Even though it’s turning dusk, it is still unbearably hot for me. I never understand why anyone lives here.
Days 2-3: Staying in Vegas
I do not gamble. I’m not much for flashy entertainment. I do not like noise. Which means Vegas is just perfect for me! Unfortunately, this is where the tournament is held and I have to deal with it. For the first time, TCONA ran pretty much on time. Finally getting the mindset of the participants in as well as putting lots of breaks in made everything work very well.
How did I do as a participant? About what I would expect. My only medal was a bronze in one of the two pub quiz events, where I pretty much contributed absolutely nothing. My Learned League finish was back to normal (third quadrant), no clue on the individual quiz (I would guess 2nd quadrant), the 5×5 (a very fun game) I did make the second round (which means top 25) and a fine comeback in the Only Connect competition.
photo courtesy Earl Cahill
Knodgeball (the combination of dodge ball and trivia) was not quite the run it was last year. I’ve gained 35 pounds, apparently forgotten how to throw a ball, didn’t have the dynamo of a young athletic person who was also much better than trivia than me, so we were a quick two-and-out, although both of our games were pretty close. I’ve chosen the picture that doesn’t make me look terrible (and more pictures of better people than me playing here).
However, during the game I managed to step on my glasses and pretty much ruined them. The karma from the plane flight has caught up with me. On my way out of Vegas, I had to stop at a Lenscrafters to get a new pair of glasses. Fortunately, they were able to grab my prescription and make a set in an hour as they promised. While waiting, I ate the worse calzone ever made and had to watch an American Apparel fashion show, because they sort of took over the food court.
QuizBowl wise I think the crew that helped me out either writing or moderating (or both) did an excellent job. Other than one vociferous one-time Jeopardy! contestant, I heard nothing but praise. Even better, I was able to dust off my lounge act while killing time after the final game but before the award ceremony. I have to figure out how to make that a permanent part of the convention.
Day 4: Las Vegas to Orem
After the new glasses and the aforementioned crappy calzone, it was up to Orem, Utah, which was to be my base for the next few days. Orem is the town north of Provo, and is a 40 minute drive south of Sal Tlay Ka Siti. Approximately a five hour drive, much of it was being tortured by the 19-inning Tigers-Blue Jays game I had plucked on my phone. Losing an hour because of the time difference (Las Vegas is on Pacific, and Utah on Mountain), I got in at roughly a good time to go to bed.
Days 5 and 6: Family History Library
The vending machine at the Family History Library. Note the lack of caffeinated beverages.
I had not been to the Family History Library since 1997. Then, it was mostly microfilm and microfiche and a little bit of old PS/2’s that could read CDs. Now, it’s more computers than microfilm machines but I was looking for was still all microfilm. After doing a favor for someone else (and found a lot in 2 hours), the remainder of Monday was a hunt that went nowhere. My Gaelic relatives continue to be elusive.
Tuesday proved to be a little more fruitful, as I was able to go back a few spots on my Swiss and German sides. I can read most of the French, but the German (in 19th century handwritten Kurrent) is beyond my current ability. Hopefully I will able to understand it soon, because I can likely get a few generations out of it. There was also the historical quirk of one of the German towns I was looking at which flipped to the French side for a while. In the same log book, it started in German, switched to French entries for a while, and went back to German.
Here is the death entry of my maternal-paternal-maternal-maternal-maternal 4-great-grandfather Johann Adam Schafer (?-1873). I’m sure his birth year (or at least his death age) and his parents’ names are in there, but I can’t figure it out.
This is the marriage notice (from 1814) for my paternal-paternal-paternal-maternal-paternal 4-great grandparents (from current-day Movelier, Jura, Switzerland). This document is most likely French, although it may be in a no longer used dialect. The husband (Joseph Siterlet) died en route to the USA in 1843.
Day 7: Orem to Grand Juction Orem via Moab
Although I could spend a lot more time at the Family History Library, I need to do something different for my sake. So I was going to make a quick trip to Moab to see if that snow cone hut is still there followed by a trip to Grand Junction to see the Single-A Rockies. The drive down to Moab is on US-6, which in Utah doesn’t get a lot of cell reception. About a 3.5 hour drive I get to Moab, I notice a message on my phone. Unable to get the reception until now, I stop and listen to the message.
I have left my luggage back at the hotel in Orem.
Karma is really biting me in the ass now. So after I confirm that the snow cone hut is gone, but it has been replaced by different snow cone huts, a quesadilla truck (well, that and 3 hotels, two stop lights and at least 2 dozen other businesses), I drive the 3.5 hours back to Orem.
This is just before the national anthem. The announced attendance was 1,632, which means that it is calculated by counting the human organs present.
Shut out of the Grand Junction baseball, fortunately Orem has a team (the Owlz), a single-A affiliate of the Angels. This night they were playing the Great Falls Voyagers (an affiliate of the White Sox). The home team lost 8-4, in a stadium as you can see to the right was just a few short of capacity vacacity. Being where they are, they sold no beer (no beer!), although they did sell Diet Pepsi. The PA announcer thought it was cute to say the opposing player names Ben Stein-like, which is funny for about two batters. The game was also very devoid of many mid-game events. Just a very pedestrian experience.
However, in looking at their schedule I noticed this for their promotions, which I present without comment:
- June 25: Fifty Shades of Holly (Thumbcuffs giveaway)
- June 28: Faith and Family Night
Did You Know: The Orem Owlz share their stadium with Utah Valley University, home of the (green uniform) Wolverines. Their parking lots reserve the best spots for those who both have the staff permit and have a UVU vanity license plate.
Day 8: Orem to Sedona via Tuba City, Navajo Nation
Since my luggage faux pas put me a little out of location, I had to spend most of the Thursday driving. After driving through a few small towns (and a lot of mountainous nothing) and chasing several cars nearly off the road (they’re called passing lanes for a reason), I head over to Tuba City in the Navajo Nation, hoping to get some tuba-related souvenirs for my tuba-playing friends.
During this trip, I do gain an hour, since Arizona does not participate in daylight savings time (the last thing you need in Arizona is more daylight). However, the Navajo Nation, since it leaks into New Mexico and also has a sliver of Utah, does participate in daylight savings time. Unless you’re in the Hamtramack-like Hopi area inside the Navajo Nation, which sticks with Arizona since it is entirely in Arizona. Tuba City straddles both, and it got a little confusing once you tried to figure out what stores were open and closed. Unfortunately, the one that could possibly have any tuba-related stuff was in the Navajo area, and was closed by the time I got to it. I drove all the way to Tuba City and all I got was this lousy photograph of a road sign.
I nearly ate at the Chinese place in town (how many people can say they ate Chinese on a reservation) but I chose a traditional restaurant instead. And if you’re a teacher looking for a job, they have plenty.
After my meal, a two hour jog to Sedona turned into a 2.5 hour jog as neither my GPS or my phone-GPS knew where the hotel was. I eventually figured it out, and got to enjoy the free Karma-balancing upgrade to a jacuzzi suite.
Day 9: Sedona to Tempe
Being much more out of shape than I’ve been in a while, I couldn’t do a lot of hiking. I ended up doing about 3.5 miles on two different trails, apparently poorly marked by city policy. The picture to the right is Snoopy rock, which if you look hard enough you’ll figure out why.
Sedona is very much a tourist trap city, a sort of a South of the Border if it was done by New Agers. The shopping district was inspired by Hanna-Barbera, as it was pretty much an unchanging pattern of clothes-jewelry-New Age-food. Touring through that kind of area didn’t take long for me, and I was off to Tempe.
One step out of my car in Tempe pretty much put a kibosh on my idea of going to an Arizona League game. If the temperature is 101, the radio guy should show at least a minor amount of surprise in his voice. So instead I tried to find a good place to eat. Even though class was out of session, the campus area was hopping, and rather upscale. I ended up eating at the Chuckwagon, which is the ASU-version of Blimpy Burger.
Day 10: Back home
I had a 9 am flight, so this involved having to actually use an alarm to get up. The person next to me on the rental shuttle was beyond annoying, and this may have distracted me a little. I get my stuff, get into the terminal, and notice quite the long line for Southwest. Apparently the hip thing to do in Phoenix is to take an early-morning Saturday flight.
While in the line, I realize a problem. I left one of the bags on the bus. If I go through the trouble of getting the bag, I’m going to miss the flight. So I had to make the decision to not chase after it, and hope that it has been turned in and it can be shipped to me. Unfortunately, I can’t find out about this until Monday. Fortunately, they did have it and now I have it. And as much as that bummed me out, at least someone was thrilled to see me when I got home: