I have been living on the road for one month now. I wrote about how I came up with the schedule on a previous Off Day post, so today I will explain how I have set up the lodging accommodations thus far.
Finding a place to sleep for 95 days can be a daunting task. With the lease on my apartment running out at the beginning of the tour I did not need to worry about sending in a rent check every month, but I did need to figure out where I am going to sleep every night. Although there are 30 MLB franchises, I was tasked to finding a warm bed in only 25 cities. New York, Chicago, LA and the Bay Area have multiple teams which takes care of four cities. With my sister and brother-in-law living in Chicago, I was able to schedule my Brewers game around staying with them rather than finding a place in Milwaukee. For the rest I began to seek out friends around the country who would be willing to put up with me for two or three nights.
I began the trip in New York sleeping in my own bed for the last time before hitting the road. I have friends living in Washington D.C., Atlanta, Denver, LA, and Detroit. When the list of available couches in my own rolodex came up short I approached my sister to find out if she knew anybody that would put up with me for a couple of days. She put me in touch with people in Miami, Phoenix, Philadelphia and Boston. Lastly I spoke to my mother and father to find out if they knew anybody with an open couch for me to crash on. Through my folks I found hosts in Baltimore, the Bay Area, Seattle, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Toronto and Boston.
I met an absolutely wonderful human being named Brittany who gave me her sister's number in Dallas as an option for me. I will be arriving in Dallas shortly and meeting my new friend Bri who has graciously opened up her home, despite having never met me.
This left Tampa, St. Louis, Kansas City, Houston, San Diego, Minneapolis and Cincinnati where I had no place to stay. I considered relying on the kindness of strangers and trying to find housing options from city to city, but once I put the entire tour together I realized that getting a good night's sleep was of paramount importance if I was to actually complete this journey. With that in mind I accepted the fact that I would most likely need hotel rooms for the remaining cities.
On the days I am traveling and have needed hotels I need to credit my father Krishna for going above and beyond his fatherly duties. As I do not have an assistant or anybody else on the road to help me out, there is not much I can do on the days where I am traveling. On my off days (such as today), I spend most of my time either writing, recording the podcast, resting or trying to explore the city. This does not leave much time for research and hotel booking. I do not want to book hotels too far in advance, just in case I do not make it to the city in time.
With all of this going on, my father has taken it upon himself to essentially be my travel agent while I am on the road. I call him when I hit the road and depending on how far I drive, he gives me options of hotels to stay at on my route. My only requirements are wifi and a bed. If the hotels have a gym and a fridge it is a bonus, but as long as I have access to the internet and a place to sleep I am all set.
If you have any questions about my lodging or any thing else, please feel free to email me at roundingthirdpodcast@gmail.com
Travel Stats
Miles Traveled: 20
Time in Car: 35 minutes
Exercise: 35 minute cardio, 20 minute weights, 20 minute swim
Sleep Time: 7 Hours
Bottles of Water: 9
Food Eaten: Fish Tacos from the Taco Joint, Salmon from Company Cafe
Total Money spent today $32.22
Cumulative Miles through today 4,844
Cumulative Time in car through today 87 hours 19 minutes