After another hot night in the “Casa del Nitro”, I left Iowa City early headed South then West for Kansas City. The drive was similar to the previous days, with plenty of big sky, plenty of fields and enough heat to make the car feel like a sauna (there was also plenty of bathroom breaks with those damn nachos from the White Sox game continuing to plot their revenge – but I digress).
Arriving in Kansas City, I was to stay with friends of my friend Casey (noticing a common theme with accommodation yet?), McKenzie and Tanja. Who lived in a cool apartment complex close to the Missouri River and about a 10 minute drive to Downtown Kansas City (which for all of my Aussie readers is about the size of St Leonards on the North Shore – still really cool though).
I met up with Casey (who was in town for her brother’s wedding and staying with her family), and Tanja, before being dropped off at an awesome Hockey Bar called “The Blue Line” for a bite to eat and to meet my other room mate for the next few days McKenzie. The rest of the night was catching up / getting to know yous before I retreated to my room for an early night in anticipation for the tour Casey had lined up around the city.
Following a glorious sleep on a real bed (no disrespect to the Nitro – I still love you), Casey showed up at about 10:30am and began the tour of Kansas City, aka the tour of fountains and took in some AMAZING BBQ for lunch.
The tour also included some sampling of local Kansas City beer at the Boulevard Brewery, where we learnt about how beer is made, saw some night skyline views and of course sampled the local varieties (because it’d be rude not to).
We also visited a bar “Dave’s”, that I was at with Dave Cohen (shoutout DC) back in 2013, where we were both kicked out and Dave coined the now famous expression “YOU CAN’T KICK DAVE OUTTA DAVE’S” – fun times indeed.
That night after Casey returned to her family, I hungout with my hosts again McKenzie and Tanja, who took me back to the “Blue Line” before once again retreating home to rest up for game day tomorrow.
The day of the game, I drove out to McKenzie, Tanja and Casey’s hometown of “Lee’s Summit” (about 30 minutes outside of Kansas City), to see some of the sites there and meet Casey. Once again, a beautiful country town that was an interesting mix of large chains (Walmarts, Subways etc) but also small local boutique restaurants – not too dissimilar to country towns we have back home. Once this was all checked off, it was time to go home and get ready for game time.
Arriving at the stadium for a beautiful Friday Kansas City evening, there was a good feeling in the air as the struggling Royals were hosting the 2017 World Series Champions Houston Astros – well maybe that feeling was one of the people looking forward to the promotional $1 night – where all hot dogs and peanuts were only $1.
The Kansas City ballpark was another unique and interesting stadium that again continued the fountain narrative from the main city. It also had its own Hall of Fame museum, some really cool areas that for people to hangout in between innings and also one of the biggest jumbotrons I’ve seen yet.
Finding our seats after a few laps of the ballpark, a staff member from Royals HQ walked up the stairs and delivered me some quality goods. Included was some certificates congratulating me on my first game, a George Brett bobblehead, a Royals T-shirt, an official Kansas City Major League baseball and $40 worth of vouchers for the stadium! I was stoked and want to give a huge shoutout to Jonathan from the Royals organisation who had read my blog and teed all of this up for me. It truly made for a memorable experience and I am extremely grateful for everything provided.
The game itself was always going to be difficult for an out of form Royals team against the powerhouse Houston Astros, however the team went up 2-0 in the bottom of the third inning, before exceptional hitting in the fourth from Houston would tie it up leading into the fifth.
Kansas City would tack on a run to take an advantage leading into the sixth, before the Astros Evan Gattis hit an absolute BOMB Grand Slam Home Run to open the game up and give the Astros a 6-3 lead. Another run would be reeled in for the Astros in the eighth to ultimately give the visitors a 7-3 victory.
Despite the loss, we were all in good spirits and returned back to the house where we grabbed some food (Nashville Chicken Sandwich – 9.3/10), before retiring once again before I fly out to Dallas to meet the dream team of Dave Cohen and “Mad” Matt Reisinger on Saturday.
I’ve had an awesome time in Kansas City these last few days, so huge shoutouts to Casey, McKenzie and Tanja – you’ve all got a place when you (eventually) visit Sydney!
So until next time from Dallas, have a good one!
Thirty before 30 