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e rolled into town last Saturday, weary and slightly worse for wear: back home after an eight-state, slightly soggy (albeit certainly satisfying) road trip, organized and undertaken with one of my sons. Scott and I began planning this asphalt escape back in February when the ceaselessness of winter was dragging us down and we felt it necessary, for sanity's sake, to dream of open road, sunny skies, and the welcome heat of summer. Our desires were simple, our prerequisites few: to point the car south and further explore America, a country that never fails to fascinate. To catch some baseball games. And, regardless of where the road led us in the early going, to once again end up in Chicago for three days of Windy City merriment. Oh, and to the prerequisites, we added road tunes. Because no road trip is complete without tunes. So, we loaded the car with music that could withstand heavy-rotation, plunked The National's Trouble Will Find Me into the player and, with Matt Berninger's baritone as a backdrop, we slinked out of town at 5:30 on a Sunday morning. Why so idiotically early? Because we had tickets to a Pittsburgh Pirate game at PNC Park -- rst pitch, 1:30 p.m. Spending a day in Pittsburgh probably isn't on everyone's bucket list, but it was on mine. You see, since PNC opened on the banks of the Alleghany River in 2001, it's received nothing but rave reviews as a classic, scenic, old-time venue that is intimate, inviting and bursting with atmosphere. And given that the red-hot Pirates were W Not even rain could rain on the slightly soggy American road trip That's Life Andy Juniper Guest Contributor 7 | Thursday, July 11, 2013 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | www.insideHALTON.com the home team won via a dramatic Adam Dunn homer in the ninth. Again, reworks. Because of the win, and because it was the 4th of July. Understandably, we were beginning to think of ourselves as good-luck charms for local ball teams. However, the following day we went to Wrigley Field and the hapless Cubs got thumped by the Pirates. Our good-luck streak had ended. Alas, so had our holiday. We'd had a lot of laughs. And a ton of fun. Granted, we'd consumed too much ballpark junk food, imbibed too many American brews, and had way too little sleep. We pointed the car north and drove home, through intermittent rain, listening to tunes, re ecting on our experiences and plotting... the next great road trip. -- Andy Juniper can be contacted at ajjuniper@ gmail.com, found on Facebook and Twitter . sporting the best record in baseball, the timing was perfect. The summer of 2013 will be remembered in many areas as `The Soggy Summer' wherein all holiday tales have a rain refrain. Rain was why we spent more than seven hours at PNC. We had seats behind home plate, under the overhang of the upper deck, which meant when the skies suddenly opened, we were sheltered from the deluge: a 2.5-hour rain delay, the most enjoyable rain delay ever. Nobody bailed on the Bucs and it seemed like Pittsburgh was one big party. The locals won in the 14th inning. Fireworks. The next morning we drove through a downpour and made our way to Lexington, Horse Capital of The World, where we spent a few days dodging raindrops, immersing ourselves in Kentucky charm, and talkin' horses with horse lovers. We also saw a Lexington Legends game. The Southern League team won 1-0 and pitcher Daniel Stumpf tossed the team's rst-ever nohitter. Fireworks. From Lexington it was off to Chicago. We witnessed a White Sox game at Cellular Field and FREE INSTALLATION POOL SALE ABOVE GROUND POOLS 12' X 24' INGROUND KIDNEY SHAPED POOL INSTALLATION* OR NO PAYMENTS FOR 12 MONTHS (QAC) FREE $ INSTALLED* VINYL & FIBERGLASS AVAILABLE 24,995 15' ROUND $2299 18' ROUND $2499 12' X 20' OVAL $3499 15' X 25' OVAL $3999 INSTALLED* SPAS FROM $1,999 SWIM SPAS FROM $15,999 ALL IN STOCK PATIO FURNITURE AUTO POOL CLEANERS HAYWARD I/G POOL PUMPS 250,000 BTU POOL HEATER SOLAR BLANKETS 12' X 24' $49.99 MANY 14' X 28' $59.99 16' X 32' $79.99 MORE SIZES 18' X 36' $99.99 AVAILABLE 20' X 40' $129.99 $ A/G Pools 79 99 $ 149 I/G Pools 99 $ 299 99 $ 129999 UP TO 50% OFF 12'X24' 14'X28' 16'X32' 18'X36' 20'X40' Visit Our Showroom! 504 IROQUOIS SHORE RD UNIT #1, OAKVILLE, ONTARIO L6H 3K4 FACTORY DIRECT VINYL LINER SALE REPLACE YOUR OLD LINER AND SAVE BIG!! $ $ 905.815.5252 *Restrictions apply chek in-store for details. 999 1099 $ 1299 $ 1499 $ 1799