WHAT TO LEAVE OUT

I have been in Kansas City way-way, way too long. I need a break out but the impulse just hasn’t jumped the gap yet. A friend suggested a baseball road trip, city to city, cities with major league teams where we could experience the different ball parks. I love baseball but haven’t followed MLB for decades. There are a few teams I sort of like but the part I love is 60’6" from the mound to the plate and 90’ between bases. It is truly a game of inches, maybe fractions of inches and tenths, hundredths of seconds. The better the players, the tighter the tolerances. From the pitcher’s hand to the plate, a 94 mph fast ball makes it in less than half a second. In that .4 seconds the batter has to determine where the ball is, where it will be when it arrives, make the decision to swing, begin the rotation of hips and transfer of weight from back foot to the front and move the bat from a stationary, vertical position through a horizontal plane across the plate, making contact with the ball; four tenths of a second. If the ball is hit on the ground, from the crack of the bat, the defense has only 4 seconds to get the ball to the first baseman’s glove or the runner will beat the throw. I love the game; not so much the team, not the players. Players come and go, make their fortunes and retire. They’re not my heroes. They are the best in the world at what they do but I love the double play in a high school game as much as in MLB. I’d love the road trip but we could watch college games and I’d be just as happy. Seeing power poles go by, seeing white lines on the pavement disappear under the hood; that makes me happy too. 

I do need a road trip. A lady in my coffee group said she loves to travel but after a few days she is ready to come home; she just loves her home and loves being there. I can appreciate that but I certainly do not share her fancy for one house, one place; anyplace. I wanted to go see the Sandhill Cranes last month, on the Platte River in Nebraska. You can do that on an overnight shot from Kansas City but I couldn’t find anyone to go along, got sidetracked, now the birds are gone and I’m still itching with wander lust. Maybe I’ll just throw my camera bag in the car and take off for a week. This time of year the weather can be challenging but the camera is versatile and if I work like I should, I can find good material. Taking photographs is work after all; you have to pay attention. If you don’t have something particular in mind, you have to be open to any and everything. How about the rivers and river towns  in southern Missouri! I’d have to do some research, what to leave in and what to leave out.  I don’t know; maybe I’m talking myself into something.