So, of course, I’m excited that the Kansas City
Royals are in the play-offs. They’re the closest MLB team to our home- just an
hour south down the interstate. We love Kauffman stadium and have enjoyed many
games there. But, I’ve recently realized the other exciting possibility that
the St. Louis Cardinals and the Kansas City Royals could meet up in an I-70
Series again. Hmm…dreamy vision bubble forms in my head…the Driving Across Missouri: A
Guide to I-70 takes off in sales. Hmm…the marketing possibilities…
We wrote a story in our book on billboards. According
to a group called “Save Our Scenery,” Missouri has 14,000 billboards—about 3x
as many per mile as the 8 neighboring states. Many people find them an eyesore
on the landscape. About 42,000 people a day view the billboards near mile exit
183 according to highway statistics.
Hm…I imagine two billboards: the first says
something like, “Do you know what happened at Mile 97 in 1829?” the second
shows a cheesy photo of Ted and I holding our book and it says, “Read our book
and you’ll find out!”
I see myself at a little pop-up bookstand along the
highway. No watermelons or pumpkins for sale, but bites of stories about the
history, community and natural history along the road. Maybe I’ll add a few
tomatoes and green beans from my backyard, too.
Hmm… any baseball-related stories between St. Louis
and Kansas City? Well, at the beginning of the book we talk about the new Busch
stadium and of a 6-mile stretch that honors homerun slugger Mark McGwire and
later we mention Kauffman and the George Brett superhighway stretch of I-70.
We
also talk about the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City’s 18th
and Vine District. I’ve visited it multiple times and it is interactive and
interesting. A real gem of a museum in KC. We pass local baseball fields like the
ones at Dyer Park just outside of KC and T.R. Hughes Field, home of the River City Rascals, in St. Charles county. We've seen road-trippers taking a break
at I-70 rest stops with their leather gloves out playing some catch.
Well, as I listen to Game 3 of the Royals against
the Angels, I’m feeling optimistic! All right, Cards, let’s get our I-70 Series
going.
