Hope Springs Eternal

Hope springs eternal. At least that's what baseball fans will tell you this time of year. Spring Training officially begins in about a week but the players are already here swatting white balls in batting cages and on practice fields. I drove down from cold and snowy Denver heading for the town of Surprise, Arizona where the local filed plays host this time of year to the Texas Rangers and the Kansas City Royals. Now, Denver hasn't been seeing the horrible Winter conditions that those in the midwest have been getting, but based on what I've seen on the news I'd bet there will be a whole lot of KC and Texas fans chomping at the bit to leave the wintry climes and head to the desert for their first sunburns of the season.

Even Arizona is not immune to some gnarly weather and my trip down took me through high wind warnings complete with blown over tractor trailers in Colorado to dust storms and rain in New Mexico, to winter storm warnings and flash flood advisories in Arizona. Arizona, along with California have received near record amounts of rain in the last several days and the rivers in Arizona dropping down from Flagstaff toward Phoenix were raging torrents of brown, muddy water. In the three years I've been coming down to work Spring Training I've never seen a trace of water in most of the riverbeds the highway crosses but from now on I'll believe it that you don't want to get caught in a flash flood in the desert. Here's a quick video highlight of the trip down: 

Still, the 915 mile, 14 1/2 hour drive is worth it when you drop below 4,000 feet in elevation from the wintry conditions in Flagstaff and finally see the first signs of green grass, cactus, and palm trees. Just that 1,000 feet or so in elevation, plus a hundred or so miles south, make all the difference. I'm a little sad that I've probably bid adieu to the winter of 2018-19... nah, who am I kidding - bring on the warm temps and sunny weather and leave the snow shovels behind.

I'm tucked in to the wonderful campground at White Tank Regional Park just minutes outside of the town of Surprise and this morning went to officially check in at the Surprise Stadium. Pro ball doesn't start for several more days but the stadium is hosting college ball this week and the smell of hotdogs and popcorn was in the air for the mostly friends and family in attendance to cheer on their sons on the diamond. Soon enough the stands will fill as the Rangers face off against the Royals on opening day as the ump yells "Play Ball!". I for one, can't wait!