Another lesson of the road learned the hard way: Never wait out a rain delay at a minor league game. Tonight, I took in a game at Chattanooga's historic Engel Stadium, watching as the Lookouts took on the Birmingham Barons. My string of bringing luck to the home team continued, as the Lookouts came from a 7-1 deficit to tie the game at 7 in the fourth inning. Then, the rains came. It was a wide-open, entertaining game, so I decided to stick it out for awhile. The question is, how long a wait is too long? Once one has hung in there for, say, an hour, do you then leave? It could let up any minute, and then where you be? Had I known, though, how long it would take the grounds crew to put the field in playing shape again once the rain did stop, I would have been gone with the first sprinkle. After two hours, when the rain finally let up, I thought, "Great! A few more minutes and it'll be 'Play ball.'"

Not even close. It took them over an hour to get the field in order. And the problem was not a lack of manpower; they had plenty of people. They just somehow managed to futz around for a full hour! So the game, which began at seven o'clock, didn't end until after 12:30. My home team unbeaten streak continues, though; the Lookouts won, 14-7.

Earlier, I'd spent the day driving through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The towns of Maggie Valley and Cherokee are veritable treasure troves of old tourist attractions, tacky gift shops, motels and motor courts. It made for an enjoyable and nostalgic drive, almost as if I'd entered a time warp and was driving through a touristy area in 1955. Highly recommended.

Continue on the American Odyssey.
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