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| Darren O'Donnell, My Cousin Andy, Me and The King |
His name was Darren O'Donnell. Who is he and why is he so special you must be wondering?
Well back in the middle of June, I saw an article on the internet on the TampaBay.com website. I couldn't believe what I was reading.
The article spoke about a young man who was a mere 24 years old from Bellingham, Washington. For those of you who don't know, Bellingham is practically by the Canadian border. It's about 90 miles North of Seattle on I-5. In other words, it's a long way from New York City as well as parts of the country.
This young man, Darren O'Donnell decided to ride his bike to all the different major league ballparks this season, which in itself is quite a feat.
Most people over the years who have decided to attempt to this kind of journey would either fly, drive, take a bus and/or a train. This is the first time I've ever heard of someone doing with a bike.
It's a rather unique and novel idea to say the least. This isn't something anybody can do. First and foremost, you must know how to ride a bike. I'm not trying to be funny, some people don't know how to. In addition, you have to be in great shape to endure all the obstacles you'll encounter along the way such as riding up and down hills. Furthermore, you have to ride on certain roads. For the most part, you can't take interstate highways like driving a car. On the other hand, you have to deal with weather issues so you have to be prepared to do so.
These were the types of questions I asked Darren when we met him because in my wildest dreams I couldn't picture myself doing what he's doing even if I was capable of doing it.
Needless to say, he blew me away with his amazing ability to attempt to achieve this incredible accomplishment. I know it was true but I still had a hard time believing it.
In matter of fact, he said this was his very first time to New York City. I had offered my assistance to him back in June via e-mail. He like most didn't take advantage of my kindness and my willingness to help out any way I could. I guess it didn't want to impose on me. If I really didn't want to be bothered, I wouldn't have volunteered to help. I always offer my assistance because I like to treat people the way I want to be treated. I know it's a very cruel world out there. I'm an exception to that rule. I wish he would have. That way he could have had an easier time while he was here in NYC getting around.
Luckily he was able to make it to Citi Field on that day. With his odd way of traveling, it's not easy to maintain a set schedule.
With that being said, he was supposed to be at Yankee Stadium on that Tuesday night but for some reason he wasn't able to make it. I was caught by surprise. He said he was going there Thursday afternoon instead. I asked him if he had a ticket for the game yet. He said he might. Between the King and I, we had an extra ticket that we couldn't use so we decided to give it to him. He was very grateful. Instead of the ticket going to waste, we made sure it went to good use.
Darren said he was planning to continue on his trip to Boston once he left the New York City area where he got to spend some quality time with his Uncle Terry who lives in New Rochelle and a good friend of his who lives in Manhattan.
He has visited many people he knows across the country either family or friends. In my case, a perfect stranger.
If you want to meet and greet Darren if and when he comes to or passes through your town or city, please let me know so I can get you in contact with him. He has given me his permission to do so. He's a really nice intelligent young man who can share his adventures with you firsthand.
I told him I know people in many of the cities he still has to visit before he heads back West.
They include Toronto and yes he'll be riding through Buffalo in order to get there so my Buffalo Boys should be able to see him as he passes through within the next week or so.
In addition, he'll be going to Detroit, Chicago, Milwaukee, Minnesota and Kansas City before ending his journey in St. Louis in late September.
For further details and his tentative schedule, look him up on Twitter @Baseball_Biking and make sure you follow him. In addition, if you're not following me for some unknown reason please do so @royaltytoursusa.
Furthermore, he's on Facebook. Look for Baseball Biking Tour and you should find him. He does quite amazing put up posts of his excursions with pictures and plenty of detail on there. You can also feel free to comment accordingly. For example, his visit to Citi Field was Day 125.
I strongly suggest that you reach out and give this fellow human being the love and care he deserves. After all, he's an inspiration to all of us in one way, shape or form.
Thank you for taking your precious time to follow and read along.
I personally greatly appreciate it.
Yours truly,
Gary Herman
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