Royalty sees the Washington Wizards play their Home Opener against the Boston Celtics at the Verizon Center!

Prince at Verizon Center

I got up early Saturday morning so I could call Avis up to see if they had any cars available to rent. They said they did on a first come first served basis. I wound up getting a Crown Victoria for the weekend. I took a few buses and a train to get there. I arrived there just after 9AM. On my way there, I saw so many trees that got knocked down as a result of Hurricane Sandy. When I finally arrived at Avis which is located at a gas station, they still had no power and no gas. Despite that, cars were lined up all the way down the block waiting for them to get a supply of fuel. It was unbelievable. Once again, I counted my blessings.

I wound up getting the car with a quarter of a tank of gas. Thankfully I went to pick up the King and away we went. We drove into New Jersey as the remaining gas was dwindling away. We wisely decided to get on the NJ Turnpike for a little while. By doing so, we were able to luckily get gas. It wasn't easy but once again we were blessed. We had a car with a Pennsylvania license plate that ended in an odd number. At Noon in Northern New Jersey that day, they started allowing people to get gas with odd license plates only. We patiently waited on a line on the shoulder of the exit to the rest area for an hour and sixteen minutes starting at 12:07PM before we got our chance to get some gas. While we were waiting a state trooper looked at everybody's plates to make sure they were odd. The car behind me apparently wasn't so they were kicked off the line. We were so fortunate. Five minutes later at 1:28PM we finally got enough to get us to Laurel, Maryland which is located between Baltimore and Washington DC. I knew the gas was a lot cheaper there so we filled up before we continued on to DC.

We originally planned to go to see the University of Delaware play football on the way to DC but Hurricane Sandy spoiled that idea. We ironically past by the stadium area after we stopped off at McDonald's for an early dinner. We saw people heading back to their cars so the King yelled out and asked them who won. A few ladies responded it wasn't us. In other words, the Delaware Blue Hens lost to the visiting Towson Tigers. The King looked it up on his phone and we found out that they lost 34-27 in overtime. It was a long game. It seemed like a blessing in disguise that we couldn't make it.

We continued on as we finally got to DC just before 6PM. We went to see the Wizards play their home opener against the Boston Celtics at the Verizon Center.

Our friend Peter Agnew has season tickets for the Wizards was able to get us a pair of tickets at his season ticket price which worked out well for us. Unfortunately he was away so he couldn't join us. We were grateful for his kindness as always.

As for the game we saw, the Celtics raced out to a 17-2 lead. It appeared that the Wizards were going to get blown away. Surprisingly, the Wizards managed to hang around most of the game. They trailed 26-12 after the first quarter. They got within seven points at halftime, 49-42. After three quarters, they pulled within four at 71-67. In the fourth quarter with three and a half minutes to go, they tied the game at 84 as Jannero Pargo hit a basket. Moments later teammate Kevin Seraphin gave the Wizards their first lead of the game, 86-84. They didn't score again as Paul Pierce buried a three pointer to give the Celtics an 87-86 lead. They added a few throws late as they emerged victorious, 89-86 to spoil the Wizards' home opener.

After the game we drove to Somerset, PA where we spent the night before we continued onward to Cleveland, Ohio on Sunday.

Stay tuned for the special post that will recap the rest of this adventurous getaway.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman