Royalty returns to the Bay area before returning home to NYC!

After we left Anaheim Friday night, we drove 100 miles north on I-5 to Lebec where we spent the night at Motel 6. We arrived there around 1AM which gave us enough time to get a good night sleep.

We got up in the morning & we drove back towards the Bay area. We were going to Oakland which was 300 miles away. We drove for a short time and then I noticed an exit that had places to eat so I got off so we could have breakfast. Since Duck wanted to have coffee at McDonald's I dropped him & the King off there. I saw an Iron Skillet just up the road so I decided to go there instead. I had time and I prefer to eat well so I did. I wound up having an all you can eat buffet. It worked out well since we had a long drive ahead of us. After I indulged in my hearty breakfast, the King & Duck walked over to where I was. Once I was done, we got back in the car and we continued on towards Oakland.

As we got closer we ran into a traffic jam that was at a stand still. There was a major accident that closed all the lanes. Luckily we were able to turn around & we took an alternate route instead. By doing so, the delay we had was minimal. Once we got back on the right track we were in good shape. We wound up stopping for gas just before we got to the O.co Coliseum which is the home of the Oakland Athletics. They were playing the Cleveland Indians on this night & it was Yoenis Cespedes bobblehead doll night for the first 15,000 fans who entered the ballpark.

Me with my Yoenis Cespedes Bobblehead Doll

Thanks again to our pal and fellow ballpark chaser Tike Narry who gave us tickets to the game which also had a $6 credit per ticket on them which allowed us to get something to eat at the ballpark. In addition, he gave us a parking pass. We couldn't thank Tike enough for all he did for us at the beginning of the trip & now once again at the end of it.

He told us the ballpark gates were opening extra early at 2:30PM for the 6:05PM start. As a result, we planned accordingly. We wound up getting to the parking lot at 3:30PM. By doing so, we were all able to secure a bobblehead of the 2013 Home Run Derby champion. It's always nice when you go to a game and you get a cool giveaway.

Since we had some much time before the game, we all wandered around the ballpark before we decided to go up to the upper deck where our seats were with Tike & his son Patrick. It was great to see them again before our week long getaway came to a close.

As for the game we saw, the Indians took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning as former Athletic Nick Swisher opened the scoring with a solo homer to make it 1-0 Indians. They added another run which proved to be enough as they eventually went on to beat the A's, 7-1. The Indians scored three times in the top of the ninth inning to put the game away with two outs. As a result, the King asked me if we could leave because he didn't want to have a problem making our redeye flight out of San Francisco which was on the other side of the Bay 27 miles away. Tike told us how to get out of the parking lot which worked out well as we got out without any problems. We wound up driving across the Bay Bridge and we got to the car rental center at the San Francisco airport with plenty of time to spare. I returned the Ford Fusion I rented. I wound up driving 2,270 miles safely.

We walked over to the tram that took us back to the terminals where we checked in for our flight on American Airlines. We had our bags checked through to LaGuardia airport. We had a layover in Chicago O'Hare before arrived back home.

Stay tuned for the last leg of the journey as the King & I went in different directions that Sunday afternoon after we got home.

Thank you for reading and following along.

Yours truly,

Gary Herman