Road trip, U.P. edition

My daughter moved many miles north to attend school in the upper peninsula of Michigan. She's been gone now about a month. There was some work needed on her car, some items forgotten, as well as the general "my wife misses her baby" feeling, so we trekked the 7+ hours to visit. For a Chicago guy like me, a ride to the banks of Lake Superior is a dangerous drive.

It was so dangerous that the Crips and Bloods were seen singing "Kumbaya" together.

Along the way are three sites that can be seen from the expressway. In Milwaukee, Miller Park is about 2.5 miles west of I-94. Now, that would matter more if the Brewers were still in the AL, but interleague makes them hated enough. Bradley Center is just a half mile west of the highway, so the hated Bucks as well as the AHL Admirals play in that place. But the worst location is where Hwy 43 merges with Rt 41. At least for a Bears fan. That puts me in dreaded Packer territory. We were running late on the way up, so my wife and I saw Lambeau but had to keep going. However, on the way home, I told my wife we had to stop by and pay proper respect to the hallowed home of Lombardi and Starr. Hornung, Favre and White.

Yeah....that might be a stumbling block in future trades. Fortunately, I pulled off this trade with Fuji before I posted this picture. Fuji's blog was one of the first I came across and is always a great read. I love his questions at the end that invoke future conversations. I have been trying to find something to trade with Fuji a long time, but nothing ever prompted me to reach out. Finally, it was just an email comment we had where I mentioned we had never traded before and we need to make it right, courtesy of red Chipz I had pulled of an Athletic. It was also nice to drop a lot of my oddball Sharks, A's and Padres relics on someone because they needed a better home than a box in my closet. If what Fuji sent back is standard for his part of the country, I'm moving. 

Couple nice autos to start with. Anderson never panned out into the CF he was supposed to be. I hope Floyd comes back from his Tommy John. It was sad to see him go.

Valdez never amounted into much, but an interesting fact: he is the last person to play an inning at third base in MLB who was left handed. Tekotte is in the minors for the D-backs.

Nice Beckham Gineter relic and a sweet Semien RC Chrome. I hope his 2014 was not a fluke.

Fuji also hit my Hawks wants, as in "you got Blackhawks cards? I want them". Zhamnov was ok, but could have had a better career. Cleary sucked with the Hawks, so we send him to Edmonton, who dealt him over to Detroit and he becomes a pain in our butts. Moreau - good speed but horrible stick handling. Deadmarsh.....was never a Blackhawk. He is pictured here as a Portland Blackhawk, which has no connection to Chicago. The team is usually confused as a farm club to Chicago, but they only happen to look like them because the first sweaters worn were used uniforms purchased from Chicago. Still, I'll take a nice Deadmarsh auto any day - 2 time Cup winner.

Two nice Hawks relics too. Remember that Cleary trade I mentioned above? Mironov was who we got from Edmonton. We got the short end of the stick. Daze should have been a star, but too many injuries ended his career early. The highlight of the package though....

It's about dang time I got a Fuji custom. However, I am thinking that Lambeau photo will not get me his card from Series 2. Thanks for the trade, Fuji!