Here are the salient facts:

1. The AAU National Diving Championships are in California from July 18-22
2. Shani is taking Alex
3. This leaves me and Jack on our own
4. The Chicago Cubs are home that weekend

The conclusion was obvious. Or so it seemed. But then I started looking at making it happen. Flights were super expensive and I couldn’t get there using frequent flyer miles. Hotels were expensive too. I even started looking for an alternative. Houston? Minnesota?

Then I opened Google maps.

A new set of salient facts became apparent.

1. Chicago is a 12-hour drive from New Jersey
2. Detroit is on the way to Chicago
3. The Detroit Tigers are home that weekend
4. Cleveland is on the way home from Chicago
5. We have good friends in Cleveland
6. The Cleveland Indians are home that weekend

Again…obvious conclusion. Here’s the route:

We’ve got Tigers on Friday at 7:05 PM, Cubs on Saturday at 1:05, Indians on Sunday at 1:05. Over the course of a 72-hour period, it breaks down to:

• 26 hours of driving
• 15 hours of baseball
• 24 hours of sleep (we hope)
• 7 hours for other crap

If all goes according to plan, by July 21st, Jack and I will have visited 17 of the 30 MLB parks together. There is a term for this.

Good parenting.