Generally speaking, in life, I like to think that I am somewhat balanced between organization and spontaneity. On some occasions, I have an idea at 11am to go to a baseball game at 12pm and hustle to make that happen. On other occasions, I have an idea to visit a baseball park when I am on the road (like when I am in Seattle in two weeks) and have already mapped out where it is in relation to my hotel. When I am in spontaneous mode, I sometimes get disappointed because I wasn’t more organized. I find that my organized self is far more successful than my spontaneous self. However, the thrill of accomplishment in spontaneous mode often times exceeds anything on the organized side. Life is about balance. Case in point, my last day in Phoenix.

Prior to my last day at ABF Freight’s Phoenix terminal, I had an idea on how I was going to spend my last afternoon in Arizona before flying home. My flight was scheduled for 11:59pm. My shift ended at 3pm. Quick math, that’s like 1,000 hours in between to explore and experience Arizona one last time. And I found the perfect place and event to finish out my time in Phoenix – a doubleheader between the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland A’s in nearby Mesa, Arizona. Game one was at 1:10 and Game 2 would follow sometime after. By the time I would potentially arrive to Game 1, it would be mostly over but so what. I got another game behind it to help me kill time until I really needed to get to the airport. Hang out in the outfield grass, have a hot dog, maybe an adult beverage or two, chill out, and enjoy yourself after a long week of work. Pretty good plan, right?

From what I was led to believe by the staff at the Phoenix terminal, “it never rains in Phoenix.” Never, huh? Well, it rained on that Friday, my last Friday in Arizona. The weather leading up to that Friday was absolutely gorgeous – mid 70s temps, blue skies, some wind but nothing crazy, low humidity, T-shirt and jeans/shorts/running shorts weather every single day. Heck, I didn’t even bring a jacket or sweatshirt out on this trip. Just a vest, golf shirts, shorts, and now here I am on the last day with a complete soaker outside. Did it let up? Nope, it rained all day. At around 3pm, I checked my MLB app and much to my surprise, the A’s and Giants were playing. I got a surge of enthusiasm. I thought to myself, yeah maybe this will blow over and there will be a Game 2 after all. What the heck, I’ll head out to Mesa when I’m done here. And so I did.

When I arrived in Mesa around 3:30 to 3:45, the parking lot looked only 1/2 full. I asked the attendant about parking and he motioned me to a grass lot to the left of Hohokam Stadium, Spring Training home of the Oakland A’s. “No charge, I think we are going to get rained out here.” I thanked him and found a spot about 3/4 of the way down the grassy area. I counted about 10 cars that were leaving as I walked up to the left field gate area. I asked the security guards where the ticket office was and they directed me to go around to the front gate, near where home plate would be. So I did. As I was walking towards the front gate, I noticed a large number of fans starting to leave.

This is where things got a little sideways for me. I found the ticket office and asked about whether or not the games were going to continue. The ticket office person answered yes, to which I asked how much for a general admission ticket. She said “$38.” I asked what if I just want to see the second game? She answered, “$38.” I said no thank you and walked down towards the right field gate area to see if I could see any cool A’s statues or memorials. Then spun around and headed back towards the first gate I visited. By this time, the pace of the raindrops had accelerated to an Indy 500 race car. It was freaking pouring out. This is when the organized Noel took a back seat to the spontaneous Noel.

The steady rain was making it easy for fans to make their decisions to leave the ballpark. The exit gates were filled with folks leaving and the security guards had left they original posts and moved closer to the inside of the ball park. I spotted several fans walking into the stadium through this exit gate and decided to join them. As I watched them walk into the concession area where souvenirs and beer and hot dogs were sold, I drifted into the stadium to catch a glimpse of the park. All while knowing at any given time, I was going to be asked to leave. The game, the doubleheader had been officially called – Rained Out. No problem for me, no problem at all.

There were fans set up under roofs, fans set up in the concession area finishing their $10 beers and their $8 hot dogs, and some stadium workers on the field and in the stands wrapping things up. The players exited to buses parked out in the right field parking area. Some fans yelled out to the A’s team that they should sell, some yelled they should stay, others just laughed at the two opposing sides. Myself, I was walking around, getting soaked, taking photos, taking in the Oakland A’s Arizona experience at a really cool baseball park. The rain would let up a bit, then drive hard to the basket and dunk a ton of water on us. I ran into a father and daughter from Springfield, MA and we laughed at the “weaklings” in Arizona that couldn’t handle a little weather. Fun moment there!

Up near the back of the press box, yes I went up there, I ran into ESPN’s Jessica Mendoza, who was enjoying a mid afternoon snack on her way back to the dryness of the press box. I didn’t get a chance to talk to her, I would have liked that. She does a great job on TV and rarely misses a beat on hitting and baseball stuff. An announcement was made over the PA system, “the games are cancelled, get the heck out,” or something like that. And so I made my way down the stairs, into the concession stand area to take some photos, then back out into the stadium, over to the right field bleachers, around the outfield grass, and over to the exit gate with all the other fans who had stayed way too long for A’s management’s sake. My plans to chill and relax to kill time before my flight ended around 5pm. Now what do I do???

Of course, take one more photo behind home plate before leaving…

Maybe there will be traffic from Mesa to Sky Harbor International Airport? Nope, straight shot, no traffic. Parked the rental car, no problem getting through TSA, and my gate was right next to the elevator. Come on, let me work a little bit here. How am I going to kill 5 to 6 hours at this airport? Reading the Jackie Robinson autobiography, having dinner, cat naps, Seinfeld on Netflix, chatting with Rachel, pacing Gate A back and forth and sideways, changing seats, changing views, snack time, more cat naps, texting Rachel. And guess what, I did it. I made it through and flew home safely and have vowed to never to that again!!!

It was a great trip to Phoenix (3rd and final work trip for ABF Freight) culminating with a great balance of organization and spontaneity. I had a good plan, it fell through, so I improvised, and had a blast. The Oakland A’s have a beautiful park there in Mesa, Arizona. Perhaps if CA or Las Vegas doesn’t pan out for their relocation plans, the A’s could just play in Mesa. Not a bad alternative in my book.