Oh hi oh

32 MILES FROM OHIO BORDER, Pa. — Next time you're in DuBois, Pa., check out Julio's Tavern on S. Jared St. They offer both Mr. Pibb on fountain and Labatt Blue on tap. Plus the food was good, inexpensive and inexpensive. They were setting up for a backyard barbecue later this afternoon. But by the time they are cooking, we'll be in the Cleveland suburbs.

We're meeting up with a friend of mine from my Ohio University day. Picking him up at his house and then heading to downtown Cleveland. I haven't been to Cleveland since around 1983. I was 5. I came home to Cincinnati with a new Atari. The bar is set high, Cleveland.

Here's the patriotic, nondescript building across from Julio's in DuBois.

The Reds just sent me an email thanking me for buying tickets to tomorrow's game against the Blue Jays. It included directions to the game, info about Great American Ball Park and pitching match-ups. Bronson Arroyo is pitching for the Reds. The last three times I've seen the Reds play — at Shea Stadium, Wrigley Field and Citi Field — I've seen Bronson pitch. Hoping for Goodroyo. He can be fun to watch. How could you not like seeing those flowing blonde locks and leg kick? I wonder if his mother was a Rockette.

Hello, former home state.

Setting sail for Scranton, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh...

It started a few years ago when, on a Friday night whim. Three of us decided to go check out Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. The Phillies were hosting the Reds that weekend. I have been a Reds fan since Eric Davis was in their farm system. But have lived on the East Coast — with many Yankee-fan friends — since the winter before Lou Piniella, Jose Rijo, Barry Larkin, Billy Hatcher and the Nasty Boys brought the World Series trophy back to the Queen City.

We left southwestern Connecticut early that summer Saturday morning, calling hotels on the way, until we found a good deal in downtown Philadelphia. We bought tickets off scalpers. Decent seats in the upper deck between home plate and third base. I found another former Cincinnatian in the stands. After pointing out my Reds hat to me, I was expecting a stereotypical Philly statement from him. Instead he told me of living in Cincinnati during the days of the Big Red Machine. He was wearing a Phillies hat. He said: "I'm cheering for the Phillies today but rooting for Reds."

Now, more than a few years later, Brian, Nick and myself are finally following through on our much talked-about baseball road trip. It is Friday, June 17, a little after noon as I write this in Brian's apartment in the Riverdale neighborhood of the Bronx, N.Y. Brian and I are awaiting Nick's arrival via Metro-North Railroad, before we head for the Tapanzee Bridge and Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, where we kick off the four-city, six-game tour with some AAA ball. The SWB Yankees are hosting the Indian's AAA squad, the Columbus Clippers, tonight.

On Saturday, we'll be heading to Cleveland for the Indians-Pirates game. Sunday we head to my former hometown, Cincinnati, where the Blue Jays will be (and I have not been since the last season the Reds played in Riverfront Stadium. We stay in Cincinnati for the Yankees' arrival on Monday — the game we planned this trip around. On Tuesday, we'll be headed to Pittsburgh for a couple games between the Pirates and Orioles.

Tickets are in hand, hotels are booked, maps are Google'd. Reservations for the Montgomery Inn Boathouse in Cincinnati are made. We just need Nick. I hope he's finishing his office work and not reading this.

I hope to keep this blog going through the trip to share the experiences and keep the memories.