MLB Spring Training 2024 Trip Report- East Coast Style

[Teamubr]

Not to confuse anyone with Ed's great TR to see Cactus League play, but I started another thread since Ed will be heading home soon and I'm heading south.

I'll be taking off this Friday to the Grapefruit League version of baseball's spring training. It was 70 degrees today in STL so I decided to bring the coach home to start getting things ready. I was going to bring the coach home Wednesday after work, but it is supposed to be windy, rainy and cold after a high in the 80s on Tuesday. I had changed the oil and filters a few weeks ago. Today was putting summer and beach stuff back in and starting to load all our Cardinals baseball paraphernalia.



It won't surprise anyone that there is a lot of red in the closet.



The Cardinals play at Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter Florida at the northen edge of the greater Miami area. They share the stadium with the Miami Marlins. This is a similar arrangement to Cleveland's stadium in Goodyear, AZ Ed talked about.



We are leaving this Friday after work and driving about 4 hours to Clarksville, TN. This is our usual stop when heading south and southeast. It gives us a head start and there is a Cracker Barrel, Sams and 2 Harvest Hosts at the same exit. We'll use the Harvest Host if we get in early enough, but Sams is a huge lot that a lot of truckers also seem to use as an overnight and I can pull in there as late as I want.

Saturday, we will drive down to south Georgia and use a Harvest Host in Ashburn, Carroll's Sausage. It is right on I-75 and is very popular with HH guests. The sausage, steaks and other products are great and reasonably priced. We'll be stocking up for BBQ in FL and at home.



From there it should be a short 6 hour drive to Jupiter and West Jupiter RV Resort. I started thinking about a Spring Training trip in the Fall of 2022. I looked at flights and hotels and that gave me palpitations. A Motel 6 was over $500/night and a Hampton Inn level place started at $650 and went up fast. The advantage to having a camper is cheap stays, so I called all the campgrounds/RV parks within an hour of Jupiter. In November of 22, they were all booked or weren't taking reservations for Spring 2024. West Jupiter RV Resort asked if I wanted to get on a waiting list. May of 2023, they called and asked if I was still interested. Full hookups for the week, $558. Same price as 1 night at the Motel 6. Sold! West Jupiter RV is about 20 minutes from the stadium. I think it will work out fine.



We unknowingly picked the week the Cardinals have 1 of their 2 off days during spring training, but that will give us a down day to see the beach and explore the area. They play a home game on the Sunday we arrive. We are getting in too late to see this one. Monday, the Cardnials have an away game, just down the highway playing the Washington Nationals. Tuesday and Thursday are home games at Roger Dean. Wednesday is the off day and Friday the Cards are away again at the Nationals stadium. Donna has a co-worker that lives in Boca Raton. They are going to drive up Friday and we'll see the Cards play the Nationals at Cacti Park of Palm Beaches, about 15 minutes south of Roger Dean.

I'll keep this updated as we get closer to leaving and while we are gone.

j

 

[bama_ed]

Jim, you will enjoy your stay in Jupiter, me and DW's home a LONG time ago.

Actually, a day off is a blessing. Go see and climb the Jupiter Lighthouse. Not much in Phoenix i care to see but it would have been nice to have a down day.

I hope you and DW have lots of sun and warm temps.

Ed

Ps - i edited my thread title to specify it is cactus league focused.

 

[Teamubr]

While Ed is on the downhill side of his Spring Training trip, mine is slowly starting to get together. Work and weather aren't helping. It seems everyone at work realized I'm going to be gone and have loaded up my calendar. Tommorrow is my last work day and I have meetings from 0630-1700 now.

Weather hasn't helped. While it was 86 yesterday (record high for the day and month), I had meetings until 6pm so couldn't take advantage of it. Overnight the bottom dropped out. It was 26 this morning and the high didn't get out of the 30s. Too cold to de-winterize and load things that could freeze. Tonight is going back into the 20's, but tommorow will be in the 50s and I should be able flush the water lines, and put some in the fresh tank. I may wait to put any food in until Friday morning. The refrigerator has been plugged in since Sunday.

24 more hours and I'm on vacation!

j

 

[JETS70]

Safe travels Jim

 

[bama_ed]

Jim, I see the Cardinals play two separate games at the Nationals (Palm Beach Park). Do you have tickets to those as well as those at the Card's home at Roger Dean Stadium? PBP is not that far away. And I see your day off on Wednesday.

Ed

PS - good luck pulling away from work and getting on the road.

 

[Part-Time Paradise]

Jim departing work tomorrow...

Good luck getting on the road.

 

[Teamubr]

Jim, I see the Cardinals play two separate games at the Nationals (Palm Beach Park). Do you have tickets to those as well as those at the Card's home at Roger Dean Stadium? PBP is not that far away. And I see your day off on Wednesday.

Ed

PS - good luck pulling away from work and getting on the road.

Ed,
We have tickets for the Nationals game on Friday at PBP. It isn't very far down I-10 from Roger Dean. I may run down Monday and see about the outfield grass seats.

Weather in Jupiter isn't looking very good.



Not sure if "scattered thunderstorms" is the normal Florida pattern where it may rain from 5-500 minutes at some point or March in Florida is similar to Midwest Summer where it will rain, possibly a lot, and be a miserable day.

Either way, temps are nice and I won't be far from the beach if baseball rains out.

j

 

[bama_ed]

Well all I can say is I've had Florida spring training games rained out (according to the rules which basically is 'can they play half a game or not'?). And when it was called finally as 'rained out' I, as the original ticket purchaser, got a full refund on my credit card with a week or two.

But I understand - you want to see a full game. Every day that you have is an opportunity for a memory and you don't want to have it "washed" out.

Good luck on your travels. Our last game here in Arizona (the Tribe versus the Dodgers) is tomorrow/Friday night and then we head out EARLY Saturday in the AM.

Ed

 

[Teamubr]

Thanks Ed.

We had a little snow in the air this morning. Its 33 degrees right now. I'll finish loading up our personal stuff this morning. I do have a quick meeting at noon and I have a few finals to grade. We'll be hitting the road after Donna finishes working this afternoon.

j

 

[Teamubr]

Getting pretty close to heading out. Everying is loaded and the car is hooked up. If it isn't in the coach now, I'll have to pick it up when we get there.

First stop tonight is probably Cracker Barrel in Clarksville, TN. I just called. They are open until 11pm and will be happy to have us. They just asked us to check in with the manager when we get there. I think we'll probably arrive around 9 and grab some late dinner before getting to sleep. There is a Sam's across the street we have used a couple of times but CB for dinner sounds good.

Tomorrow will be a fairly short day for us. About 450 miles or 7 hours according to Google. There is a time zone change, but we still won't need to get up early. The Harvest Host we are staying at tomorrow (Carroll's Sausage and Country Store in Ashburn, GA) is open until 7, so I figured if we hit the road by 8 or 9, we have plenty of time to shop and pick up some sausage and steaks.



j

 

[jbrostek]

Safe travels! 450 miles is a good haul for a single day no matter if its a bus or a trailer. I am sure the HH will be nice, one plus side of the pusher and genset being part of your main fuel system. The more I ponder about it the more likely I am going to find a deal for an inverter/generator to use HH like locations.

I just realized its only a few weeks to SCCA Drivers school, I have a bunch of things to do on the RV before I dewinterize. I guess I should get my tail in gear!!

 

[Teamubr]

One plus side of the pusher and genset being part of your main fuel system. The more I ponder about it the more likely I am going to find a deal for an inverter/generator to use HH like locations.

I just realized its only a few weeks to SCCA Drivers school, I have a bunch of things to do on the RV before I dewinterize. I guess I should get my tail in gear!!

I have 6 house batteries and I can run the refrigerator, TV and whatever all night on the inverter. The generator will automatically kick on if the batteries get too low, but since I replaced the batteries last year, I can go all night on just the inverter. Now, running the A/C is a different story.

NASA race season is starting up soon, depending on the region. MidSouth started last weekend at Nashville and will be at the Ntl Corvette Museum track with the Great Lakes region in a couple of weeks.

j

 

[Teamubr]

We are here. First stop out of the way. Dinner was good. Time for bed now.



Had to park in front. Wouldn't fit in the "Bus/RV" parking.

Rainy and chilly. Can't wait to get further south.

j

 

[garneska]

It’s cold further south. Weather on Friday was terrible. Hope it dries out some today.

 

[Stratman50th]

It's supposed to start raining later this afternoon/evening and continue at least through Sunday. The up side, temps in the 80s. (Central Florida).

 

[Teamubr]

It’s cold further south. Weather on Friday was terrible. Hope it dries out some today.

It definitely is colder south of ATL. Still not STL cold though.

It's supposed to start raining later this afternoon/evening and continue at least through Sunday. The up side, temps in the 80s. (Central Florida).

Thanks Don. I've been watching the weather forecast for a while and it looks like temps will be nice, but chances of rain nearly every day. We'll make it work.

Today pretty much went as planned. Up around 0730. On the road by 8 and arrived at Carroll's Sausage and Country Store right at 4pm EST. So right on the 7 hours Google said.

I want to thank half the population of Atlanta for coming out to welcome me.



It was as expected hitting Atlanta right at 1pm on a Saturday. We made it through and were south of I-285 right at an hour. From there to Ashburn was pretty easy. I topped off the fuel tank last night before we got to Cracker Barrel (cheaper fuel in KY) so we didn't have to stop for fuel today.



Carroll's is huge with lots and lots of meat, snacks, candy, chips sweets, sauses and seasonings.







Camper parking is a big gravel lot off to the side. It isn't very level, but good enough for an overnight.


It looks like there are 3 others staying, but Carroll's isn't closed yet and some of them may just be shopping.

Interestingly, Carroll's has a campground on the other side of the building. It is $45 for full hook ups and you get a coupon for $10 off in the store. Not a bad deal if you intend on shopping. We didn't need the hookups, so I didn't see a point in spending an extra $35.



I have to grade some more finals before it gets late and then head to bed. Tomorrow's plan is to be on the road around 9. I need to get fuel somewhere in GA. 425 miles and 6 hours and we should be in Jupiter. Check in to West Jupter RV isn't until 3.

j

 

[Teamubr]

We made it! Arrived right at 3pm and had a sign on the door with our lot number. Nice wide stamped concrete pad. Mostly level and right by the entrance. The drive was uneventful. Started the morning in fog and mist. As soon as we crossed into Florida the sun came out, but the further south we got, the more the storm clouds built. Made it south of Orlando, closer to Ft. Pierce and it cut loose. Typical Florida storm. Rains like crazy for 20 minutes and the sun is back out. You can see evidence of the rain in the campground pics, but clearing sky.









Drove back towards the highway to get gas in the Jeep and tried out a local pizza/Italian place. Angelo's Too. Pizza was pretty good and the menu was pretty big. We'll probably be back.

After dinner we drove over to see the beach. Lots of city/county parks with beach access.





Tomorrow we plan on checking out the area, find Roger Dean Stadium and be tourists/beach bums. Weather looks fair. Overcast with 50% chance if storms in the afternoon.

j

 

[jbrostek]

@Teamubr Yes, the inverter and limited genset use. I keep waffeling on setting up something to do exactly that. We haven't used it yet so its hard to justify the cost. So I been trying to find a spring or fall HH like use to see if we even like the idea.

NASA-MA is getting started, they are at VIR the same weekend SCCA is nearby. I will see them in April, though will miss their June Summit Point event.

Glad to see you got down there with a relatively easy drive. Now time to take in the warmth, the food and the games!

 

[Teamubr]

Drove into Jupiter today to check out the lighthouse (closed on Mondays) So we headed down to find Roger Dean Stadium. Nice area and nice little complex.



Cards are down the highway with an away game today, but that didn't stop a dozen people lined up at the Cards players parking lot waiting for autographs. The Marlins were on their practice field across the complex with a separate parking lot with a few people on the sidewalk watching. Not much going on despite a Marlins game starting about 90 minutes later. I suspect tomorrow's Cards game will be a little busier.

Came back to the camper and setup camp a little more. Mickey is out and my electric palm tree is all set.





What I thought was stamped concrete is actually real pavers.



Nice RV park. Especially for $550 for the week. I think we may drive up to Stuart this afternoon and checkout their "downtown" area and Riverwalk.

j

 

[Teamubr]

Weather held out today. About 80 and no rain. It was cloudy off and on, but a nice day.

We decided to drive up to Stuart, FL this afternoon. I read there was a nice "downtown" area and a Riverwalk. Cute little downtown, although the overall area is pretty big and congested.

The Riverwalk was nice along the St. Lucie River, part of the ICW.



This house is right at the walkway. It is a rental cottage now, part of a bigger hotel, but I bet it was a cool house when it was residential.





We strolled along the shops and found a place for an early dinner.



Not sure what it is about the name Duffy's. One of our favorite places in St. Thomas is called Duffy's Love Shack. Food was good. We both had the half/half salad and sandwich (Caesar/crispy chicken)



They had a 2 for 1 drink menu. I thought that meant we could each get one and they would be 1/2 price.

No, it meant we each get 2 for the price of 1. Who were we to argue when they brought the 2nd round?



After dinner, we drove out to the barrier islands outside Stuart. I was thinking it would be more like a beach town with shops and restaurants, but the whole area seems to be condos and businesses. Jupiter or Stuart are very residential and not "touristy". Not a bad thing, just not what I expected.

We had to check out the beach again. Saw this little guy on the way.





Tomorrow is our first ball game. Looking forward to seeing the new Cards and some of the old guys.

j