Day 3-Salem

Our trip concluded with the ride home with some time to kill before the Salem Red Sox hosting the Potomac Nationals.
We decided to hit a shopping area across the street from Smokies Park that had a Bass Pro Shop,but more intriguing to me was The Beef Jerky Outlet that featured jerky,hot sauces and more,let's say interesting items such as mealworms,ants and larvae.
I'll pass on most of that,but the jerky samples were tasty enough to buy the hottest that they had (me) and spicy (think Slim Jim flavored) to bring home for Rachel.
The cost was pricey,but the quality of the meat was excellent as Rachel devoured hers quickly after my return.
Corey wanted to hit Bass Pro Shop,I was not really interested as an avid non-outdoorsman,but agreed to tag along.
How wrong I was as I was surprised to actually find fat guy clothes that fit,I spent almost 90 bucks there and could have spent more.
Trust me,I'll never turn away from Bass Pro Shop and its other competitors again....

As we began to the trip to Salem,we took a side trip to Greeneville TN,home of the Appalachian League affiliate of the Astros.
Pioneer Park was beautiful and blew away the Muni by miles.
The park had a smaller capacity than the Muni,but I would wager it held its people much better than the often backed up Muni.
We even met someone from Hagerstown as we looked for an employee to allow us into the team shop,where I picked up an Appalachian League top prospect set,although the Astros set was yet to be released.
I considered a stop at Kingsport to see their Appy League park,but decided one out of the way stop was enough for me on this leg of the trip.
After a stop for lunch at the local Long John Silver's,where the manager was nice enough to give us a few samples,we drove straight to Salem,where we arrived a bit early.

LewisGale Field was nice enough,but reminded me of a smaller major league park.
Nothing really special,but clean and nice enough with two decks.
Autographing was unusual for the high A level as you were up in the air and had to reach down to the player.Corey did well with the Salem stuff that he had and I was on the Potomac side,where I saw some former Suns and chatted a bit with Destin Hood,who has always been very nice to me.
I missed most of the pitchers though,as I found out later,the pitchers can reach the bullpen by a back entrance and that cost me those,although Potomac returns to Frederick soon.
We only watched a few innings and headed home to make up some time.
Great trip and thanks to Corey for coming and for all his help as well.
I hope to be back to normal soon with Pirate coverage,things I have missed and a long overdue On the Signing Front!