Share your travel wisdom.....

[jofus]

Just curious about some tips people have figured out over the years to make travelling to tournaments every weekend or 2 a little smoother

Either softball related or travel related, either one....

For example, a backup pair of cleats (and socks), especially for pitchers. Maybe a backup glove too (I always have 3 or 4 with me anyway )

Fruits, already washed (and cut if necessary) in baggies, like strawberries, bananas, etc., maybe some kind of nuts, etc., for healthy between game snacks.

Band-aids, Motrin or something similar, ice packs, etc?

I knew a group of little league all-star parents who would do what someone mentioned on the friendlies post, show up with a big gas grill in the back of one of the dad's pickups, and when they had a couple hours between games, fire it up and grill hamburgers and hotdogs for all the parents (I assume they all brought something to chip in), rather than leaving the field for a restaurant or eating nachos from the snack bar.

Anybody else have anything, maybe something that you really wished you had one weekend, so after that it got added into the packing for the next tournament?

[Sftbll4ever]

On rainy tourneys, crumble up newspaper and put in the cleats. This will help soak up some of the moisture in the cleats. I also make sure that the stinky footed child keeps 1 bottle of Gold Bond foot powder and drier sheets to put in the cleats when she is done for the day. Takes some of the stench away.

[Judd]

We thought about the grill but that takes alot of planning between the parents. Whos chipping in, etc. Then how much time to set grill up between games, cook etc. Plus the way brackets fall and if you drop into the loosers bracket then the time between games becomes smaller. Personally I thought it would be a PITA. So we have our cooler with drinks and sandwiches.. Nice and easy.

We have a yellow cart that we put our EZ up, chairs, in. We roll it out of the truck and into the tourny. At home we roll it off and into the garage. kind of nice. Then at the tourny, we pile bat bags, team gear, etc into it to go from field to field.

even on on rainy days, we bring extra socks. One tourny i think we were on the field at 7AM and it was soaking wet from dew. thank goodness someone had extra socks. So from then on we always brought extra socks and cleats.

We also bought our 7 y/o son a walkie talkie. SO when he wonders off, we can call him. Theres no way we can keep him at the field for 80 minutes so this was our next best idea. We also bring a bike, scooter, etc for him.

Sometimes we bring 2 coolers, one for drinks, one for food. both on wheels. 90+ in AUgust and the 4 of us can pound down some gatorade/water.

Blankets for the girls to lay down on and relax.

Flip flops/sandals so they can take cleats off

[Cannonball]

We purchased one of those tents for shade. I believe it is 10x10 and so, not much shade. When the sun changes, the shade gets even less. Therefore, we purchased a set of bungee cords, some "tarps" and those painting extention poles that are made for rollers. We put our tent up, use the bungees to attach the tarps to the tent. Spread them out but on a downward angle. Set the opposite end of the tarp eyelets on the poles and then use 2 bungees and "ground ties" off of each pole to secure them in place. That makes for a lot of shade and so, when we go to tournaments, we always have a place off to ourselves where our team can rest out of the sun. Typically, other dads bring coolers, grill etc. It's like a little city by the time we're done.

[slapper]

We do the bbq grill only if we have enough time between the last pool and 1st bracket. We do the sandwich thing if time is short. We have found that it is best to have one parent buy everything and then devide it by team each member. We usually have way more than needed and feed umps, other teams etc and spend around $10.00 per family(including siblings). We make it a day for the whole family. Tents, music, poker and board games. Some girls read books and some watch movies on portable dvd players. We have found the more the girls and parents stay together the less frinction and clicks you have.

I agree with the extra gloves, shoes and socks. Only takes one time and you will too. Having an extra copy of a birth certificate has proved helpful as well.

[Demonboy]

Feminine products

Ear plugs for the ride home.

[Blind Squirrel]

Make sure you have an adequate supply of red plastic cups before you get to the field.

John

[artomatic]

Make sure you have an adequate supply of red plastic cups before you get to the field.

John

Survey says...#1 ANSWER!

[greenandblue]

For those of us who play year round in heat, we have one cooler that only has iced cold wet rags in it. Our 94 degree games are overwhelming (and that's just for the parents watching the game, imagine how it is for the players!!!!!!!!)

For those who still wear sliders, we bring extra sliders - they can get mighty nasty and difficult to pull up after bathroom breaks.

As for smelly cleats, I always wanted a separate car for my daughter to go home in!! The lack of closed trunks in SUV's makes for a looong car ride home.

We find the tents get kind of stuffy and warm because it blocks what little wind flow there is. We look for trees for shade.

And for our winter games, hand warmers from Walmart. Yes it gets cold here in Florida.

As for food, chocolate, gummy worms, swedish fish, bananas and whatever fruit is in season. And french fries.

[Judd]

On the EZ-up, if you adjust the legs, you can lower one side pretty low and make it like a lean to. Early AM and late PM, the shade is nowhere near the EZ-up

Spray bottle with water in it, that stays in the cooler.

We may bring some fans when it gets real hot out. One tourny there was electric near the dugout and someone rigged a carpet blower fan.