Groller's Corner Top 11 stories of 2011: No. 3, The trip into America's Heartland

FROM KEITH GROLLER

We say Happy New Year with one final glance back at 2011 with the wrapup our three-day series on the top 11 stories of the past year, at least experienced by yours truly.

We're mixing personal with business here as you will see.

But here's what we've covered so far in the past two days:

No. 11 -- Freedom grad Johnny Lahutsky being honored by the New York Yankees during "Hope Week"

No. 10 -- Allen boys basketball team sings Happy Birthday after winning District 11 4A title.

No. 9 -- Was "treated" to four laps by Clint Bowyer at Pocono Raceway and then raced to Philly to see Brian Schneider welcome Carpenter Cup champs to Citizens Bank Park.

No. 8 -- Basketball great Bill Walton delivers memorable speech at Thanksgiving eve event in Fogelsville.

No. 7 -- Catty's Anthony Recker gets to the big league at Yankee Stadium on same day an earthquake rocks the East Coast.

No. 6 -- Andre Reed's charity golf tournament attracts all kinds of former pro athletes, including several former Buffalo Bills, to the Lehigh Valley.

No. 5 -- Tommy John may have been the best guest ever on the "Calling All Sports" radio show.

No. 4 -- Lehigh football run takes me to Fargo, North Dakota, and Fargo makes a nice first impression.

And now the final three:

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No. 3 -- Trip with LV Yankee Fan Club takes us to Canton, Cincinnati, Louisville, St. Louis and KC

With my son, Chris, expected to become a father by the end of the year, he and I planned one last special trip together this summer, know that his time would be very limited after the birth of his own child. So, we got aboard a LV Yankee Fan Club trip that would cover at least 2,000 miles, taking us to Canton, Cincinnati, Louisville, St. Louis and Kansas City. The August trip included stops at the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the Louisville Slugger bat company, major league games in Cincy and St. Louis and three in Kansas City where the Yankees were playing.

As it turned out, the NFL lockout ended just in time for us to catch a Rams exhibition game in St. Louis on our one free night in the Gateway City. It was a long, tiring, but fantastic trip filled with a lot of great stadium and Hall of Fame tours and sights and sounds we may never see again. And the people on the trip were terrific, every one of them. Sometimes people on a trip like this can get on your nerves. Not this bunch. Great people. Paula and Johnny Lahutsky were on the trip and I got to know Johnny a lot better on the bus since there were often rides of three and four hours at a clip.

We documented the entire trip here on Groller's Corner and I didn't know how many people were reading until I got back home and heard from so many about how they were following Chris and me throughout the eight-night, 9-day journey.

http://blogs.mcall.com/groller/