Back in New York now to regroup a bit as I’ve hit day 14 of what has become an eighteen-day vacation.

Just got back from three days in Durham, NC to see the Patterson’s. The highlight came Saturday afternoon as we strolled the Duke campus. I’ve always wanted to see the inside of famous Cameron Indoor Stadium so we pulled on all the locked doors on the exterior of the building to see if we could sneak a peak.

We finally hit an open door up a flight of stairs near the entrance to the university’s hall of fame annex. A gentleman manning the room said the last tour of the day had just departed but perhaps when it was completed, we could ask the guide if he’d let us in for a look.

Turns out volunteer tour guide Pete Moller (pictured above) graciously agreed to stay past closing time to give us and a few others an abbreviated but highly entertaining and informative traipse through a venue that’s hosted college hoops since 1940. Another family on the tour included two boys named Cameron and Grant. The Duke-obsessed parents chose those names for obvious reasons.

Moller has season tickets to both the men’s and women’s basketball games at Duke. One tip from Pete during the tour may prove fruitful if you’ve always wanted to see a game at Cameron but can’t get tickets. He says you can almost always get a seat for the women’s games at a reasonable price.

The smell of freshly applied varnish to the just-sanded and treated playing surface was powerful. A team of workers could be seen doing routine maintenance to a section of seats in the far corner. Pete allowed us to take photos and enjoy the view from the same section long reserved for Coach K’s family.

That night, we saw the Durham Bulls (triple-A squad for the Rays) play Gwinnett. The Bulls roughed up Gwinnett starter and former major leaguer Kameron Lowe and won 11-3. Among the familiar faces in the Bulls lineup were former big leaguers Shelley Duncan, Mike Fontenot and Jason Bourgeois.

The Bulls play in what’s called Durham Bulls Athletic Park. Opened in 1995. D-BAP was developed alongside a cluster of office buildings, restaurants and bars that occupy the shells of what used to be tobacco production/distribution space. It’s just 305 feet down the left field line but the wall is 32-feet high, making it very much like the Green Monster at Fenway. Capacity is 10,000 and it was near-full on Saturday night.

We ate what’s regarded as the best barbeque in Carolina at Allen and Son in Chapel Hill and spent a good deal of time talking about and seeking out the passage of trains. Young Gram is an encyclopedia of all things train-related. His passion and knowledge for both the freight and passenger train was a constant on this visit and I left RDU Sunday afternoon with a greater appreciation for the subject.

Tomorrow morning, I head up to Saratoga Springs, NY with Marc for a couple days of horse racing.