Days 3 & 4 on the Road

Hi Warrior fans, well we were able to pull off the win last night in a place that has been difficult for some of the top teams in the region to win at. We were once again not playing at our best but we did enough to pull out the win and our guys really showed some guts by knocking down some huge shots when we needed them in the last three minutes. We will have plenty to work on come Monday in practice but a win is a win and any win on the road is great to get so we are happy.

On to the rest of our trip as the last 36 hours have been pretty long for everyone on our team.

Saturday

10:30 - Wake up call for all of the guys. Since we got in at 2:45 we wanted them to sleep as long as they could, it is very difficult to sleep on the bus especially for some of our bigger guys so sleeping in a bed is really the only place they can get quality sleep and they needed it after a tough game against NSU.

11:15 - Meet in lobby and walk over to Perkins for some late, late morning breakfast. Perkins is packed so we have to wait a little bit before we sit down but this gives guys time to mingle with the natives who are all asking where we are from and what type of team we are. For some reason the height of our guys makes us look like we might be a swimming team?

11:30 - Finally seated we all quickly place an order for food. Everyone goes with a breakfast meal even though lunch is an option. Lots of guys go with omelets but I did see a couple of guys who ordered the tremendous twelve. For those who don't know what is all in the tremendous twelve I think it is this but I could be wrong, 3 pancakes, 3 strips of bacon or sausage links, 3 eggs, order of hash browns and 2 slices of toast. It is something like that but you get the point it is a lot of food.

12:15 - We get back but we don't have any down time as we have to load up in 20 minutes to head over to Mary to our shoot around that is at 1. Since we have to travel so far home tonight our bus driver cannot take us but Mary University is nice enough to send over two vans from the school to take us up to campus for shoot around.

12:40 - Load up in the vans and head up to Mary University, which if you have not been to it before, is not located in the city of Bismarck. It is actually about 5 miles outside of the city up on a hill that over looks the river valley that Bismarck sits in. The view from campus down onto the city is really cool but not as cool as Garvin Heights.

1:00 - Shoot around starts, we get some shots up to get used to the new shooting background and then go over our stuff on Mary that we had covered on Monday and Tuesday this past week.

2:00 - Load up the van to head back to hotel.

3:30 - Meet in lobby to head over to a mall that is located right across from the hotel. The mall has a Subway in it so the tradition continues on. During this time the pizza order is taken as well. Tonight is going to be Papa John's as no other place in town will deliver up to the campus of Mary. I feel bad for all the students who live up there and don't have an option on what pizza company they can order if they want a pizza. Order of the night goes to Travis and Josh as they go with a pineapple and sausage pizza.

4:15 - Guys finish up subs and have some downtime to do whatever they want. Many walk through the mall which is a nice mall and has many stores the guys like to go into. I walk buy a Foot Locker to see most of our guys stopping in there to look at basketball shoes. Pretty sure no one needs any more sures but for some guys on the team buying basketball shoes is an addiction.

6:00 - Guys are in hotel lobby ready to board the bus to go back up to the campus of Mary.

7:20 - Our women's team puts on another great performance as they totally dominate Mary in the second half and win easily. Nice weekend for them as they sweep and set themselves up for a nice run down the stretch here.

7:30 - Guys hit the floor for warm-ups. Nice to be starting the game on time.

8:00 - Tip-off

9:28 - Game is over, we are all in the locker room waiting for Coach Leaf who runs into an old friend who lives up here now. Guys are excited to pull out the win but also ready to shower faster then ever before so we can hit the road.

9:58 - Pizza's arrive right on time and they are passed out as we are leaving campus.

10:10 - We stop at the gas station in Bismarck to pick up some move beverages to drink for the long ride ahead. You can never have enough water on a road trip like this and with a 9 hour bus ride ahead we people will be getting thirsty.

10:24 - We leave the city limits of Bismarck and drive into the dark night that is the state of North Dakota. Moon is out so there is some light but you don't see too many farms or houses during this stretch.

10:30 - We start trip home with a couple of episodes of House. Not really into the show I stare out the window and wonder how anyone can live up here if they are not living in city limits, seems just too cold and lonely.

11:45 - We put in the movie most our guys have been waiting for, "Pineapple Express." This movie I stayed with for about 40 minutes before I decided I was not learning anything from watching this. You have to be a big Seth Rogan fan to be watching this movie. Can't give a review on this on as I feel asleep.

Sunday

***Note from this point on I try to sleep a lot and turn off my phone so I have no idea on actual time until I wake up for good so times may be a little off***

1:22 - We hit the state line of Minnesota, only 6 hours left!!

1:30 - Next movie we watch is the Incredible Hulk, not into comic book movies either so I try to sleep through this one as well so I have no opinion on it.

1:50 - Bus driver makes a quick stop at a rest stop, wakes me up for a bit cause I am hoping I open my eyes to the bluffs of Winona but I was wrong.

3:30 - Some people cannot sleep on the bus so we keep going on with movies this time we go with an older movie, "The Game," which has Michael Douglas in it. Way back when this movie first came out I really liked it but at this time in the morning I am not waking up to watch it.

5:00 - We stop just north of the cities for another break, this is where I wake up pretty much for the rest of the trip. Nice to get out and walk around a little bit as we have been cramped on here for a while.

5:40 - Jason Gorman our movie guy decides to go with one more movie as we are now just getting past the cities. He goes with "Talladega Nights." I am up so I will watch this one and get a good morning laugh in.

6:20 - Sunrise is starting to show up as we are getting close to Rochester, Ricky Bobby (Will Ferrell) is starting to lose it in the movie as he crashes his car and now he thinks he is on fire and running around in his underwear. Gotta have the right type of mentality to watch this type of movie at this time in the morning, luckily I have this weird mentality to do so.

7:07 - We hit the Winona exit off of I-90. Sun is almost up and the sunrise was actually a very nice one on the ride home, I must admit I have not watched a sunrise in a long time. Ricky Bobby is making his comeback as he gets over his fear of driving fast and crashing.

7:15 - We pull up to Memorial Hall, trip is finally over. Guys unload bus, takes stuff down to the locker room to be dropped off so it can be washed and then they can take off.

7:48 - Home!!! Glad to be home after a trip where we spent roughly 17 hours on a bus, traveling a total of 1,241 miles.

I hope everyone enjoyed a little look into life on the road with our team. I for one enjoy going on road trips with our guys as they are a great bunch to be around but I am also excited that we won't have to go on a bus trip that long until next year. Go Warriors!!!