Getting ready to ride...

Welcome back to my Blog!! Today, I’m preparing for my first weekend of travel in which I will go to a couple of games and visit a club workout. Here’s how my day is shaking down up to this point.

I woke up this morning and immediately went to the internet to check high school basketball scores. I realized that the two teams I’m hoping to see have both advanced to the next round, so my trip will happen.

Speaking in general terms, here is what goes into planning a trip:

First, I have to give a proposed itinerary to our associate athletics director in which I outline where I’m going, whom I’ll be seeing and the estimated cost of my trip.
Second, I have to spend some time on mapquest.com figuring out how to get where I’m going, how long it will take me and writing down phone numbers in the event (likelihood) that I get lost while driving. Last, I need to finalize my car rental and make sure that everyone from the various groups knows I’ll be there. Oh yeah, and I need to iron my clothes.

I will be heading out to see some tournament play in the Sacramento area. I’ll hop into the economy rental car (which reminds me, I need to call Budget Car Rental…) and drive for three hours due north. Along the way, I’ll weigh my options of food stops. Honestly, I’m hoping to find a Jack-in-the-Box or a Del Taco. Those were staples in my diet when I was in high school (and actually had a metabolism), and especially when I was playing.

I’ll watch the game, talk to the young man when the game is over and begin my trip back to Fresno. If I’m still awake enough, I’ll give you the details of the trip and let you know all that went according to plan… and more importantly how things didn’t.

Saturday, I’ll head out of Fresno again and trek three hours west to the Bay. First stop will be Oakland where I’ll attend the club workout of a coaching friend. He prides himself and his program on committing to academics before basketball. As a recruiter, getting to know programs like this is important because you always know you’ll find quality student-athletes. Straight from there, I will travel about forty-five minutes north to the San Francisco area to catch another tournament game. At the conclusion of the game, I’ll meet the young man and hit the road back to Fresno.

That’s the plan, but as I said last time, it very rarely works out perfectly. As I worked it out in my head (which is very unreliable when it comes to calculations) I’ll be in a car for about 14-15 hours, watching basketball for about six hours and spending about $170 from car rental and gas to food and admission to the games. Let’s see a BCS school get so much out of so little!! Until next time…

Go Yeo!!