Monday, October 09, 2006 - We're supposed to take 95 North........

Monday, October 09, 2006
We're supposed to take 95 North........
I've been on two long trips this year with football. The first trip was to Connecticut/NY to play SUNY- Maritime. Alot of funny stuff happend on that trip, but I neglected to blog about it after we got back and consequently forgot alot of the funny things that happend. I will post my favorite quote from the trip which is "Look kids, Big Ben!"............ moving on.
The second trip was this past weekend to Foxboro/Worcester, Massachusetts. Now, none of us actually wanted to DRIVE this far. We'd contemplated flying ourselves out there, but alas, those plans fell through and 6am Friday morning we were in a minivan on our way north. I'll make note here that at most times during this story, "we" refers to two coaches who have been my partners in crime as of late, and my fantastico student whom I mucho heart cause she's just that great. For ease in reading I'll call these people "Scruffy," "Carl," and "Lizzy." The four of us generally occupy a van together on football trips. I appolgize in advance for what I perceive to be hysterically funny events (if in fact, you do not find these events to be nearly as funny as I assume they are).
A bit of back story first. GU is currently under a great deal of distress which I'm sure you've seen in the news recently. There have been multitudes of protests and unrest since the appointment of our soon to be new president. She's not very well liked by the campus community and the students in particular have taken to extreme demonstrations to try and make some changes. Our caravan was leaving in the early hours of the worst day of the current protest as was evident by the camping out of the media just off campus.
With Scruffy at the helm, we managed to get off to a decent start, just ahead of the bus and other van travelling with us. We stopped for gas and then our traditional breakfast at Chick-fil-a. Generally, our stops at Chick-fil-a are a bit longer than they should be because Carl is "that guy" when it comes to ordering. I've noticed recently that there's a commercial on the radio about such "guys" who can't manage to just walk in and order whatever it is they want from the menu. Carl in particular likes to have recommendations from the staff and at this particular restaurant managed to get free breakfast burriots as a "sample." But, nonetheless, we got our foot and were on our way shortly thereafter.
The weather was disgusting as we head north and make our way through Delaware where we failed to get on the New Jersey Turnpike, but instead stayed on 95 local through Philly. This turned out to be ok because it saved us a toll or two and made for a more interesting excursion. Nearing NY, the weather started to clear a bit, but was still dreary.
After spending sometime trying to figure out exactly where the bus was in reference to us we managed to catch up to it and pass (this was essential because I'd told the head coach we were already ahead and would find an appropriate place to stop so the team could get out and eat.) At this point we were only about half way to our destination of Foxboro, Massachusetts. We all piled back in the van after some grub and a quick fill-up on gas. The head coach requested we follow the bus, but we quickly ignored that statement and left ahead of it. It is important to know your own bathroom break schedule and plan in advance for these stops. Following the bus would be detrimental to said schedule.
About an hour in to the second leg of our trip, Carl says that we'll need to find some facilities.....and fast. We see an exit ahead that state there are facilities to be had there. I truly wish I had taken a picture of what was to follow. Upon exiting 95, we find that we are really in the middle of nowhere.
There are no gas stations, no fast food establishments, no nothing really. We drive a little ways out the road and find a country club under construction with a sole port-o-pot in the parking lot. There's nobody around at all, so Carl hops out. He attempts to open the door but is shocked to find that it's locked and is greeted with grunts from the port-o-pots occupants who is most likely just as surprised by the interruption. Carl gives up, hops back in the van and we take off. Once we made it back on 95 we found a lovely rest stop just a mile up from where we'd stopped.
As we made our way further north we contemplated why Rhode Island is dubbed "The Ocean State." Any insight in to this would be much help. None of us had been through Providence before, so this was an added bonus to our trip. Eventually, we made our way in to Foxboro, Massachusetts where arrangements had been made for the team to have a surprise practice at the New England Patriots' indoor facility. They were ready for us, but spelled our name wrong which was a big disappointing (at least for me). The kids were really excited to be there and a local news station and photographer came out to interview our coach and film some of the practice.
After a fun time at Foxboro we headed off to Worcester to check in to our hotel. We had a nice team dinner and came back to get ready to go out for the evening. I'll have to leave the second half of this story for another blog.