When was the last time you took a spur-of-the-moment road trip? Me, it was last weekend when I found out that my sister would be playing in her last college soccer game ever and it would take place only (ONLY) a five and a half hour drive from good ol’ St. Louie. Of course, I didn’t find out about the game until about 30 hours before it would happen, but that didn’t stop me!

Heather goes to St John’s University (Queens NY Campus) and plays on their soccer team. Since we, her family, all live so far away we hardly ever get the chance to see her play. Her team got into the Big East Championship Tournament this year and their first game (and decidely their last) was played at Notre Dame University (in South Bend, IN). On her way there (at a layover in Chicago) she text messaged me to dicuss the “Little Miss” and “Mr Men” series of children’s books (see the series here: http://members.tripod.com/~DaveML/mrmus1.html) since she has a friend that apparently looks just like one of the “Mr Men” men – though we never got around to figuring out which one.. perhaps Mr Brave, or maybe Mr Nonsense? Anyway, we got around to discussing her trip, and how this is her last game ever, and how it’s too bad I was still so far away from South Bend, IN so I couldn’t go see her play. Which got me thinking, is 5 1/2 hours really so far? When I haven’t seen her play in years, and haven’t seen her in general in months..? I didn’t think so, and neither did AJ – so at 4am the next morning we were cursing the alarm that started us on our way.

The mini chocolate covered donuts (definitely not doughnuts) helped ease the early morning grouchies, and a grogeous sunrise helped us along as well. But the discovery that I had led us off the wrong exit almost ruined the trip, until we figured out how to get back on track (with only an extra 20 minutes tacked onto the drive). It could have been a disasterous mistake, adding an extra 1-2 hours (and thus causing us to miss the game entirely) if I hadn’t noticed it in time. To this day I still wonder why I thought I was smarter than the Mapquest map..? “Oh, that’s funny,” I thought to myself, “Why would Mapquest put the wrong map in with these directions? I guess I’ll just go my own way.” Silly, silly girl.

A couple of hours into the drive, McDonald’s beckoned, and we responded with the purchase of breakfast value meals, complete with Monopoly playing pieces. We got Park Place. We were convinced it was our day to win millions and decided to eat at McDonald’s for the rest of our meals that day. We ended up not winning. Who would’ve guessed?

We arrived in South Bend about 1 hour before game time and showed our IDs and signed the gate list to get our free tickets. We found some good bleacher seats in the middle of the field and watched the warm-ups. Heather ran over to give me her warm coat (Thank you Heather!!) and a disposable camera.. and a hug. Then she was off to play.

The game was.. well… I had a great time cheering and shouting and encouraging the Red Storm to play their hearts out. But overall it didn’t seem to help a whole lot. The psychological threat of playing against (drumroll) NORTRE DAME was a little too much for St. John’s to overcome and they lost, which was not unexpected, but they lost big, which maybe wasn’t unexpected either, but it surprised me (and Heather too, I think). Heather had a good game though, and played hard to the end. She played the entire game – and AJ took about 300 pictures. So those plus the 5 I got with her disposable camera now give her proof that she played soccer in college.

After the game I gave Heather a birthday care package of fun things for the plane (magazines, crossword puzzles, snacks) and we got to chat for a few minutes. She showed me some flowers that her friend Justin (the one who looks like a “Mr Men” man) had sent her for “good luck in the game” and “congratulations on your soccer comeback and career”. The card, however, said something more along the lines of “Congratulations on your new career. Please come back.” It seems that the florist taking his order was a bit lacking on his grasp of the English language – but that made for an entertaining conversation piece. 🙂

After picking up some McDonald’s dinner for Heather (still no winning game iece) and chatting for a few more minutes it was time for her to head to the airport with her team, and for us to head off on our 5 1/2 hour trip back home. It was so worth it and I had such a great time. It’s one of those road trips that I will remember for a long time – and now that I’ve got it all recorded here I can remember it for even longer.