May 15 - 11:15 am - Friday morning

Hello once again from Grand Junction, Colo. It’s another beautiful day in the grand valley, with not a cloud in the sky and temps heading towards 80 degrees. SMSU is getting ready to face Wayne State tonight at 7 p.m. MDT.

As I mentioned last night, some the team members watched Mesa State beat CSU-Pueblo 17-6, while others hung out around the hotel.

Chris Hmielewski, Coach John Petersen and I, along with the Blanchard family all had a late supper last night at Texas Roadhouse. Nancy, Coach Blanchard’s wife and children Jessica and Joe made the trip Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. Good food at the restaurant and then headed back to the room and got to sleep.

I was sound asleep when around 11:45 pm my cell phone rang and it was former SMSU assistant coach Ryan Neale, now coaching at South Dakota State, wanting to chat about the game. Ryan also called Coach Nikkel, who was also sound asleep in the room. My pay back was to text message him this morning at 8 am, which I know is WAY early for Coach Neale.

I woke up this morning at 6 am for some reason. I was not happy at all. I read newspapers on-line, checked e-mail, just the average day-to-day things. I then had breakfast this morning at the hotel with a few of the guys. I joke, you can tell who the hunters on the team are, or players who grew up on a farm, because no matter what they are up early in the morning.

Following a short nap this morning, Coach Nikkel and I drove to find a grocery store to pick up sandwich meat and fruit for the team. It is a sight to see, Kelly and Bryan walking around shopping for food at a store we know nothing about, but acting like we know what’s going on. We did some problems as our shopping cart’s left front wheel stuck and wouldn’t move. Of course Bryan panicked, but I, who shops for food as much as Delmon Young hits a home run, solved the problem by kicking the darn thing a few times and we were back searching or food for our “family”.

We’re now back at the hotel and Coach Nikkel and I are watching “A League of Their Own” on Oxygen channel. I believe we are the only two males watching this channel in the U.S. right now.

Coach Blanchard is heading to the ball park to watch Minnesota State and Colorado State-Pueblo, while the rest of us are “chilling” at the hotel.

It’s been a great trip so far and we can only hope it gets better with more victories! Traveling with the teams for these years is great experience. Football, basketball and now baseball it makes it a long year, but well worth in. If you could hear our conversations…we’ll we won’t talk about that.

Thanks to everyone for reading and writing in! NateDawg, you the man! Almost forget, I received an e-mail from an SMSU alum living in Grand Junction last night. He couldn’t make the game, but wished the guys well. It’s great to know there are Mustang fans everywhere!

Until next time, go Mustangs!