ROAD TRIP

STAGE ONE (KC to Houston)

    When Missouri was invited to the Texas Bowl to play Navy, KP and I decided, on the spur of the moment, to make the trip to Houston. This was a road trip from the get-go. No sissy airplanes for us. After all, it has been a long time since K and I have gone on a long drive together. Of course we are older now and should be wiser.

    From our starting point in Johnson County, KS, it is 749 miles to Reliant Stadium. According to Mapquest it should take us 11 hours and 47 minutes. The weather is, as it should be, snowy. I only got stuck getting out of my sister's subdivision once. The P-ster overslept (didn't get his wake up call) so we got a bit of late start but were on the road by 8 a.m. That should get us to Houston sometime around 8 tonight.

    Our friend J, who lives in Houston, told KP to take US 71 south from KC to Joplin, picking up I-44 into Oklahoma. So we took US 69 immediately upon leaving my truck at K's most recent commercial storage development. The passing lane is snow, ice and slush covered and the driving lane is wet but OK. Hopefully the snow will dissipate before long. I sure hope so because passing that first semi was pretty exciting. (KP's pant leg is damp.)

    After 2-1/4 hours, we hit I-44 and rain; but we are cruising on a relatively clear four lane interstate highway. Between Mapquest and J's directions, we will basically take US 69 south for most of the day. The weather along the route is going to be gray and wet.

    The conversation, to this point, has centered on NCAA athletics. Naturally KP would like to see all the "wieners" fold up their athletic departments and let the free enterprise system rule college sports. He also thinks the universities should set up "off-campus betting parlors" to subsidize the athletic departments. I believe he should start his own blog, for I will go no further in encouraging his madness.

    We stopped about 11 a.m. in Vinita, OK, for lunch at Mickey D's. P turned the wrong way out of the parking lot but quickly made a U-turn to get us back on track. We made Just one more "Uey" three miles down the road to put us once again onto US 69 South (for 218 miles) before another chance to get lost. Saw a Mizzou magnet on a car gassing up in Vinita.

    Go Tigers!

    I worked on blogs until I took over driving about 1:30 in McAlester, taking us to the Texas state line at Denison where we stopped at the welcome center for maps at 3:05 p.m. Just 319 miles to Houston. And the sun popped out as we reached the Lone Star State.

    KP took over again and drove until about 5:30, through Dallas at rush hour in a blinding sun. I worked on my MU/Navy preview while the P-ster drove. After gassing up, I took over the pilot's seat and got us into Huntsville by 7:30. It was a long day on the road, but the time flew as I worked on my blogs. We're still about 70 miles out of Houston, but safely ensconced in a cheap hotel with the TV tuned to Nebraska beating up on a shell-shocked Arizona team.

    We should be able to get to Reliant Stadium in plenty of time for some tailgating before the Tigers and Midshipmen kick off the Texas Bowl at 2:30.

 

STAGE TWO (Game Day)

    KP and I were on the road shortly after 8 a.m. and arrived in Houston to meet J the Painter for coffee. J's car clock must have been on Eastern Time and I pushed to get to the stadium early enough to scope out the sights and spectacle surrounding the game. Really, there wasn't much going on and we were more than early. Reliant Park is a complex of arenas and parking lots surrounding the ghostly spectre of the Astrodome. There wasn't anything like the excitement or hoopla of the Labor Day game against Illinois in St. Louis.

    The stadium itself was excellent. They retracted the roof about an hour before kickoff and the game was played "outdoors" but under the lights on a rather raw and foggy day that grew a bit cooler as the afternoon wore on.

    Our seats were on the Missouri side just a few rows off the field at the goal line where Danario Alexander scored on MU's second offensive play just 24 seconds into the game. That was as good as it got. Only a "rock star" view of the Golden Girls made the game bearable.

    The Midshipmen took the Tigers to the woodshed, whipping them 35-13. Simple as that. Navy dominated MU in every way possible. Ricky Dobbs was the best athlete on the field and shredded the Missouri defense with slick ball-handling, determined running and timely passing. Navy's triple-option reminded me of Oklahoma's veer attack in the 70's and 80's; and MU had no answer for the precision with which the Middies assaulted the ill-prepared Tiger defenders. It was surprising to see how easily Navy got outside containment; but with the front four crashing on the fake to the fullback, with the corners being taken out of the play in single coverage and the linebackers cut off the pursuit angles, Coach Ken Niumatalolo's game plan worked to perfection.

    The game might have been over in the first half but for two Navy fumbles deep in Tiger territory. Despite a huge disparity in time of possession and total yardage, MU trailed only 14-7 at intermission. Any chance to make a game of it in the second half was blunted when Navy took the kickoff starting the 3^rd quarter to midfield and scored a few plays later to knock the fight out of the Tigers, who settled for two second half field goals when they needed touchdowns. Blaine Gabbert, who had regained some measure of his early season flair in Missouri's late-season charge, looked dazed and confused for most of the game. With the passing attack in disarray, Gary Pinkel and his staff tried to generate some offense with the run and had some success; but potential touchdown drives deep into Navy territory were thwarted by incompletions, fumbles and sacks.

    After a month-long layoff, Missouri (8-5) appeared sluggish and disinterested. Navy capped a 10-win season with crisp, military precision. The loss will leave Mizzou fans with doubts about next season's prospects, especially considering Nebraska's dominant showing against Arizona in the Holiday Bowl.

 

STAGE THREE (New Year's Eve)

    After the energy-sapping loss, KP and I drove to Galveston Island for dinner, drinks and cozy accommodations on the Gulf shore. The seafood and vodka, coupled with two hard days on the road and the cloud of tomorrow's return trip, dulled any ideas of bringing in the New Year with revelry or celebration. Despite Missouri's disappointing showing and with the prospects of a long trip home, I'm still glad we made the trip.

    Unfortunately, I am now 0-3 for bowl trips. We lost the 1970 Orange Bowl, the 1979 (?) Liberty Bowl and the 2009 Texas Bowl. Remind me not to go to a bowl game after the 2019 season. I blame myself for not understanding the numerological aspects of this trend.

    As the clock ticks down on the first decade of the 21^st Century, I close with wishes to all for a Happy New Year!

 

STAGE FOUR (The Return Trip)

    The insistent ring of a distant phone roused me from a deep and dreamless sleep. KP gave me my wakeup call at 8:05, although I was not ready to face 13 hours on the road. In retrospect, we might have headed north after the game to shorten today's (Friday's) return to the frosty climes of Missouri. Instead, we had traveled south to the island for the sake of a seafood dinner and an early bedtime.

    Nevertheless, we were on the road by about 9 a.m. with KP at the wheel. We are retracing our route through Texas towns named after animals (Longhorn and Mustang) and Oklahoma villages named after Indian tribes (Kiowa and Choctaw, among others). The drive has been relatively uneventful, with the exception of K's side trip to the Choctaw Casino shortly after we crossed from Texas into Oklahoma around 2:30. While I went to fill up with gas, he had an itch to roll some bones. Apparently Native Americans don't play craps; but the slots were loose. He hit a $105 jackpot on a $20 pull to cover last night's dinner tab.

    The miles had melted away to that point, as I was able to find the Outback Bowl on a "computercast". What a game! We have a number of running bets for today's bowl games. I took Northwestern and the points against Auburn, and he took the "over". We split. I took West Virginia and the over against Florida State. Another split. As the long day turns to night, we are listening to the Rose Bowl, as the signal strength allows. He is getting 3-1/2 and taking Ohio State with the under.

    It looks as if we will be back in Kansas City before 10 p.m., and I will be more than ready to crash at my sister's place. I can drive back to Columbia Saturday at my leisure in plenty of time for tomorrow's bowl telecasts.