This past weekend was long, thrilling, cold, wet, exciting, miserable, memorable and over all a great experience. So much stuff happened over two days that I'm not sure where to begin... get ready, because I'm sure this is going to be a long one.
The trip started at 2330 hours (11:00 pm) when we loaded the buses. We loaded all our stuff under the bus and tried to get comfortable knowing that the next stop was in 9 hours. At 0000 (midnight) 11 buses pulled out. That's right I said 11. I typically sit near the front of the bus on trips; I did that in high school as a football player and I guess old habits die hard. Sitting close to the front has it's perks, including seeing where we are, being able to see the road, talking to the driver, being in control of the air and tv... and also hearing "I'll catch up, I'm getting stopped" over the CB radios the bus drivers use. Apparently the last bus ran a red light trying to keep up with the train. So he got stopped, at midnight, in College Station. I guess I give policemen to much credit because I thought of all places for the Aggie Band to get stopped on the way to a performance in the middle of the night, it would not be in cstat. How do you not see the other 10 buses and think "I bet they're going somewhere" and just wave them all through the red light. Or even better, how about an escort? Ole Miss provided one for us from where we practiced to the University, about 30 miles, but we can't even get one in College Station.
So when everyone started stirring on Saturday morning, if I remember right, we were in Louisiana about to cross into Mississippi, we (I) decided to watch something on the TV's in the bus. Guess what? The bus had satellite, so the A-Co zips and fish got to watch ESPN College Gameday while we ate our snack of muffins. Isn't that a great start to the day after spending all night on a bus? I know of at least 2 people that were thrilled with channel selection. It was so awesome that I included a picture.
We arrived at the hotel around 9 and ate like Kings. It was a full on brunch meaning they served eggs, bacon, and biscuits as well as baked chicken, green beans, corn, pasta salad, rolls and dessert. It was one of the better meals I've had in a hotel with the Aggie Band. From here we changed into uniform and got back onto the bus for the next leg of our journey, a 3 hour ride to the high school where we would practice.
When we arrived at the high school 2 things were immediately apparent - 1. it was cold and 2. it was raining. Either one of those factors by itself would be fine but both at once? Remember, we were already in uniform - meaning once we got wet, we would be wet the rest of the night. Good thing every cadet has a raincoat issued to them... of wait all of those were nice and dry back in or rooms. Oh well, as the saying goes, "when it rains, the Aggie Band gets wet." The best part about this stop was the Jimmie John's sandwiches and chocolate chip cookies provided on the bus. The warm bus... in fact, it was so warm it got hot real fast. As in we were sweating so we had to ask the driver to turn the heater off. It must be horrible to drive for the Aggie Band, we are hard to please.
To me the game ranks right up there with the Nebraska and Oklahoma games in Kyle Field 2 years ago. To be losing by 10 with 6ish minutes left in your first SEC road game only to come back and win... Amazing experience. There were so many reasons to lose that game, the biggest being 6 turnovers, but somehow we found a way. I thought the band was located in a great spot, probably because the location meant I was able to hang over the railing and feel like I was in the action. On our second play when we ran for a 60 yard touchdown, we (Corey Broadway, Justin Jones and I) were waving in Ben Malena to score. You can believe what you want, but we know that he was making eye contact with us as we were telling him to keep coming. And then Johnny Manziel came down and celebrated with us. Later in the game Mario Noll and I were yelling at Spencer Nealy to pump him up and he responded by turning around and pointing at us. I know I sound like a groupie, but it was awesome to be that close to the team and action.
Of course we won halftime. There's not much to say about that except when we ran up the Ole Miss fans were booing but when we ran off they were standing and cheering. One guy after the game gave me this big handshake/hug and said "Y'all made our band look like it was a high school. Y'all kicked our ..."
The 3 hour bus ride back to the hotel had the potential to really stink, but as we were pulling away from the stadium, we started picking up a game on the satilite. It was the NC State vs. Florida State game. NC State was unranked and Florida State was #3. Well, NC State pulled off the upset in the final seconds by converting 3 4th downs on the final drive. It was really cool because NC State is known as the Wolfpack. I enjoyed it because it was a good game, but it was neat to hear the whole bus cheering when the Wolfpack won with no time on the clock.
Aside from my room having 5 grown men assigned to it, the night at the hotel was uneventful.
After breakfast, we loaded up to return home. When we stopped to eat at the Golden Corral in Beaumont, it appeared that they forgot/neglected to hold the restaurant for us, because the parking lot was full of people eating lunch after church. So instead of getting to eat immediately we had to wait while people cleared out. After about half the band came through the doors I think the other customers realized that they weren't going to get anymore food so they left pretty quickly. It wasn't as bad as we expected... especially when we realized they had cotton candy.
We arrived back in College Station around 9 on Sunday night, ready to attack the week. Well it didn't matter if we were ready or not, Monday was coming quickly. Like I said at the very beginning, the trip was long, thrilling, cold, wet, exciting, miserable, memorable and over all a great experience. It might have not been ideal, but it is something we will be talking about for the rest of our lives.
Hope you have a great rest of the week.
In Relentless Pursuit,
GW
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