April 18, 2001

When the UNC rowing team competed in the San Diego Crew Classic on April 7-8, Carolina coach Joel Furtek drove cross country with his team's (and several other teams') boats in tow. He chronicled the coast-to-coast trip, his 12th, for TarHeelBlue.com readers. Below is his final installment, wrapping up the trip home.

The drive back from California is always harder than the drive west. For one thing, you're heading back home, to work, to the dishes, to familiar places. You're also driving back into congestion and urban environs. At it's simplest, though, we're tired. We arrived in San Diego only four days ago, and those four days were filled with athlete management, racing, and coaching.

Kendall Atterbury and I decided that discretion was the better part of valor and decided to delay our departure until Monday morning. One more night's sleep would be best.

We check the team out of the Navy base, then return to the race site to square away the trailer. It takes about an hour, but putting things right now will save lots of time on the road, and make sure all the equipment arrives safely.

We depart the San Diego course around 10 a.m. on Monday, as we head out, we can't help but notice how calm and flat the racecourse is -- what a contrast to the racing days!

I draw the first leg out of San Diego. And what a first leg! In 90 minutes, it went from 70 degrees and sunny at the ocean to a wet snow at 4,000 feet to sunny and 80 on the floor of a desert canyon! After that, things settle down to the routine of the road. We stop in Tucson for a manager's special dinner at the Sonic drive-in owned by the parents of one of our rowers. We couldn't quite fit the trailer into one of the drive-up spots -- but we considered it!

Ever adventurers, we decide to take a different route back East. Different scenery makes it easier to drive, and the new environment provides a little more to ponder. So, just past El Paso, we drive past I-20 and stay on I-10 across southern Texas. The full moon makes the trip easier, but even so, I have to pull over during one of my night shifts. I pass up a few of my trusty stay awake tricks, I just don't want to push it. So a quick hour nap and I'm back on the road.

We pass through San Antonio and Houston on the way to Louisiana and a fantastic Cajun dinner at Mulate's, in Breaux Bridge, La. Mmmmmm....a good meal, and a good break from the road as we listen to a good ol' Cajun band.

Not long after we head out of Breaux Bridge, through Mississippi and Alabama, it becomes clear that we're going to cut it close with Atlanta rush hour traffic. Yikes. So we push on hard through the night and early morning, and manage to skirt any serious backups. Even at 5:30 and 6 a.m., the roads are bumper to bumper, but the traffic's moving, so we don't lose time.

With that behind us, we reach the hardest part of the journey -- the familiar roads. I've driven from Atlanta to Chapel Hill many times for races and other rowing events, so every mile along the way drags on. The last two hours from Charlotte home seem to take forever. But then, there's the exit for NC54, our shortcut back to the boathouse. And then, the boathouse! Ah, it's good to get the trailer back.

Arriving at 1:30 p.m., we've made this trip in 48 1/2 hours, not bad considering we stopped for two meals and the nap. Kendall heads out immediately for home, in Charlottesville, so she can be at the construction site the next morning, and I wait for the Virginia coaches to come collect their boats. By the time we're done, around 5:00, I'm ready to be home. For a while. :-)

I learn something on every trip, about how to drive better, or about the countryside, but most often about myself. This trip is no exception. The fact that so much of our journey was presented to Carolina fans, and the rowing community in general, means that this trip I learned how much others are like me. Almost everyone I spoke with about our journey has told me about the part of themselves that would love to take such an adventure. Maybe we all have in us a little bit of a wanderer.

And maybe I'm lucky, that my job lets me indulge that just enough, because at the end of the day, and the trip, I can return to my home place, and to our crew, and the University, and appreciate it all the more.

Thanks for following the Tar Heel Express!