When I tell folks that I'm getting ready to drive to San Diego, I often get incredulous looks. When I follow that I will be doing it solo this year, jaws drop. And I guess it is unusual in sport, the need to actually drive our equipment somewhere. Or maybe, the odd part is that it's the head coach doing it. I'm not sure. But when you look at a typical day for a rowing coach, driving 14 hours isn't such a bad day.

Thursday, March 28, 2002
4:00 AM: We don't have morning practice today, but my body doesn't know that. I wake up. Back to sleep!
6:30 AM: When did this become Sleeping In? Alright, time to get going.
7:30 AM: Showered, fed, dressed, the dogs are out, and I'm sitting down to some correspondence. Email. Planning, and scheduling for the upcoming drive. Recommendations. Budget work.
9:00 AM: Out to the truck. We just picked up our new tow vehicle, and there's lots to do to get everything ready. First stop, the boathouse to pick up our trailer and bring it in to the shop, make sure it's good to go. While there, get the parts to install in the truck to fire the brakes on the trailer. Then, to the home center to get all the things we'll need for the trip -- plastic to wrap the boats, tape, storage bins, locks, etc.
12:00 PM: Finally back to the office, have a quick mini-conference with the coaches to make sure we're on track for our trip, and for today's scrimmage with Williams, who are returning from Spring Training in Myrtle Beach. Check in on training news, are all our athletes healthy? Answer a few calls, then...
1:00PM: Back out to the boathouse to greet Williams. Open things up, then set out a race course for the scrimmages. Run back to town for launch gasoline. Pick up advance check for trip to San Diego before the Friday state holiday. Check in again with Williams.
3:30 PM: The team arrives, we hold a brief meeting with both teams' coxswains, and off we go. We do multiple 750-meter pieces, some with starts, some straight through at our normal cadence, some with a sprint. The teams are a good match, and we have a lot of close racing -- just what both teams wanted.
6:00 PM: Scrimmage is done, now we have to de-rig our boats, wipe them down, and wrap them for the trip to San Diego. 2600 miles on the road produces a lot of dirt and junk, which can get into every corner of the boat, so we wrap them in heavy plastic sheeting, and tape it all down tight. All the other parts are set aside for easy loading after Monday morning's practice.
7:00 PM: Wrapping done, I head back to the shop to pick up our trailer and return it to the boathouse. It takes a little longer with an unfamiliar truck and in the dark.
8:30 PM: Oars loaded into the truck for me to paint this weekend, I'm headed home.

I'd like to say this was an atypical day, and it is, inasmuch we wouldn't usually scrimmage or wrap boats, but in the 55-day stretch that defines our core racing season (Spring Training to ACCs), our coaches will have 3 days off, and spend as many as 28 days on the road. Typically, we'd spend a lot more time in our windowless office, doing all the paperwork necessary to run a small business. When I'm driving the trailer, it's like working from a penthouse office with wrap-around windows! So, 3 days of driving across America is a bit of a vacation! :-)

Driving Solo
This will be the first time I've driven a Carolina trailer solo, but I've done two one-way and a round-trip solo runs in the past. It presents some challenges: no second-party observer to your fatigue, no interesting conversations or extra set of hands to check things on the trailer. But it also provides some wonderful opportunities. For reflection and thought, for singing out loud, for following your own pace. A good co-driver allows all these, but there's still just a tremendous freedom in driving alone. And heaven knows, once I get to San Diego, I'll be surrounded by our team every waking moment, so if I get lonely, I know it won't last long.

I will of course be stopping for the night, and limiting my hours behind the wheel. The most important thing for me to remember is that it's not a test of will. It's in my nature to try to put in heoric drives, long stretches without break, or big mileage counts. But ultimately, I have more than enough time to get there, and no incentive to do so quickly. And, I have an overriding responsibility to the team, and to everyone else on the road, to drive safely. So, no land-speed records on this trip. (Good thing I won't be passing the Bonneville Salt Flats like I have on previous runs!)

The Tow Vehicle
This will also be the first time we're running our brand new tow vehicle. My 1970 International Harvester crew cab was fine for trips to Florida and Virginia, but it's not yet ready for the haul West.

Thanks to our great Athletic Departmenet support, and some herculean efforts by Associate AD Willie Scroggs and his staff (Bobby Gales, Connie Conway, and David Burton), we took delivery on Wednesday of a 2002 Ford F-350 crew cab. It has everything we could want in a tow vehicle: the four-door cab, a longbed, 4x4, the diesel engine and automatic, dual rear wheels, towing package, etc. It also has a long list of creature comforts, from power bucket seats to the AM/FM/CD/cassette stereo and power mirrors. These may sound like luxury options, and my old truck sure doesn't have them, but on a long haul like this, comfort can equal safety.

There will also be a full suite of electronics: cell phone, with speakerphone, of course, and a CB radio -- there's no better way to hear about road conditions ahead, or why traffic has come to a stop. And no easier way to field questions about those "long canoes" on the trailer. I'll have a radar detector, mostly for the construction alerts sent out by all those flashing signs -- it takes me longer to change speeds than the little cars on the road, so advanced warning helps. The trailer really doesn't get going fast enough to have to worry about speed! Finally, I'll have a new GPS unit on the dash.

This is a really terrific safety device! I can enter in an address, city, or point of interest while stopped, and the GPS will tell me where to go. It gives audible warnings of approaching maneuvers, like "In four tenths of a mile, exit right and keep left." Not having to take my eyes off the road to consult a map or written directions is terrific. And it can tell me quickly where the nearest fuel or rest stop is. I don't think I'll ever tow a trailer again without one of these. And when we get to San Diego, we can just move it into one of the team vans and away we go!

Of course, I'll always have paper back up. There's a brand new laminated "Motor Carrier's Atlas," good maps with every single page covered in plastic, and lists of low bridges and other rules. Great for tracing out potential routes in eraseable marker, or just surviving coffee stains. And the piece de resistance of cross-country travel, my ExitSource. This book, once called The Exit Authority, was last published in 2000-2001, and is out of print. The company had been bought ny a dotcom which went under, so I despair ever seeing a new one, on my last trip, I found two unsold copies at a truck stop, and bought both! The ExitSource shows _every_ exit on _every_ interstate in America, listing food, fuel, lodging, and other services within a quarter mile. It even shows you what brand names are there, and on which side of the highway you'll find them. Anyone who's ever needed to find fuel at 3AM in a strange place will understand.

Of course, I'll need to stay fresh and entertained while driving, so I'll be bringing plenty of music. Again, this year I will have a new treat: mixed CDs. I spent some time over the winter compiling my 250-300 CD collection into MP3 files on my computer -- over 3600 songs, nearly ten days of continuous, non-repeating music. So far I've prepared about 25 CDs, each with a theme like Love, or Friends, or The Sun, and each mixing nearly every musical style, from blues to country to rock, folk, hip hop and dance. And lots more that defy categorization. It can be a great way to mark the passage of time, playing CD's that are all about 80 minutes long. Along the way, I'll rediscover some old stuff I haven't listened to in years, like some early Beatles or Sugarhill Gang, and find new music to love, like Joan Baez's Best of Friends or Sheryl Crow's Love Is a Good Thing.

Here's an example of a play list: