showdown in missoula

Like I mentioned earlier, I lucked out and got a chance to travel with Colton and the rest of the team on Friday to Montana for the WSU-UM football game on Saturday. We left Friday morning for the airport at 8:15 and our flight took off around 11. When we landed in Missoula, it was COLD! But we boarded the bus and took off for the hotel so that the boys could get ready for practice.

While the guys were all standing outside in the freezing temperatures at practice, the girls all boarded up on the hotel shuttle and took off for the mall. Sheena, Shauna, Beth, Lindsay, and I went to the Mustard Seed for lunch and then off we went to scour the stores for some warm gloves, hand warmers, jeans, and boots. Kelly and Suzie also went with us and when we got back to the hotel, we spent the rest of the evening relaxing.

Colton was busy in meetings all night and I didn't want to mess up his pre-game routine, so I left him to do his own thing and I settled in for the night and started watching the 2nd round of the NFR til I fell asleep. Until midnight when the fire alarm rang! It never fails...every time we play in Montana, some weird stuff like that happens. In the past, we've had people knocking on our hotel room doors, 4am phone calls, and stuff like that. Hmmm...coincidence? I think not.

Saturday morning was a rush. I went to breakfast with John and Marti at Finnigan's and then we packed up all of our warm gear and hiked over to the stadium. The Montana fans were all decked out in their maroon and they were everywhere--you couldn't see a single person who wasn't decked out in Grizzlies gear. The stadium there is incredible. It it loud and it feels like the fans are virtually on top of the players and the field. We settled into our seats and the game got started. We looked pretty shaky in the first half and it seemed like we were a little nervous. But we played hard and had opportunities, but just couldn't finish. The final score was 24-13.

After that, several of the kids had to undergo random drug testing, and because they were so hydrated from the game, it took FOREVER for them to be able to finish the tests. We had to wait on the airplane on the tarmac for them. Colton's parents even ended up staying the night because they gave some of the trainers a ride to the airport, so it threw off their plans to travel back to Jerome that night.

Once we landed in SLC, our bus wasn't there so we had to wait for it. When we finally got in our bus, it got hit by one of those sliding security gates and scraped along the side of the bus for about 10 feet. We had to wait while the airport security came and took pictures and exchanged info with our driver. Then when we hit South Weber, there was an accident that had caused the road up the hill to close down so we had to get back on the freeway and go all the way around to Riverdale and then back up to the Dee Event Center. Then we had to wait about 20 minutes at the stadium for our bags to arrive.

It wasn't a good day for the Wildcats.

But it was a fun trip and a historical year for WSU Football--one that will be remembered for years to come.