Again the threat of being dropped from the first game of the tour was enough to make sure that all 19 members of the tour were in the vehicles & we were on the road by the designated time. With the long journey, the choice of seat in the cars was very important. Those who were simply happy to get in & get there got the back seats & were asleep by the time we had hit the highway (Sam Ansell taking after Coach Walton by being asleep for pretty much 7 of the 8 hour journey!!) whilst those who were keen to make the best of the journey called "shotgun" & offered the drivers some company & most importantly a DJ role. Luckily for Coach Stevenson's vehicle, Donald actually remembered his Aux cable this time.
Those in Coach Walton's car were treated to something very, very special. Jake Hobbs, obviously still buzzing off of being captain of his own Duck boat, was in fine karaoke form singing along (with the correct words sometimes, but mostly making up his own versions of songs) to Miley, Robbie & Ellie. . .
The breakfast stop was much needed for the boys as they were all starting to get hungry. Luckily for them, the service area that we stopped at included a McDonalds, so the now customary wifi check was completed by some members before the cars had even been put in to park. For those on tour who are Liverpool fans, the internet brought them good news, as they found that their team had beaten Southampton. Finding time in between the status updates, the image posts & the message sends (& for some members of staff, a clan battle), it was all back in the wagons for the 2nd stage of the journey.
This section of the trip seemed to take forever. The I88 was gargantuan yet very bumpy, so the ride was not smooth in comfort. With mile after mile of straight highway, flanked only by trees & open land.
After what seemed like an eternity, the lunch stop took place where the boys were able to refuel again. For those in Coach Walton's car, this seemed to come at a good point, seen as 4 of the 5 passengers were heavily involved in a tough season on their Championship Manager game (obviously Ansell was still sleeping at this point). Ethan Maffia had done so badly, that he had just been sacked by Valencia. Nothing a Subway & refillable soda can;t sort.
Upon reaching Alfred, there was just enough time for us to unload the wagons before we were met by the families who each took the pair of boys that they had been so kind enough to volunteer to host for the week. The excitement & buzz of the tour so far seemed to go at this point & be replaced by silence as they knew that they were soon to be broken up as a group & taken in by strangers (minus a few email conversations). What they didn't know or appreciate though was that these families are amazing & will do absolutely anything & everything for our boys. Some of the families who are hosting this week, have been doing so since the first tour & get as much out of the experience as we do. We simply couldn't do this tour without them, something that was made very clear to our boys on the journey. Details about the evening's training session were exchanged & the boys were then off to their homes & families for the week.
The start of the session was delayed as the boys were all too keen to exchange details of how great their families/houses were. Their trepidation had quite quickly gone & if anything, the session had gotten in the way of them from getting to spend an evening with the families.
A light-ish session was completed so as to get the boys moving & get rid of any stiffness from the past couple of days of mass travelling & a lot of cramped sitting. Set pieces was a nice finish to the session. Hopefully the fruit of this will be seen at some point this tour.
Tomorrow is the big day that we have been building up to since late January. Reminders were made about the importance of having a good/leisurely time during the day, as well as making sure that the right diet was considered so that we are all in the right shape for our first game against RIT.
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