BANTON'S BLOG -- Day Two (Tuesday, May 25)

Wayne State University senior shortstop and All-GLIAC First Team selection Jaci Banton is providing daily blog entries to wsuathletics.com as the Warriors get set to play in the 2010 NCAA Division II Softball Championship tournament this week in St. Joseph, Missouri.

Finding out that our plane was set to leave at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, we had time to practice in the gym before leaving.

We arrived at the Matthaei to see a line of people waiting along side the building. To our disappointment they weren't our fans but Michelle Obama's.  (The First Lady was scheduled to speak at the WSU Football Stadium on Wednesday morning).

After some good at bats and getting after some things we packed up our travel bags and boarded a bus for the airport.

Once Jimmy (John's) arrived with our food, we were set to go - Man he makes good subs.

Arriving at the airport check in, we found out that eight of us were set to leave the day before. But, luckily Southwest Airlines had room for them on our intended flight. We couldn't wait to leave, so learning that our plane was delayed an hour was trying on our patience. But, we occupied ourselves with card games and reading the ever useful advice from Cosmo.

Our plane finally arrived (from Chicago) and Alison (Allen) and I found a seat beside an extremely smart Polish guy named Christophe. He informed us that yes his name was very common in Poland and that it actually becomes harder to move faster when time traveling (don't ask) ...

Once landed, we then had to sprint to our connecting flight out of Nashville which not only supplied us with peanuts but pretzels as well!

(Rebecca) Stanley sat beside some really cute baby twins, but I sat beside some relentlessly inquisitive toddlers. Although, without them I wouldn't have known when we landed, or that there were horses in Missouri.

When we left the airport we were met by our awesome and enthusiastic bus driver who welcomed us with a rhyming greeting. As we drove from the Kansas City airport to our final destination (St. Joseph's), there was a wonderful sunset and the flatness of the land seemed to go on forever.

Reaching our destination, we stopped at a Cheddar's restaurant. There, we met up with our great hosts and hostesses: Rob, Julie, Doug and Kim. They seemed very excited to meet us and it was nice to find some friendly faces far from home. After some good food and a hard days travel, we drove to our hotel for a good nights sleep.

We are looking forward to a busy day tomorrow (Wednesday). We have children's camp, BBQ's and a banquet in store for us and who knows what else the day will bring.
 
Until Tomorrow, From Missouri

Jaci Banton