I began today in Buffalo Wild Wings. I’m ending it in my basement. In between, it was quite a ride–literally for two parts of the day.

I stayed at B-Dubs until closing at 1 a.m., meaning I spent 10 and a half hours there total, starting at 2:30 p.m. yesterday. I agreed to stay until the bitter end because Elizabeth Psenski was closing, and from what Brittany Davidson told me, Liz was having a tough go, so I figured if I was there, it would help her feel better. It did. Tori Weber also stayed until close, and she was very happy to see me there

I almost didn’t get all of my work done before departing Kansas City. I kept falling asleep–expected–but somehow I found enough energy to get it all wrapped up and get out of the hotel at 11 a.m.

I ran into construction on US 36 in Doniphan County at noon, and I thought to myself, oh boy, I’m not going to make it to Kesnington in time for the volleyball matches at 4 p.m. According to Google maps, it was a four hour, 20-minute drive from the Courtyard on Tiffany Springs Parkway to Kensington, but I figured the construction would slow it down.

Construction on two-lane highways is hell. One direction has to come to a complete stop while a pilot car leads the traffic in the other direction. The wait can sometimes be more than 15 minutes. On many occasions, I’ve turned off my engine and reclined my seat back to catch a few winks.

Fortunately, there was hardly any waiting this time. The pilot car was leading the eastbound traffic past us as I came to a stop, so the wait was only a couple of minutes.

At Seneca, it began to sprinkle and I thought here’s the rain that was in the forecast. Sure enough, as I crossed the Nemaha-Marshall County line, it began to rain steadily. Nothing heavy, but enough to be a nuisance. I stopped at the Sinclair in Marysville to fuel up, use the restroom and get some snacks, and when I returned to my car, it began to rain harder. The heaviest rain fell from Marysville to Washington, at times slowing things down to 45 miles per hour. I was worried this was going to persist all the way to Kensington.

The rain finally subsided in Republic County about halfway between Washington and Belleville. The sun finally came out when I got past Mankato, and i pulled into Thunder Ridge High School at 3:40.

It turns out I had a little more time . Natoma and Thunder Ridge were supposed to play a varsity match at 4 p.m., but the junior varsity from the schools took the court first, pushing the start of the varsity match between the teams to 4:50.

Sadly, Pike Valley’s coach is in critical condition in a hospital awaiting heart surgery. Therefore, the Panthers only brought their varsity to Kensington, shortening the night from six matches to four.

Thunder Ridge had little trouble taking care of Natoma. Natoma lost the first set to Pike Valley, too, but came back and won the last two to pull out the match. In the last match of the night, the host Longhorns ousted Pike Valley in straight sets.

The drive home had a hairy moment. Approximately eight miles south of Phillipsburg, I caught two deer crossing the road from east to west. Luckily, I had plenty of room to stop and let them cross.

I actually clipped a deer with my current car on US 36 near Washington two years ago, but all it did was knock off a piece of my grille. I turned around, retrieved the grille piece, and then popped it back in at the Dairy Queen in Belleville. Of course, a deer destroyed my Oldsmobile 88 on 183 a few miles north of Hays in October 2005.

After getting past that obstacle, I saw a squirrel about a mile later, and then a hitchhiker pulling a suitcase. What the heck?

I’ve got a lot to do tomorrow for Russell’s paper. Hopefully it won’t wear me out.