MBB: North Coast Athletic Conference

[zosobob]

2 more good games today. Half of the Final 4 set.
Hopefully 2 more good games tomorrow.




             LMAWFE.

[wally_wabash]

Hot off the press....

http://www.oberlin.edu/athletic/varsity/m_basketball/Default.html

[David Collinge]

Smeds, you might be interested to know that I just completed a cross-country drive (from Millersburg to LA, something like 3200 miles or so) during which I never got on a blue-signed interstate highway.  All highways and byways, no interstates.  It's harder than it ought to be to do this, especially in Arizona where it seems that a number of old US Highways (like US 66) have been subsumed by the Interstate Highway System (in this case, I-40). 

[Pat Coleman]

Wow... tell more. I've often been tempted to take the non-I routes on my various D-III trips, but am almost always in too much of a hurry. The only recent exception was that I took U.S. 40 to Washington & Jefferson for a football playoff game a couple of years ago.

[David Collinge]

You can't be in a hurry, that's Rule #1.  Rule #2 is that you have to have a plan for the day; at least, that's true in the West.  In the East, you usually have a variety of choices of how to get from Point A to Point B, but that's not always true out here.  For example, I went to the Grand Canyon yesterday, but had to backtrack a little bit to Flagstaff to spend the night; the main highway south from G.C.N.P. leads to Williams, but from there you have little choice but to get on I-40.  From Flagstaff, I had options.

It was worth it.  This is a remarkably beautiful country.  There are beautiful stretches of interstates (Glenwood Canyon in Colorado on I-70 immediately comes to mind), but nothing to compare to roads like the Natchez Trace, or Indiana's State Route 66, or the Million Dollar Highway in Colorado, or State Route 89A in Arizona, all of which I took on this particular trip. 

It took me 9 days to get from Indianapolis (where I went to visit a friend as the first stage of the trip) to LA; it would have been 10, but I got shut out of the campgrounds at Joshua Tree National Park this afternoon and decided to just finish up.  I don't drive after dusk, and do drive the speed limit, so obviously I wasn't in a hurry.  Unemployment has its privileges! 

[Mr. Ypsi]

I'm with David in spirit, but admit I am not as much of a purist.  Non-expressways are nearly always more interesting, but in some parts of the country they are SO much slower that I can't resist the interstate.

Going Ypsi to Maine, it's about 50-50.  Going Ypsi to Cali, it's about 2/3 other highways (thru much of the west, there ain't much diference in the speed you can go!).

Unlike David, I go with what I'm guessing the cops will tolerate, rather than the posted speed limit.   And in some areas (the Dakotas, for example), I figure the likelihood of a cop is pretty slim.  So far, I've been right (though my wife got ticketed just south of Fargo!).

[Gregory Sager]

David, you are the William Least Heat-Moon of D3 ... without the faux Indian name, of course. 

[SBell]

Wooster recruiting the No. 8 kid on this list ...

http://www.mlive.com/weblogs/hsbasketball/

[SBell]

Actually, No. 9, Battista.

[sac]

The best way to feel isolated is to drive 2 lane highways across the Great Plains.  You can litteraly drive for miles without seeing another person.

Last summer I took a trip to Wyoming, Montana and Alberta.  Once I got past Grand Island, Nebraska (neither Grand nor an Island  ) It was all two lane highways to Jackson, Wyo and up to Butte, Montana.

2 lane roads allow you to stop when ever you feel like it to enjoy some scenery, which is plentifull in our vast country.  But it adds a lot of time to your trip for sure.  I really don't think you can make it across Nebraska in a single day on 2 lane roads. 

I  went through a town in Wyoming that had a population of.......1.


David I've done the cross country road trip 3 times now, and its better every time.  My favorite leg  took me from Flagstaff to Monument Valley  across to Cedar City Utah and Zion Naiton Park, and up to Moab and Arches NP.  Fantastic.

My next trip will hopefully be a long leisurely drive from Alaska to San Diego.

Like David said don't be in a hurry. 8)

[Mr. Ypsi]

sac,

The two-lane roads only add time if there are a) a lot of towns to slow you down, and/or b) you pay attention to speed limits!  I'd agree that for Nebraska, there is no reason NOT to take I-80 (at least to Oglalla where, depending on where you're headed, you may wish to switch to I-76 or US 26) - it closely follows the Platte River so is as scenic as the two-lanes (did I just use 'scenic' and 'Nebraska' in the same sentence? )!

Elsewhere in the west, you can safely take even the unpaved 'ranch' roads at any speed you desire, since you will rarely encounter another vehicle (and as long as it hasn't rained in the last ten minutes, you will see them for miles ahead by the dust plume!), and NEVER see a cop (they would die of boredom!) - in other words, get off the e-way and see the REAL west (your choice of 20 or 80 miles an hour )!

Offer void in certain 'tourist areas'!

[sac]

Western Nebraska is actually pretty scenic.....a drive through the sand hills with its rolling peaks of grass covered hills, with huge ranches might change your mind.

You can visit the Nebraska National Forest, which is the only planted National Forest in the US.  There is also the must see Carhenge outside Alliance.  Its a circle of old cars painted grey in the shape of Stonehenge, kind of cool actually.  There 's also a few other artsy "exhibits" there that were interesting.

I found Chadron to be an interesting place, the day I was there it was very dusty and hazy..........I later found out the dust was from the acres of wheat being harvested.
There are also a few Indian historical sights in the area.  There's a wild horse sanctuary just north of Chadron in South Dakota.

I would hop in my car in a second and drive West if I could.

[David Collinge]

Speaking on behalf of the millions of residents of rural America, if you are planning to drive 80 mph, please stay on the interstate.  If the small towns and deputy sheriffs don't slow you down, the bends in the road, motorized farm equipment, open range livestock, and uneven road surface should do the trick.  Anyway, if the point of being on the "blue highway" is because it is more scenic, why race through it so quickly that you can't enjoy it?

[Mr. Ypsi]

David,

Fear not for the 'diminishing' residents of the Plains - I do NOT drive 80 (anything over 65 is only if my visibility is AT LEAST 2 miles).  Just making the point that non-eways are not NECESSARILY much slower than eways in much of the west.  (Though the appeal is that they CAN be MUCH slower.)

sac,

Good point - I was thinking mainly of eastern Nebraska.  I can't think of ANY state that does't have SOME appealing areas, whatever it's general reputation may be.  Even New Jersey (probably the most derided state) has the extreme north (whether the Palisades in the east, or the 'mountains' to the west, not to mention the Pine Barrens which are quite appealing to some of us); Illinois is mostly not my cup of tea, but some of the areas along both the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers (not to mention much of the south) are incredibly attractive; most of Iowa is regarded as pretty bleak, but the northeast is often referred to as 'Little Switzerland' and the Okiboji area is often termed the 'Great Lakes of Iowa' region.  Even North Dakota (perhaps the second most derided state) has gorgeous areas especially in Teddy Roosevelt National Park, but also along some parts of the Missouri, and in the far east along the Red River.

And, of course, one person's 'bleak landscape' may well be another's 'wide-open spaces'.

I'll have to retract something I said above - THE most derided state has got to be Kansas.  Even 'The Wizard of Oz' trashed it: in Oz, everything is in Technicolor, but it is all black-and-white in Kansas.  I've only been through Kansas twice, and confess I haven't yet seen anything to disprove the attacks, but I bet even they have SOME areas that are well worth seeing!

[pufin]

Back to something non-travelling related for a moment:

The Indianapolis Star has a report this morning that Rose-Hulman is leaving the SCAC to join the HCAC. What does this mean for DePauw? Will they stay with the SCAC without RHIT or will they be looking for a new home? Will they consider the HCAC, now a 9-team league, or maybe the NCAC (currently 10 teams)?

This is an interesting development.