For the first time in my adult life, I have taken my family on a spring break trip. My sister and brother in-law are serving at a church in North Carolina. So, we decided to leave the cold of Michigan to travel to NC for a break.  To tell you about this, I have to go back a week.

A week ago (March 27). Because I was going to be away on a men’s retreat, my wife decided to go to New York to see our married son and grand kids. Unfortunately, when she go to Port Huron, MI (three hours away), the transmission in our car went out. Forutnately, the day before I decided to buy her a GPS to help in her navigation. When the car broke down she could just barely limp along. The GPS got her to a Chevy Dealer by taking the back roads. She got there safely. The dealer, gave her a rental, and sent her on her way.

Fortunately, the transmission was covered by an extended warrantee that we had purchased when we bought the car. But, because it was a Japanese transmission they weren’t able to get parts quickly. Long story short, it took them nearly a week to get the parts they needed and they weren’t able to get the car done in time. So, we had to take my 2001 Buick. It has nearly 100,000 miles. So, at 8:30 pm Friday, we started on our way…a 13 hour trip.

I love driving at night. I decided to would try to make a little past Cincinnati and look for a hotel. We made it there at around 1:00 am, but there weren’t any hotels available. Not thinking EVERYONE would be stopping around Cincinnati because of SPRING BREAK, we kept driving. We drove another hour before we found a Motel 6 who, “left the light up for us.”  We slept until 8:00 am and got back on the road.

We drove to Gatlinburg, TN where my wife, Ann, visited with an old friend. We had lunch and spent some time laughing and got on our way to NC.

We arrived at around 5:45 and traveled directly to the cabin we rented. Through the winding roads in the foothills of the smokies. We passed horse farms and streams. It was so beautiful. Our cabins are about 15 minutes from town, but it feels like it’s out in the middle of no-where. The great thing is the cabin has cable and wi-fi. So, as soon as I got the car unpacked I turned on the Michigan State vs UConn game. To my utter joy, MSU was in the lead.

What an exciting game. We watch the first half, leaving the cabin to go visit my sister and her family nearby. It took the entire half to get there and we arrived JUST in time to watch the second half. It was a great battle, but MSU got the upper hand with it’s up-beat style offense and tough defence and pulled off a great victory to win the semi-final game of the Final Four.

So, Monday will be a lot of fun. I’m in NORTH CAROLINA. I’ll be cheering for MICHIGAN STATE with my Green and White MSU hat and shirt. My goal is to go a location where there A LOT of North Carolina fans and be the ONLY MSU fan cheering my loudest for the Spartans.  Wait — no, I have a wife and kids.  I think I just watch it with my sister and her family. No, I’m not a chicken — I just don’t want to get hurt while I’m on vacation.

GO STATE!!!