Typical Tuesday

The best news of the day came when I pulled into Smith Center High School just after 3:30 this afternoon. The piece which fell off when I struck the deer stayed in place on the drive from Belleville to Smith Center, which gives me hope that all is okay. It will be tested again on the drive from Smith Center to Russell tonight, which is dangerous because US 281 south of Portis to Russell narrow and hilly, and I have seen more than a few deer crossing the road during my years of driving it.

If it's a September Tuesday, it must mean volleyball. And for the first time this season I am in Smith Center, where the Lady Red hosts Osborne in an unusual format. In past years, Smith Center and Osborne had a triangular on this date with Thunder Ridge, and prior to 2008, Kensington, one of the schools which eventually combined to form Thunder Ridge (the other is Eastern Heights in Agra, which is where Thunder Ridge Middle School is located). However, Thunder Ridge pulled out this year, and Smith Center and Osborne could not find a third team, so here we are. The junior varsity teams are playing right now. The varsity will play next, followed by a C-team match, and then another varsity outing to end the night.

Smith Center played its first 11 matches of the season on the road. It will have two home dates after this, Sept. 25 and Oct. 9. But as is the case with schools in rural Kansas, more often than not, you're playing in someone else's gym, although not necessarily a true road match.

I'm coming full circle so to speak. I left my house Saturday morning at 6:15 to cover the Lady Red in the tournament at Belleville. That lasted from 9 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., after which I drove east on US 36 to St. Joseph and down I-29 to Kansas City International Airport to stay at the Marriott and get my work done. I departed KC at 10:40 this morning, stopped for gas and snacks in St. Joseph, then hopped on US 36 for the return trip to Smith Center.

I was tempted by McDonald's in Hiawatha and Seneca and Hardee's in Marysville, but I didn't bite. Maybe if I would have, I wouldn't have smacked the deer 12 miles east of Washington. However, it all came out okay. For once.

The JV match will probably last another 30 minutes, so add in 20 minutes of warmup, I'm guessing the varsity will start somewhere around 6 p.m. Hopefully. I'm looking at getting home at 10:30 p.m. if I'm lucky. And then do it all over tomorrow.