CORVALLIS, Ore. — That was fun.
No really, it was.
It did not matter to the Skyview football team that it took the bus two hours to go from Vancouver to Wilsonville, Ore.
The players were still together.
It did not matter to the Storm that it would take four hours to reach Oregon State University for Wednesday’s football practice.
They were still hanging out.
It was the day before Thanksgiving, and the Storm took a little business trip to experience what it was like to practice at a Pac-12 facility.
They also wanted to get used to playing indoors, in anticipation of their Class 4A state semifinal game against Lake Stevens on Saturday at the Tacoma Dome.
They were having a blast.
After all, the Storm are still together, still a team, still playing this late into the season.
The bus showed up at Skyview about 2:30 p.m. By 2:40, it was on the road. Traffic on the eve of Turkey Day is really for the birds, you know.
So the bus — and the two vans taking the coaches — inched along through Portland. The traffic alerts on the radio just predicted more doom ahead.
At 4:45 p.m., the first van reached Wilsonville.
For many of the commuters on the freeway, it was dreadful. Not for one football team, though.
Just more time for the Storm.
“Just good bonding time on the bus,” senior Hayden Schuh said. “Not that we haven’t bonded already.”
A perfect day.
“It was a long bus drive, but we have a great group of guys. We found ways to keep ourselves busy,” senior David Garlington said. “We talked. We played games. We were singing.”
Classic rock seemed to be the theme, the players said.
“You name it, we probably sang it,” Schuh said.
Skyview takes on Lake Stevens in the Class 4A state semifinals Saturday night in the Tacoma Dome. That in itself is enough for any high school football team in Washington to be thankful for on this Thanksgiving Day.
But it is also the experiences such as Wednesday’s road trip for a practice that the players will cherish.
“Thanksgiving is kind of a big deal,” Skyview coach Steve Kizer said.
Especially for a football team still playing on the holiday weekend.
The planning for the trip to Oregon State to practice at the indoor facility used by the Beavers began last week with an e-mail to Dan Van De Reit, OSU’s director of football operations. If the Storm won their quarterfinal game, could they use the facility?
Nobody from Oregon State wanted it the night before the holiday, Van De Reit said. Skyview participates in Oregon State’s team camp every summer.
“It’s always great to have Coach Kiz,” Van De Reit said.
Even though the players had been there before, it was still a thrill to be there this week.
“This is pretty sweet,” Schuh said, looking around, taking in the Oregon State Beavers banners and the full-size field under the roof.
“It’s a reward for all the hard work,” Schuh said.
The trip itself, as well as the practice session.
“We’re all together,” Kizer said. “With this group, I’d go back in time to start camp again. I’d do it all again with this group. It’s that fun.”
It’s not over, though.
The coaches were going to give the players the holiday off, but the players insisted on doing something as a team Thursday.
The plan was for a weight training session in the morning before joining their families for Thanksgiving dinner.
“We all felt we needed to be doing something together,” Garlington said.
“You can’t really take a day off now,” Schuh added.
It’s a holiday for all of us, a working holiday for the Skyview Storm.
Nobody associated with Skyview football is complaining about that.
“It’s an awesome group of guys to be sharing this with,” Garlington said.
