While college bowl has given an opportunity to go places I probably wouldn't go on my own (remember Greencastle, Indiana?) and travel more than perhaps is wise, the current trip I'm on may just take the cake.

I'm writing from the business center of a Doubletree in Durham, North Carolina, after a 14 hour or so drive from Boston.

Why did I consent to go on a trip of such length? Let's just say when I volunteered to go, I thought we were flying. I never asked for clarification, so in a way it's my own fault. As Mike Brady said, "Caveat emptor."

The fact that we made it in one piece, without getting pulled over or piling into a bridge abutment, is a testament to the human spirit. And a lot of caffiene.

The trip started with some bad portents, as we couldn't find a parking space near the BU campus. Sarah then drove back to Babson and I got to direct the van there to pick her up. The van was also late, but tardiness on that end stopped being surprising in, oh, 1992.

Now, there are 7 of us on this trip, and the plan was to get a minivan. A little tight, perhaps, but doable.

So what do we get? Perhaps the largest 15 passenger van we've ever used. It was a maxivan. A megamaxivan, even. It seems to wide for normal lanes. It seems longer than most T buses. The thing is a behemoth, and, just to cut in on the savings of driving over flying, a pig on gas.

Oddly enough, the front passenger seat is actually not that roomy. The front is set up with a focus on the driver, which is fair. The center console, though cuts well into what would be normal passenger side leg space. And, in true Dodge fashion (having had other vans of theirs over the years), the wheel well cuts into the leg room, too. I'd have been better off commandeering a bench seat.

In any event, we drove pretty much full out. We made our required pilgrimage to the Vince Lombardi rest area on the New JErsey Turnpike sometime around 2 AM. We got to pay something like $8 in tolls to go through the dozen miles or so of 95 that cut through the top of Delaware. We stopped in Maryland for gas (and use a restroom which smelled of some sort of nefarious activity requiring an open flame), Virginia for breakfast at the Waffle House, and got into North Carolina around mid-morning.

If you come down this way and take route 85, be forewarned that it may be the most uneven stretch of interstate in this part of the country (94 near Detroit wins natioanlly for its mammoth potholes). There is also no sign welcoming you into the state. The closest you get is a sign informing you of the state law requiring helmets on bicycle riders.

As is often the case on these trips, we got lost right at our destination. We spent a goodly amount of time driving around Durham looking for the hotel, which we found despite some really lackluster directions (at least in comparison to the map we had of the city; Mapquest is involved somehow).

So, we're here, we're waiting for one of the two rooms to be ready, and I think I've had about 3 hours of sleep in the last 30. And that in increments no greater than a half hour. I need a shower. And I could really use some sort of vending machine right about now, as the only food option seems to be the hotel restaurant, which is probably very nice but way overpriced for the moderately peckish.

Off to continue my quest for sustinence. More on my return, when I'll be truly knackered from a second overnight drive and the loss of another hour thanks to Daylight Saving Time!