A very, very, very, very long day of traveling

Let's hope the rest of the trip goes a little bit better than Friday.

Members of the Corvallis High girls basketball team had quite a long day of traveling as the plane that was taking 10 of the players, three coaches and numerous parents spent way too much time in the San Jose airport after having their flight to LAX delayed.

The team was on it's way for four games at a tournament in Malibu, Calif.

At first, the team thought they would have to spend close to five hours delayed in San Jose, but then Lindsay Schnell and Nova Sweet (special thanks goes to Southwest Airlines employee Cindy for helping out) were able to get the team on an earlier flight.

Or so they thought.

The flight they were switched to was then delayed and more time was needed to be killed.

So the players gathered in a circle and played the sign game that was taught by Tom Cox. That was enough to keep the team occupied during the looooonnnnnggg delay.

It was a fun plane ride for me from PDX to San Jose, as I was able to sit with former Crescent Valley High standout Elizabeth Doran, who is one of my all-time favorite players to watch and a 2005 graduate of CV. She is a senior at Santa Clara and a starter on the women's basketball team.

Doran was going to be just a little late to her practice Friday night as her flight arrived at close to 6 p.m., the same time she was supposed to be at practice. Good thing the campus is 10 minutes away from the airport.

It was fun catching up with Doran, who will graduate this spring. And she wished the team good luck in the tournament as well as the season, except, of course, when they player the Raiders.

While the team was stuck in San Jose, coach Joe Williamson and his family made it to LAX pretty much on time, as they left about an hour earlier than the rest of the team. Earlier, Katie Schrock and her family flew out from Portland and spent the day at their desired destination.

The players remained in good spirits, thanks in large part to Tom's game. You could hear Leah Seitz's and Karly Laney's voices and giggles as the game raged on 40 feet away.

We were finally able to board our flight at around 9:50 p.m. and we touched down at LAX at around 10:50 p.m.

Then, to make matters worse, our luggage never made it on our flight. So after waiting around a while, it was decided to send the players to the hotel while most of the adults stuck around to wait for the original flight to land, hoping the luggage was on that flight.

Fortunately, it was. The players arrived at the motel around 12:40 and waited for the other van to arrive with their luggage before settling in for must have felt like a much-needed night's rest.

The first game Saturday is set for 3:30 p.m., that is if we aren't delayed any more.

Check back here for updates as I have time to provide them. I'm hoping to have them up as soon as I can!