Death Valley wrap-up

A Death Valley trip, by the numbers:

850 miles traveled in three days

5 game stories

2 blog posts

4 basketball games

1 football game

2 sets of Hot Hands (two for the feet because the toe warmers didn't work)

2 McChickens

3 medium McDonalds' fries

1 GPS unit


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After making the Death Valley trip last year (following Murray State basketball to Eastern Kentucky University and Morehead State), I must say, this one was much better than the first, although neither was bad.

This year, I had the gift of my Garmin nuvi GPS unit, and for this I am quite thankful. I just punched a few buttons, and the Garmin did the rest. I didn't have to worry about glancing at my pre-researched Mapquest.com directions, I just had to listen to the voice of my unit lady. The GPS came in especially handy for navigating through Lexington.

I thoroughly recommend a GPS if you do not have one already. It's not flawless, but it will get you closer to where you need to go than an atlas will.

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While the Death Valley trip resulted in a split for the Murray State men's basketball team, normally a feat in itself, the loss to Morehead State has slightly bigger implications than sticking a 1 in MSU's Ohio Valley Conference loss column.

Morehead State is now 2-0 in the conference, at the top with Austin Peay. The Eagles celebrated like they had won a trip to the NCAA Tournament after beating Murray State. Not only did they break an 11-game losing streak with the Racers, in one weekend, they beat the No. 1 and No. 2 team (UT Martin). Quite a feat after coming into the conference games 1-6.

Seeing that it is so early in the season, the one loss isn't going to deter the Racers for too long. But starting the conference 2-0 is big for Morehead. How big remains to be seen.