What started out as a pretty crazy idea turned into a great road trip.

The original idea to cover both Michigan and Michigan State on the same day came from Leader Publications photographer Amelio Rodriguez.

I was all right with it if we could only secure credentials for both games, but as the date grew closer, I began to have some misgivings about the entire idea.

The thought of being up to at least midnight on Friday writing and editing football stories and photos was daunting as I knew we would have to leave around 7 a.m. to get to Ann Arbor for a noon kickoff.

I met my goal of shutting off the computer at midnight Friday and was up a little before 6 a.m. to start getting ready to leave.

We hit the road about an hour later for our 382-mile trek.

Traffic was light, and with a short stop at one of my favorite places in the world, Sweetwater’s Donut Mill in Battle Creek for some breakfast, we made great time, arriving at Michigan Stadium two and half hours before kickoff.

The air outside the stadium was electric as Wolverine fans anticipated the first home game of the Jim Harbaugh era.

After a slow start, Michigan and Harbaugh gave the 109,000-plus fans what they came for — a Wolverine victory.

Amelio and I decided if the game got lopsided we would hit the road to East Lansing before its completion in order to avoid being stuck in traffic and late to the Michigan State game.

Right at the beginning of the fourth quarter the Wolverines scored another touchdown and we were headed to the car and back on the road again.

There was very little traffic heading to Spartan Stadium and it took just about an hour to get there.

We settled in and tried to relax a bit since there would four hours to kickoff.

Luckily for us we ran into a great friend, Allison Hayes, a Niles graduate who was working the game for the Big Ten Network.

We spent some time catching up with Allison before Amelio headed down to the field and I headed to my seat to get ready for what we were all hoping would be a great football game.

It turned out to be just that.

Michigan State held on for the victory over the Ducks and it was back to the car and home in the early hours of Sunday morning.

My misgivings quickly gave way to a sense of accomplishment for the feat we achieved.

I am not sure I would want to do it again, but I can honestly say it was a great time.

 

Scott Novak is sports editor for Leader Publications. He can be reached at scott.novak@leaderpub.com.