Smooth sailing to Minnetonka

Heading south on Highway 71 approaching Svea. Cold, windy and snowy...winter in Minnesota!

We have smooth sailing as we travel to the south and east towards Minnetonka high school from B-B-E Jaguar Country.

14:22: heading south from Belgrade with a Russel Peterson coach bus at about 95% capacity. Jaguar team and coaches in tow.

14:54: rounding the turn onto Highway 7 at Harry's Corner.

15:12: passing through Cosmos, where their town recently lost their elementary school. The A-C-GC school district has had some rough times in the 2000s, but after making a number of difficult decisions it appears as though they've turned the corner and are bringing the school back from the brink. The lesson for Cosmos is the lesson every small town needs to know: if you don't have enough young families and kids living in your immediate area, you will not be able to support having a school.

15:39: passing through the huge town of Silver Lake and making some great time. It's fun having the opportunity to talk to fellow Jaguar fans who are also on the bus. Lots of chatter about Apple Valley and their team's recent appearance on ESPN. That date is circled on my calendar, and I am greatly looking forward to it at St. Cloud State University on December 28. We've also spent considerable time talking about last night's signature win at Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted, which improved the team to 2-0 in the Central Minnesota Conference. As always, there was no shortage of drama in the game. HL-W-W has 10 seniors on their roster who will all be anxious to take down our Jaguars in their last chance on January 23 in our house.

16:00: entering St. Bonifacious, home of Division III Crown College, as we're entering the Twin Cities Metro Area. Now I'm surfing on ultra-fast AT&T 4G LTE wireless internet...good stuff! I also get that type of signal along I-94 in Sauk Centre and Alexandria.

In case you didn't know, our Jaguars play Minneapolis North in the Breakdown Sports Tip-Off Classic. The game starts at 6:00pm and will be carried on Smooth Magic 107 FM of Glenwood with D-Mac having the call. The Polars are 3-3 overall and are a member of the Minneapolis City Conference as well as Section 4A. I do not expect a blow out win for the Jaguars...but they certainly could prove me wrong!

A grand total of 30 high school teams, mostly AAAA schools, will have played games here today.

16:20: WE ARE HERE!!! Minnetonka high school. (Okay we actually just passed by it but have to do a wrap-around to get on the correct street.)