11 years ago, on this date, 6 of us gals, made the 24 hour trek from Sioux Falls, SD to El Paso, TX for the MN Gophers first bowl appearance in 13 years in the Sun Bowl versus the Oregon Ducks. Keep in mind that 4 of my friends traveled TO Sioux Falls from Madison, WI and Fargo, ND making their total trip time closer to 30 hours. Is that loyalty or what???? This road trip would be the ONE that started my craziness, prompting the next 16 road trips to see my favorite teams in action. Whatever-we were totally justified in making this trip to see our #12 ranked Gopher squad…we were celebrating a year where we knocked off #2 Penn State on the ROAD and our 3 OTHER losses were by a total of 11 points.

The road trip itself was fairly uneventful despite short stops at Kansas, Kansas State, and University of Texas-Fort Worth. We may have stopped a few more times had it not been for the incessant phone calls from every Gopher fan friend that we had (we proudly claim the title of “Most Popular Girls of Sun Bowl 1999″…our phones were ringing off the hook) that had discovered Juarez and maroon and gold sombreros for 7 pesos (sad that this can not be a part of any Sun Bowl fan’s experience any longer).

Highlights of the trip include:
*A grand total of $150 spent on the ENTIRE trip (this includes $40 spent on gas, $30 spent on a ticket, $25 spent on a hotel room that was comped due to a non functioning bathroom (awesome), and $55 spent on liquor. I don’t think we ate the entire weekend)
*Ringing in the millennium with the Gopher football team at a club serving $2 drinks all night (what what?? We might have been in Mexico).
*Getting on CBS a total of 5 times after we made some little Texan children squish together so we could be in the front row. Whatever-they made it on TV too.
*Puffy painting our jeans. Taking sorority girl to the next level-seriously.
*Bonding w/ fellow beer drinking Gopher fans at the game while we had to drink the 4 oz of beer from the 24 oz can (they only had 20 oz glasses and would not let you take the can. You had to finish the 4 oz on the spot. Silly Texans.)

LOWlights of the game include:
*The trickery of Oregon’s fake punt in the 3rd quarter that resulted in pass interference on the Gophers, a first down, and the go ahead field goal: 14-13 (only because the Gophers had missed an extra point earlier in the quarter-seriously??).
*The 12 play (including a 4th and 11 conversion), 87 yard, time clock sucking winning drive by Oregon to take the lead.
*Cockerham’s fumble with 43 seconds left in the football game, sealing the Gopher’s fate.
*The stadium running out of beer…seriously? Did no one share with you what Gopher fans do when their team’s performance is just too good to be true and they are preparing for the inevitable letdown??

The BIGGEST lowlight of that game is the fact that 11 years later, the Oregon Ducks are playing in the National Championship game and the Gophers are welcoming yet another football coach and spending New Year’s in the tundra of Minnesota.