Road trip? We're eatin' it up

Editor's note: Ben Brust is a junior guard on the Mundelein boys basketball team, and he's keeping area hoops fans informed of the Mustangs' activities during their holiday trip to the San Diego area. Here's a recap of the last three days of their hoops odyssey:

Day 3: What's going on? Today we had an early wake up call to get food in us for our first practice.

Coach Knar and Coach Knigge made sure we remembered why we are on this trip: to win games. We got out and running right away to get rid of the rust. Our first practice of the week was intense from start to finish and it's going to be even better tomorrow.

After practice we got a quick bite to eat at a local Subway, where Coach Knar made everyone on the team sing the 5-dollar footlong song in order to get a free sub.

Not to mention it was really really nice today. The weather hit a high of 72 with sunshine and not a cloud in the sky.

We headed to La Jolla where we explored caves for $3 each. Everyone paid their 3 dollars but nobody got their money's worth more than coach Knar. Along with traveling down the steps of the cave, the 145 steps up got coach Knar puffing some major air. Later on the team went to the Coral Reef, where we played with hermit crabs, the huge sea lions, and the sea anenomes. Kevin Barber named his little hermit crab friend "Leroy." Young Dickie Knar got too close to one of the sea lions, and he got to hear the thunderous roar of an angry animal. It was so loud, and he jumped about 10 feet! It was so cool to see wildlife in its natural habitat - wildlife that we never get to see in good old Illinois.

We then had to make a break for it so we didn't get stranded out on the coral as the tide came back in. And so we didn't freeze to death. Let me tell you, as nice and sunny as it is during the day, when the sun goes down it gets cold in a hurry.

Tomorrow we've got New Year's Eve and it should be a blast! But we still have to get a solid practice in tomorrow to keep us on track.

Day 4: What's going on everyone? It was another beautiful morning in San Diego. We got up bright and early again for our second practice of the trip. We were a little drowsy at the start of practice, but we picked up the pace and finished strong.

After practice we got a bite to eat, and I don't think anyone will argue the fact that the parents make us eat every ten minutes. If it's not sandwiches it's granola bars and if it's not granola bars they make us drink something. I can't be saying this about the moms because we love them and they do so much for us!

Our big thing for the day was the USS Midway, a huge aircraft carrier that was used in World War II. Our first mission was to find a penny press machine for Coach Nadler so he could waste 51 cents on a souvenir penny that he already lost. Coach Knar's mission was to photograph his son Dickie every 10 steps he walked. Try and imagine how bad his poor cheeks hurt ... the closest estimate was 655 pictures.

On our tour we figured out that the ships were not made for tall basketball players...especially 6-foot-7 Ryan Sawvell. On the other hand, the coolest part of the ship was going up to the flight deck to see all the fighter planes. One of my all time favorite movies is Top Gun, so it was exciting to see the plane that was used in the movie.

Later on we got threatened with more food as we were leaving, but we heavily resisted, knowing that dinner was coming up.

For our New Year's Eve we met up with the girls basketball team and had an intense game of Apples and Apples while waiting for the countdown.

Coach Knar was winning for a long time until we secretly formed an alliance against him. We all celebrated knowing that 2009 is a new year, a fresh start. I'm sure both teams are looking forward to doing big things in 2009.

Day 5: Hey everyone. It was another awesome day in San Diego.

We had an early wake up call so we could get away from the continental breakfast and head to Denny's. Due to late-night festivities, Denny's was not prepared for 26 rowdy foreigners from the Midwest.

Coach Knar waited a good 15 minutes to get his coffee refilled.

After our breakfast we hopped in the car and drove up to the world-famous San Diego Zoo. Personally, I was excited for the panda bears because they are not found in very many places, and at the end of the day the Pandas were the crowd favorite.

We split up into different groups, and we yelled at each other as we rode on the skyline. While splitting groups, Dickie Knar ran in the opposite direction of his Dad ... he's still dealing with the trauma of yesterday's photo extravaganza.

We drove back to the hotel and got ready for our big dinner at Noodles and Company. We drove there in great anticipation for a good meal, only to find out that it was closed ... We quickly went to The Old Spaghetti Factory which ended up to be better than what we expected. Thanks to Mr. Ackley we all saved a little money and enjoyed our wonderful meals.

It was another great day and it was an early bed time for all of us because tomorrow we have to take care of business.