Duke University Football pulling off a monumental upset under the shadow of the Golden Dome capped what I still consider the greatest ” Loop ” that I have created over the years.

Why ? Starting with the people that were involved, Alan Knight, Rob Sisk ➕ my Wife Linda and one of my Sons, Christopher. Then you add in the fact that involved four 🇺🇲 States inside of 48 hours and a 3 Wood carried through the Airport on the way home, and you have the making of a story.

  When the Fighting Irish first entered into the agreement of playing five games against Atlantic Coast Conference football opponents, I promised myself that when it was Duke’s turn to go up to South Bend that I was going to be there.

Rob Sisk had recently moved from Waynesboro, Virginia to Notre Dame so his travel was local. Chris and Alan were going to arrive from Virginia while Linda and I from the San Juan Islands 🏝.

  Duke was supposed to get blown out by the Irish so the game itself was just a reason to sit in the most historic football stadium 🏟 in the Country, on a College campus, anyway. Alan had grown up rooting for the Irish to there was an interest on his part.

Not wanting to make the trip just for one lopsided College Football game, I started to look for ways to expand the trip.

  Wrigley Field on a Friday afternoon with the bonus being it was the Cubs – Cardinals. The Midwest version of Yankees – Red Sox became the initial add on to the Trek. Rob rode the train 🚆 over and joined us while Lin stayed at the Hotel 🏨 to fulfill her work obligations.

  Rob headed back to Indiana and we swung by the Hotel to grab Lin for the next leg. It turned out that the Milwaukee Brewers were playing a night game so we headed North.

We stayed until the final out, in part because we were resting 😴 our eyes in between innings. Then we started the drive back to our Hotel 🏨, back at O’Hare Airport. Highlight was Milwaukee had a player named Chris Carter !

  It was Saturday morning by the time we entered the Hotel 🏨 but it was just for a quick nap because to complete The Four Corners we needed to play Golf ⛳ in Michigan before the Irish – Blue Devils kicked off.

Lin and Chris were sleeping in the back seat on the drive over on the Turnpike and woke up at the Welcome to Michigan sign. We had picked out the very first course across the Border, rented some clubs and headed to the 1st tee. The highlight was hitting the 3-wood in the bag 🎒 so well that I bought it from the course owner for a crisp $10 bill. Getting it back to Washington State was an adventure all to itself.

  We made it back to Touchdown Jesus and the Golden Dome just before kickoff and met up with Rob and a friend of his. The six of us sat down and just started telling stories about the adventure. The game itself was an afterthought because we were just enjoying the company.

Duke messed with our fellowship a bit by somehow making a game of it. Daniel Jones was a walk – on Redshirt Freshman at the time and he was making history.

We said our Goodbyes to Rob and headed back towards the Airport in time to take another nap before Alan and Chris flew back to Virginia while Lin and I headed back towards our Island 🏝.

Everything about the 36 hours left an impression on me and everything since has been about trying to create memories that will last a lifetime. Just a perfect combination of the right people and the right circumstances.

Daniel Jones became Danny Dimes when he was drafted by the New York Giants. Rob and his family 👪 still live outside of South Bend. Coach is still at Page County High School and Chris is raising four of our nine Grandchildren.