SOMEWHERE ON INTERSTATE-70 WEST, ST. LOUIS BOUND — If you’re planning on taking an 800-mile-plus road trip in the near future, here’s my first bit of unsolicited advice: You’ll need more than 10 Capri Suns and a small carton of Goldfish.

That’s not to say that we’ve been hungry on this 13-hour drive, which started in Philadelphia and is taking us to St. Louis for Syracuse’s NCAA Tournament opener against 10th-seeded Dayton at 12:15 p.m. on Friday. But the drive seemed to go by just a bit faster when we were downing snacks and drinking juice that reminds me of pee wee soccer. I’m with Matt Schneidman, one of my partners on the SU basketball beat, and photographer Margaret Lin. If you’re planning on making the east-coast-to-midwest trek to see the Orange play, we’re living proof that you don’t need a flight.

We’re also living proof that a flight probably isn’t a bad idea. The sun’s dropping toward the horizon and we’re still only halfway to halfway across America. The small towns we’re rumbling past aren’t offering many options on the radio. We ran out of things to talk about somewhere in the middle of Pennsylvania, when the drive still seemed more like an adventure and less like a sick test of patience.

At the beginning of the day Wednesday, I thought “13 hours” was too intimidating. So I started breaking the trip into half-hour increments. For example: Instead of 11 hours, I told the car we had 22 half hours to go. They were reluctant but then played along.

Has it helped pass the time? Not at all.

The drive from Philadelphia to St. Louis is pretty much a straight shot west. That means we drove through the entirety of Pennsylvania, and will have traversed the whole width of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois when we finally get there. It all looks exactly the same from our vantage point, with the occasional strip mall cutting into the rolling farmland. Monotonous would be an understatement. Maniacal probably sums it up well.

But life in my white two-door Jeep Wrangler — our magic carpet — isn’t all so bad.

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MORE COVERAGE:

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• Opponent preview: Here’s what to know about Dayton
• All of our Syracuse-Dayton coverage in one spot

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I’m crammed in the back-right corner of the car, typing away, fighting for leg room with the passenger’s seat and a pile of luggage. I’m dreading the end of this monologue because I’ll have to resort to more traditional ways of passing time in a car. Sleeping, singing, searching for exotic license plates. That kind of stuff.

Random rural town in Ohio or the inspiration for the first scene of The Lion King? It’s a toss up. #DOinSTL pic.twitter.com/eTXkRE4ReU

— Jesse Dougherty (@dougherty_jesse) March 16, 2016

Matt’s at the wheel, stoic as ever, trying to match the six-and-a-half-hour leg I pulled off to start the trip. The sounds of the highway are drowning out whatever acoustic rap cover he’s playing on our wireless speaker. I can’t say I’m disappointed.

Margaret is keeping the energy fresh, camera around her neck, making sure she gets an artsy shot of each state’s welcome sign. She missed “Welcome To West Virginia” by a matter of seconds. We’re not going to hold it against her. Everyone’s human.

And if you’re making the same trip in the coming days, my best advice is to pack food and drink that takes up minimal space and a lot of time. Other than that, I can offer two sets of two words.

Have fun.

Good luck.

Published on March 16, 2016 at 8:07 pm