Mark Mourer
Arizona was next, along with fun signs instructing the driver — presumably coming up for a sporting event — how to navigate a dust storm. C'mon, we've been to Lubbock.
It’s not that it was a hard trip.
If anything as a Horned Frog fan inspired by the trip Max Duggan took from the sideline to the Heisman Trophy room, it was a calling. From the moment the text from That Airline Over East canceled our flights, we knew we were going.
Well, I knew. My wife, who kneels at the altar of practicality, and my teenage daughters — for whom instant pudding can’t get here quick enough — were gonna be a sell. Luckily, I’m currently in a sales training gig.
But I was gonna go, like Max would. He was always gonna go back out on the field after they sewed up his heart, and he was always gonna go back to the locker room after Coach Patterson left. He was always gonna go in when they called on No. 15. How could you not wanna go and support that guy?
Especially after having dumped a grand or so on tickets and even more emotional capital into this season. Of course I would go.
Max would go.
1 of 6
Mark Mourer
Our Arizona Headquarters
As we headed to the spring training capital of the west, we were in the bottom of the ninth, and our cleats were falling apart.
2 of 6
Mark Mourer
She's Just a Little Tired
Former Fiesta Bowl sponsor Tostitos never salted a chip the way my ensuing, post-warning light language was served. And, while Harry the Hybrid Honda is being tended to today, I’m still glad we went. Max would go, after all. We just went with much less fanfare, but comparably-rich experiences. Like seeing Mexico.
3 of 6
Via Mark Mourer
Flat and splat
OK, this one was made up by a fan obviously off this week. However, I approve of this exit near Van Horn, named for, ah, (channeling Cliff Clavin), Maj. Jefferson Van Horn, commander of Fort Bliss in El Paso, circa 1849.
4 of 6
Mark Mourer
Hola, Mexico
The “We Are Family” spelled out on the mountainside just south of the Rio Grande was poignantly pointed at the U.S., and pretty accurate when you survey the landscape. But, I remain amazed by the delicate balance and, at the same time, friction-riddled duplicity of existence that lives on each side of that river, just a stone’s throw from UT El Paso and the Sun Bowl. A lot of citizens from both sides of that border had made the decision with their lives to go. Like Eddie and Max, searching to save their crew.
5 of 6
Mark Mourer
Sunny Side Up
My original goal was to set foot in the Sun Bowl to pay homage to the resurrection of TCU Football, which we did, thanks to laissez-faire approaches to stadium security.
6 of 6
Mark Mourer
Oooh that smell, can't you smell that smell
Politics aside, once we hit New Mexico, it was amazing how many cattle lots sent the olfactory system into overdrive. It’s always fun to play the blame game when flatulence hits a car of four passengers, but miles and miles of feedlots takes that game to a whole new level.
Four or five months ago, I spent a week on Oahu with the same wife and daughters. And while they studied Dole Whips, I studied Eddie Aikau. I had heard about the legendary surfer and lifeguard, and his heroic commitment to his crew on that capsized Polynesian canoe.
Similarly, when Max’s season was capsized in 2021, he remained dedicated to them. And us. And, frankly, to a commitment to one’s team that sinks faster and faster in this era of collegiate athletics. But Duggan didn’t quit. Like Eddie, when the moment was at its most bleak, Max would go.
Luckily, the Mourer girls were all in. If my wife and I have done anything right, it’s raise sports fans. Horned Frog fans in particular, so we set off to tackle 1,011 miles of previously uncharted proverbial waters.
Arriving some 15 hours after shoving off from Aledo, we stopped only for fuel, lunch and to wonder what we had done wrong to have the “Low Tire Pressure” light come on north of Tucson.
Mark Mourer is a devoted super Frog fan. He's a fan of Super Frog, too. His flight on Southwest Airlines was canceled, so, he packed up the car and drove to Arizona for the TCU-Michigan game. He's detailing his trip for us through a daily — sometimes more than once a day — travel journal. Like this one.
Mark Mourer
There is no reason to give a plug to a corporation without compensation in this day and age. Especially with NIL dollars (pennies, in my case) at stake. But the good people of Showcase Honda got my Accord squared away and leveled out on tire pressure. A recalibration, and my first stop was to see former (not “old”) TCU roommate Gary Powers. Powers moved out to Phoenix in ‘96, but we discussed his neighbor’s citrus, among other things.
