(Editor's note: UC Santa Barbara junior forward Erin Buescher will share a weekly diary with ESPN.com throughout the season. For more on the Gauchos, visit UCSB's official athletic site.)

Dec. 29, 1999

I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas. I had a good time being home with my family. My only complaint is that it was too short.

	Erin Buescher, right, averaged 17.3 points and 9.7 rebounds last season.

The day after Christmas the team had to be back in Santa Barbara for practice. Traffic was thick, and two of our players got stuck, and didn't make it back in time for practice. Since we were headed for Spokane, Wash., on Monday morning, coach allowed the two native Pacific Northwesterners (Stacy Clinesmith and Jess Hansen) to stay at home an extra day and meet us there.

Redshirt Lindsay Taylor wasn't at practice either, so there were only eight of us. Two of the eight were sick and two more were injured during practice. With the numbers down it was hard to run a full practice and get back into the swing of things. That was Sunday night, and on Monday morning at 5 a.m. we were at the airport, not aware of what was in store for us.

As a team, we joke about what bad luck we always have when we travel, but Monday brought a new meaning to bad luck. Because of bad weather, an originally planned seven-hour trip from Santa Barbara to Spokane turned into 21 hours of madness. Whether we wanted to our not, our team bonded, and made a positive from a potential negative. And now, we are closer as a team because of it.

Sunday's practice ended with only four of us left, and Monday's travel forced us to miss our scheduled practice in Pullman. It is understandable why our coaches were nervous about our lack of preparation for Washington State yesterday.

Regardless of the chaos that consumed us the previous days, we pulled off a victory against the Cougars last night (Tuesday). We are now headed to Spokane via bus, hometown of THE Stacy Clinesmith. The coaching staff had promised her a trip to her stomping grounds since she became a Gaucho, and now in her senior year she will get to play in front of her family and friends.

We all love it because Stacy's aunt is having the whole team over for dinner and movies tonight. It will be nice to have a home cooked meal and get out of the hotel for the evening. Speaking of home, my roommate this trip is Jess Hansen, and she can get really homesick. She finds solace by snuggling with Larry The Cucumber, her stuffed animal.

Tomorrow we play Gonzaga, a team that beat Washington State by 20 points, so we know we will need to play well in order to win. After the game with Gonzaga we head back to Santa Barbara with a five-hour layover in the San Francisco airport. The good part about that is I will get to see my family and go out to lunch with them.

Hopefully our trip home will be nothing like our trip here. Considering it will be New Year's Eve, we don't want our plane's computer to shut down while flying. Although it could be fun being able to skydive from inside the cabin. Who knows?

I hope everyone has a safe New Year. Keep smiling,

Erin