A semi-sleepless night and early morning drive. Wanting to sleep but the excitement of the unknown keeps sleep away. The drive starts like many others a long paved road leading out of the city. As the car passes a sign that says, Hot Creek Campsite the count begins. "one" the first dirt turn off is in the rearview mirror. "Two" beginning to slow down. This alpine lake is said to be three dirt roads past the campsite. "Three" almost missing the turn a cloud of dust appears and the car makes its way down this dirt road pointed straight towards the mountain ahead.

The drive can only be made by a four-wheel drive vehicle, a great appreciation for the capability of our vehicles was felt as it flexed and warped through the rocky terrain. The road turned from dirt to rock as it climbed to the higher reaches of the mountain.

As we crested over the peak and the road turned downward; all I could see was the color. This wonderful pale turquoise that calmed me inexplicably.

Nothing could be wrong with this trip. Until we notice the back left tire looked low, and we had no spare...

But, hike back to get help was quite the adventure too but that is a story for another time.

In an increasingly divided time in our country, there's still one thing that can always be a unifier: sports. The equality that sports offers is an equality that is rarely found elsewhere. If you're good enough, you belong on the court. If your fandom matches mine, we already have more in common than our misconceived differences.

Sitting in Rupp Arena watching a Kentucky game or at Golden 1 Center for a Kings game, it doesn't matter your race, your political affiliation or your religion, just that you bleed blue (or purple) as fiercely as I do. You're not a Democrat or Muslim or African American - the only label necessary for those two hours is 'Kentucky Fan'.

Playing basketball with the boys at recess or after-school pickup games, I always earned my spot as the only girl because I was good enough to be the only girl on the court. I was given equal shots and equal playing time because I was just as good (or better ;)) than the 9 other players on the court. I wasn't passed over for being a girl, I was given the same opportunities because of my abilities regardless of my gender. It was one of the few places where I knew I was equal to my male counterparts.

For those reasons (and many others I won't bore you with here), Nike's new equality ad hits home on many levels. I've watched the ad dozens of times and still get goosebumps. Maybe it's the Alicia Keys soundtrack or the cameos from numerous Nike athletes from varied backgrounds, or maybe it's the idea that there's still one sacred place where we can always meet back in the middle.

HAPPY FRIDAY CRUSADERS!!!  There are many good "f" words out there, and Friday is definitely my second favorite.  Can you guess my first favorite ;)?  Get it right and I'll give you a kudos.  Might not be what you expect...

Here's a list of some of my favorite "f" words: 

fascination, friends, fishing, firearms, funny, food, fancy, fabulous, faith, father, futz, fuzzy,

french fries, fuchsia, film, flex, field, facebook, fantasy, flap jack, fix, foo fighters, family.

Great work this week now go have a fun and fancy-free weekend friends!