Football players travel; it’s part of the business. Most do it by plane, some by train but Argos Rookie of the Year, running back Chad Kackert loves to hop in his car and ROAD TRIP! On November 10 he embarked on a 5,000 mile (8,046.7 KM for those counting) trip, including stops, to his home in California – don’t fret, he’ll be back for training camp, probably by car.
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CHAD KAKCERT
Special to argonauts.ca
Welcome to the open road!
At this moment, I am sitting in my buddy’s apartment on 5th Ave in Naples, Florida. I am on the twelfth day of my road trip and have travelled about 2,500 miles (that’s just over 4,000 kilometers). With this being my first Road Trip update, I would like to explain why I have this obsession with long hauls behind the wheel.
Since my first road trip at 17 years old from Los Angeles, CA to Lake Charles, LA I’ve learned to love the open road. After committing to the University of New Hampshire, I jumped at the opportunity to embark on my first cross-country road trip. Before this season in Toronto, I had driven across the great states, and even some provinces, from coast to coast five times. This is big number six and I plan on making it one to remember.
When I think about the open road, I see it synonymously with the word “opportunity”. Instead of going straight home and planning flights months in advance to visit friends and family all over the country, I can call people and say, “Hey Chase. I’m about 4 hours from Washington D.C. Are you free tonight?” And so on and so forth.
When you live a life that requires constant travelling from team to team, then game to game, or even country to country, you have the blessing of making friends from all corners of the world. As fate would have it, most of my good friends have migrated from California to the east coast. Toronto ended up being the perfect to city embark from on this adventure.
Originally, the plan was to leave Toronto and meet my sister in Boston then head south to Florida to meet my best friend from high school, Clark DeMas in Miami, and then my college roommate, Dan Ruhl, in Naples. After that, I would head west to Texas to see my relatives and then Las Vegas to meet Jeremy Unertl, our trusty all-purpose defensive back and special teams player, and finally reach my destination; Simi Valley, California. As fate would have it, my plans had a slight change and a few surprises along the way.
Up to this point, I have had a great time on the road with some very special people who have had a big impact on my life. The people you will come to know in these updates are some of the people who have had a big part in shaping my character, work ethic, and desire to live a life that pursues success. All the while, these people keep me humble and remind me of where I come from and the blessings I have.
It’s my pleasure to invite you all on this journey from friend to friend, city to city, and moment to indelible moment.
With gratefulness to you as fans and friends,
– Chad