Trip of a Lifetime - A True Story

Below is a note that my friend Nathan (aka: gozagswoohoo), wrote on the Gonzaga Bulldogs internet forum where he is a longstanding contributer (poster) and personality AT-LARGE.  Read on, and you'll get a glimpse into what it means to be a "Zag."  I think you'll be impressed.

Gonzaga is a university like no other. I've always heard people talk like that, but over these last few years, I've seen proof of it. The generosity of some of you guys is unheard of. This story is even further proof of that.
 I really felt compelled to tell everyone what exactly has taken place with this trip...it's pretty amazing, to say the least. About 6 weeks ago, I got an e-mail from a poster on this board (we're going to keep him or her anonymous, but we are going to refer to them as Ghostzag), asking if it was true that I'd never been to a game in the MAC. Ghostzag then told me they'd followed my posts and things over the last few years, and said they thought it would be cool to make my dream come true. Ghostzag then offered to provide me and a friend, roundtrip airfare to and from Spokane, and also provide tickets to the St. Mary's game. At first...I thought surely it was some kind of joke, really mean hoax, etc. But...it wasn't. After many, many e-mails with Ghostzag....it's actually happening. This poster has already booked and sent me and my bro our flight itenerary for the trip, and as most of you know, I'll be arriving at the Spokane airport this Wednesday night, and flying back home Sunday morning. Have you EVER heard of anyone doing something like this?? I thought it was only in movies, haha. And I never thought anything so amazing like this would happen to me. Ghostzag, I know you're reading this, and I know I've told you this 1000 times already, but thank you. You will never really know what this trip means to me.

So, flights are booked, we needed to find some tickets! W searched and searched for tickets to St. Marys, and it seemed there NONE for sale. I made a request on the forum for some game tickets, and within 24 hours, there were 5 different people from this board offering me free tickets (that were selling for hundreds of dollars on ebay!!) to this game.
First off, thank you to everyone who sent those ticket offers to me. I won't give any of their names out, for fear that they'll be blasted with 30 PM's about game tickets :-). But thank you guys, really. Also, I had 3 or 4 PM's from posters offering me a place to stay at their home!!! That's just incredible. (The word I use to describe it is incredible, the word my WIFE used to describe it...is 'wierd', but she just doesn't understand, haha!)
Also, over the last few years, there have been probably 5 different people from this board (again, don't want to list their names, but if you want to speak up and say who you are, feel free!) who have sent me random zags items, for no reason. I have literally received hundreds of dollars worth of zags memorabilia and autographs....just because, and many times just out of the blue! When I look around my zags room...I have probably only purchased or obtained HALF of the items in their myself. The rest were given to me. You guys will never know what that means to me. This would all be different if it was just one person that sent me an item one time...but I've received multiple packages from half a dozen people, just at random times!! That says something about Gonzaga. Everyone always says that the players are 'different', and they are 'zag material'. But I think the fans are different too. I first became a die-hard zags fan because of the generosity of the first zags fan I ever met, but that's a whole other story...
Also, and I can say his name because he's been posting about it, but El Voce sent me a PM out of the blue, offering to drive me all around Spokane and the surrounding area, giving me a personal tour of the campus and any other thing I wanted to see. I never even asked or posted about this, he just offered...
So...sorry to be so long winded, but I just wanted everyone know how special this university is, and how much it means to me. And I'm not just saying that because you guys have sent me free stuff. I also received dozens of PM's when my mother was in the hospital, dozens of messages when my son was born, dozens of messages when I was stressing about a job change...just to name a few of the instances.
Thank you to all of you guys. But ESPECIALLY to Ghostzag, for making my dream come true. I KNOW for a fact, that I'll be telling my grandkids about this trip. It WILL be one of the highlights of my life. I just hope I can slow down long enough to take it all in this week.
And thank you to any of you guys that have ever gotten an autograph for me, or sent me a t-shirt or towel in the mail, ticket stubs, or sent me any other zag item. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
When I try to describe to friends and family how and why I'm getting to go on this trip, I get some really odd looks. It's really hard to explain to them, but I feel like I REALLY do have some really good, genuine friends on this forum. And I'm really excited to meet you guys.

If you want, you can follow his adventure via his new blog: http://www.gozagswoohoo.blogspot.com/ .  He will be updating throughout his trip, which begins on Wednesday, and wraps up after the two-game homestand, on Sunday.