Coupeville Sports

   Stevenson High School will travel 524.6 miles in January, just for the chance to see Risen Johnson at work close up. (John Fisken photo)

For anyone who thought a trip to Forks was a big deal, we have a new winner.

As I was scanning the upcoming Coupeville High School basketball schedules, all the usual suspects were there.

Olympic League foes Klahowya, Port Townsend and Chimacum, plus Island rival South Whidbey and the usual mix of names like Orcas, Vashon, Bellevue Christian, Mount Baker, La Conner and Concrete.

And Stevenson.

Wait, what?

No, it’s true. Unless something changes between now and then, the Wolf boys have a home game (varsity only) Friday, Jan. 15 against the Bulldogs.

Now, if you don’t know where Stevenson is (and geography was/is a glaring weakness for me), that might not seem like anything.

But I am overly curious, and since I don’t remember Coupeville ever playing a game in any sport against a school from that town, I took a look and … yowza.

Stevenson is way, way, WAAAYYYY down on the Washington/Oregon border in Skamania County, which means the Bulldogs (according to MapQuest) are 262.3 miles and nearly five hours away from Cow Town.

You remember that trip to Forks?

Sparkly vampire country is only 112.9 miles away.

You can make a trip to the town that gave us Ron Bagby and come back in about the same time it will take Stevenson to traverse the state one-way that Friday.

The Bulldogs, who went 8-12 last year and are a member of the 1A Trico League (Castle Rock and Kalama are among the other schools), are scheduled to play three games against Oregon schools this season.

Those ones? Short trips, little jaunts down the highway.

The one small, saving grace for Stevenson is they will apparently get more than a McDonalds dinner out of the trip.

The Coupeville School District calendar states dinner will be served in the CHS gym after the game.

To which I say, I should hope so, and hopefully it’s a meal worthy of a team facing the second half of a 500+ mile round-trip.

Of course, now the question that hangs over everything — is this a one-year deal to help two schools fill out a hole in a schedule, or is it the start of a home-and-away affair?

Do the Wolves make the same trek in the opposite direction next year?

Either way, I’ll tell you what.

Any Stevenson fans show up for this one and the Wolf fans better give them a standing ovation, and some seat cushions for enduring our snazzy, rock-hard bleachers.