In the WNBA, basketball is life and traveling comes with the gig.

Not accounting for the even more rigorous playoff schedule, the Monarchs spend at least 24 days on the road each year. Each team has 17 away games per season and per WNBA rules (like the NBA) teams are required to fly the day before games.

The WNBA regular season is just three months long, but half of the time is spent away from the comfort of their Sacramento home. Much of the time is spent commuting with warm up gear or jeans on, and headphones or cell phones to their ears.

For Kara Lawson, who spends her entire year traveling due to her extensive broadcasting schedule during the offseason, it is imperative that she has three newspapers for every flight. And don't think Lawson is just reading the Sports section, she reads it all!

While K-Law reads the newspaper front-to-back, Adrian Williams reads, or watches DVDs. Kindly bestowed the nicknamed, "The Bag Lady" by her former teammates, Williams travels with a lot of baggage, of the physical sort. Whether she is reading a book, playing on her computer, or watching a movie, Williams must be entertained in transit.

Interesting as it may sound, seeing that Williams has played for a number of WNBA teams, she is scared to fly. Yes, it consumes much of her life, but she abhors it. Like most fears, it is a learned anxiety. Williams and her former teammates hit turbulence on one frightening road trip she took when she first entered the WNBA. The plane started doing things that one only hopes to see on a movie set. Since that time the plane rocked like Justin Timberlake at ARCO Arena in January, Williams has despised flying.

One can't blame her!

The team rides to the airport as a unit on the team bus.

Remember riding the bus as a kid, where the oldest kids reserved the territory in the back because it provided privacy from the teachers who were generally in the first row or two? It’s not much different in the WNBA, where the veterans (the older kids) get the back of the bus, while the rookies and younger players take the front, next to the coaches!

"We have to sit up front because we have to get off and carry the veteran's bags," Scholanda Robinson said. "And, we have to do it again this year because we don’t have any rookies!"

Some things never change! Don't think this is a joking matter either. Messing with seats on the bus is serious business. So is the order of getting off the bus.

Think getting off a bus seems like a simple concept? Think again. There is a method to the madness, however. After the younger players tend to the bags and the coaches get off the bus, it is critical that Yolanda Griffith gets off before Ticha Penicheiro, and Ticha gets off before Kara Lawson. K-Law is then the last off the bus, always. Barring some unforeseen extended phone conversation or napping that holds a player up, the order must be followed.

Still though, if the exit order gets disturbed, it’s probably not the end of the world. That would be because of something even more meaningful, like seat location in the visitors’ locker room!

It's not as simple as one might think. Each city there is a specific place for every player to sit. And the order stays the same until the team loses, a player is injured, or in the offseason she leaves the team/ is traded.

These things seem obvious to the players even though the mysterious beginnings are ambiguous.

This season, the scheduling committee wasted little time sending the Monarchs into the air waves, as they began the season on a four-game road trip. They have another such four-gamer on the road in the beginning of August.

Players usually rank cities where they have family first among places they like to visit. The players second favorite destinations are those that are close to Sacramento, so the commute time is limited.

Adrian Williams prefers Seattle for the proximity and the food, while she enjoys Phoenix for the family members and proximity. K-Law prefers Washington D.C. so she can see her family.

K-Law said that while players visit each East Coast team once a year and most West Coast teams twice per year, the team doesn’t branch out much on their dining options. Players she said, often have a favorite place or two they frequent.

"I like Mama Mexico in New York City," Lawson said. "When I’m in LA, I like this place called C & O Trattoria. I like California Pizza Kitchen a lot, but that’s mostly on the west coast. I like mostly chains to be honest. Some of those are kind of unique to the city, but I’m kind of a routine person. I want to eat at a place that I’ve tried before wherever I’m (dining) when I’m out of town.”

Although perhaps a bit excessive, this traveling routine sure works for the Monarchs! They are the only Western Conference team to make it to the Western Conference Finals the past four seasons.

And it’s not superstitions.

"I don’t call them superstitions but rather routines," Lawson said in all seriousness.

Throughout the season Rebekkah Brunson listens to endless hours of music, "Anything, but country." Meanwhile, K-Law listens to mainly country and even, "nature sounds. I have waterfalls, frogs, wind, thunderstorms, the ocean, and all that." Kim Smith goes through roughly 65 books, K-Law goes through at least 51 newspapers, players eat at a minimum of 34 different restaurants, Robinson texts or talks on the phone continually, nearly every member of the team has coffee every morning, and Yo plays who knows how many card games!

What are 83-plus hours and 33, 630 miles on an air plane when you get see the country and play the game you grew up day dreaming about, often to support a family?

Check back tomorrow for part II

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