I never get nervous to travel. I love seeing different parts of the country, blogging and talking about my experiences and I really enjoy taking pictures. I depart from Colorado on Thursday for the 2010 World Championships, and I can't help but feel a bit anxious.

It's been a busy month for me here at USA Wrestling. We hosted a successful telethon with the Living The Dream Medal Fund and hosted the State Leaders Summit at Cheyenne Mountain Conference Center. This month just flew by.

This will be my fourth World Championships. I first covered the Worlds in 2003 in New York City, then traveled to Azerbaijan in 2007 and Denmark in 2009, but there's something about Russia that really gets me going. I haven't quite figured out what it is yet.

Elena Pirozhkova was born in Russia, so she's got a natural want to go back. I don't have that type of Russian tie, but my grandmother was born and raised in the Ukraine, which for a very long time was a part of the USSR. I don't have to tell you that, most of you already know. With German and Ukranian heritage, there's a small tie to Russia, but more of it is my own curiosity.

Before going to Baku in 2007, I'd only left the U.S. once, and that was Canada, which really doesn't count. It's like leaving a cool party to go upstairs to see what the neighbors are up to, chatting for a while, then going back. I've been to Canada twice. I'd like to go to Vancouver or Edmonton or Saskatoon, but right now, I have to settle for Niagara Falls and Fort Frances (across from International Falls, Minn.).

Since then, I've been to Azerbaijan, Germany, Denmark, South Africa, Aruba and England. Russia, though, is one of those places that is full of intrigue. I remember growing up in the 80's reading "Scholastic News," a little newspaper distributed to elementary school students to help them get up on current events. I remember seeing one edition with Reagan and Gorbachev staring face to face. I didn't know that the red spot on Gorby's head was a birthmark. We thought it was just a printing press error.

Anyway, it's Tuesday before I leave and I still have a ton of stuff to do. We've got a membership renewal blast to send out, Craig Sesker, Gary Abbott and I have to coordinate who is blogging for us from an athlete perspective and then there's the packing.

I know I'll be bringing a slew of t-shirts to give away and trade from my personal collection. I'm not getting rid of everything, but some shirts that I've collected over the years no longer find themselves in my regular wardrobe. You can chalk that up from having to go into an office each day, rather than doing a Wayne's World wrestling show from my basement, but I digress.

I'll be sure to pack a bunch of throat lozenges as well. We're planning on doing 63 hours of live audio from the World Championships -- and I'll be handling those duties. It's like seven major tournaments in as many days. I hope I have a voice left as we get to men's freestyle.

Athletes and USAW staff will be blogging throughout the trip and posting photos and having fun while bringing you the information. We're 8 hours ahead for you in the Eastern Time Zone ... so while you guys are discussing the days happenings, we'll be getting some much-needed sleep.

I know two Russian words as of now. I should have used Terry Steiner's Rosetta Stone while I had the chance!

Cheers,
JB

Blogs are a funny thing sometimes. I've written short ones, I've written long ones, I've written ones I didn't want to deal with and I've written ones that no one wanted to read.

But from the 2010 World Championships, blogging has become a way for the U.S. contingent to get exactly what's going on across in a less than sterile format. Basically, we write how we feel.

That can affect how one writes ... how you feel, that is. Right now, it's Wednesday, September 8 around 6:20. We're just over an hour from the start of the medal rounds and it's not one I'm looking forward to. The U.S. got blanked today, and in Greco overall. It really sucks right now. I feel really bad for our team, especially Alyssa Lampe. She was tooling the Polish wrestler before getting taken right over to her back with a 5-0 lead. Since it was just minutes after Greco-Roman wrestler Jake Fisher lost, it took all the wind out of the proverbial sails.

My tone and inflection changed on the webcast and generally, the rest of the first session stunk. I tried to keep people up to date, then the chat room crapped out, so I was really in a lurch.

Now, we're three days in, about 20 hours into the live webcast and my throat is outright shot. I'm trying to not talk at all and tonight, I'm just going to go to sleep right away rather than stay up and mingle.

Last night, Gary and Craig and I took the metro back. I took a few pictures from my phone and posted them here on the Nation and its photo gallery. Here's some notes from yesterday and the tournament as a whole  ... in pictures.


We took the shuttle bus in the morning on Tuesday. There was the head of a stuffed cat on the wall. I mean, I'm all for honoring the memory of ones passed, but this was either a really, really close cat or it was a scrumptuous dinner that the bus driver wanted to remember. Either way, it was creepy.


I have no idea what this is, but it's cool. Hammer and sickle


Here's the outside of the Olympskiiiiiiiy (however you spell it) Sports Center. It was built for the 1980 Olympics. It's gigantic really.


I haven't decided whether or not this is Cyrillic for something or just a normal translation. Crapdogs? Really? Nice.


McDonalds ... I hate fast food, but this place has been the savior from a world of "the trots." That's all I'll say about that.


This is a VERY long escalator. Good practice for the incline, I guess. That is, if it didn't work.


TETRIS!


This one's for DF.