MISSOULA, Mont. – Bob Neal doesn’t fly on airplanes. But he’s a huge fan of the University of Maine women’s basketball team.

That didn’t present an ideal scenario last week when it was announced the University of Maine women’s basketball team was being sent to NCAA’s Mideast Regional at the University of Montana.

Undaunted, Neal traveled to Missoula the old-fashioned way – via train.

Neal, a former journalism professor at UMaine, lives in New Sharon with his wife Marilyn. To arrive here in time for Saturday night’s game, he left his home Tuesday and spent the night with his son in Portland.

Wednesday at 6 a.m., Neal boarded a bus bound for Boston’s South Station, where he would pick up an Amtrak train headed west.

“I didn’t have time to drive,” said Neal, who now raises turkeys. “I don’t fly… I gave up flying.”

Since he’s a veteran of train travel, Neal settled in for his 2,638-mile journey through places such as Albany, Chicago, Fargo, N.D., and Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn., bound for Whitefish, Mont.

Neal paid a little less than $900 for his trip, including one night in the pricier sleeper car. That is less than the cost of the charter deal through UMaine and much lower than commercial airline flights. And he enjoyed every minute of it.

“I slept super in coach coming out,” said Neal, a self-described “recovering journalist,” who took plenty of reading material.

“I’ve got through two Atlantic Monthly’s and one book so far,” he said upon his arrival in Montana, which included a 2 1/2-hour drive to Missoula in his rental car early Saturday morning.

Sunday 4:30 a.m., barely seven hours after the Black Bears’ 60-50 loss to Texas Tech, Neal hopped back in the car and headed for the Whitefish train station on his way back across the country.

Interesting itinerary

The uncertainty of travel arrangements that plagued UMaine’s trip to the NCAA Tournament Mideast Regional earlier last week continued Sunday.

Originally, the entire travel party was supposed to depart Missoula at 9 p.m. (Mountain time) on its way back to Bangor. Then, it was announced the team, coaches, band and cheerleaders would be taking an earlier flight somewhere around 3:30 p.m.

Meanwhile, the team parents, members of the Friends of Maine Women’s Basketball and the small group of fans and media were relegated to the original 9 o’clock flight. They spent most of Sunday at the team hotel – waiting.

Emotional support

Ellen Geraghty made two NCAA Tournament appearances with the UMaine women’s basketball team.

Saturday night, the former Black Bear emotional leader was in Missoula to support her former teammates as they took on Texas Tech in a Mideast Regional first-round game.

Geraghty, who is now working with Athletes in Action, a faith-based athletic program based in Xenia, Ohio, was determined to go wherever the Bears wound up.

“It is so expensive,” Geraghty said. “As of two days ago, I was sure that there was no way I could get here, but with some wheeling and dealing from my mom and a little action on the computer, she was able to find me an unbelievable ticket.”

Geraghty’s friends on the team, worried about whether she would be able to swing the cost of the ticket, had planned to get together and buy one for her.

“They ended up surprising me and trying to call me and say they had a ticket for me, so I had to ruin the surprise and tell them that I was already on my way,” said Geraghty, who cheered on the Bears.

“I love these girls so much, so I’m so excited to be able to be here and support them and just watch them have fun,” she said.

Tourney host knocked out

In the second game at the Mideast Regional, Erica Smith-Taylor had a career-high 29 points Saturday night, and No. 4 Louisiana Tech rallied for an 81-77 victory over host Montana.

The loss ended Montana’s 22-game home winning streak and put Louisiana Tech into the second round of the Mideast Regional on Monday night against No. 14 Texas Tech. Texas Tech beat Maine 60-50.

Montana (27-5) led 60-49 on two free throws by Brooklynn Lorenzen with 10:26 remaining.

Louisiana Tech (28-2) then went on an 11-1 run to pull within 61-60 on two free throws by Shan Moore with 8:15 to play.

Hollie Tyler had 13 points and 13 rebounds for Montana.

Amber Obaze had 14 points for Louisiana Tech, followed by Trina Frierson with 12 points and 12 rebounds.

The Associated Press contributed to this report