Next Monday, Dec. 29, the band boards busses and heads to Dallas for a date in the 2009 Cotton Bowl game. Is a repeat championship in the cards? "I'd like to do that well again," said band director Bill Schaffer. "I believe this is the strongest band we've ever fielded." The key to another potential parade championship, Schaffer said, lies with the 86 members of the 2008-09 band. "As long as we play to our full potential, I'll be pleased," Schaffer observed. "I know we have the ability to win again, but I care more about our performance than placing. "I tell the kids the only band we're competing with is ourselves," he added. In Dallas the band will perform music from the movie "King Kong," including the featured song "Beauty." "It's a difficult routine," Schaffer said. "There's a lot of body movement and the show is a much faster paced tempo." The band hasn't started its final practice rehearsals yet for the performance which will culminate with the halftime show at the Jan. 2 Cotton Bowl. Schaffer said the band will practice intently for the three days preceding its departure. The game matches Big 12 power Texas Tech (11-1) against Mississippi (8-4) of the Southeastern Conference. For now, Schaffer and band members are concentrating on the preparations for their trip. They will leave Monday night at around 11 for the 15-hour journey which includes two meal stops. The band will return home on Saturday, Jan. 3. There are endless details to be attended to in the meantime. The duties include getting the uniforms cleaned and sorted, having the instruments ready to go, making sure the busses arrive at the school on time and finalizing details for the semi tractor-trailer to transport the equipment. "The trip itself is cool," Schaffer said, "but the logistics are a pain." The students are clearly looking forward to the trip. "It's a pretty exciting time," said senior band member Angel Daleen, who plays trumpet. "I'm looking forward to everything about this trip. I won't even mind the bus ride." Sophomore Sabra Harris, meanwhile, who plays clarinet and twirls a flag, said she thought the experience of playing in front of a crowd of about 80,000 people might be "a little scary at first. "But then I think all the nervousness will go away once our routine starts," Harris added. Freshman drummer Greg Hobusch said the trip and bowl game experience will be "a big deal" for him. "I think performing in front of all those people will be just like playing in front of a crowd at a home football game," Hobusch noted. "When the performance starts, everything will be the same as always for me." The trip will cost about $54,000 in all, money raised by the band members themselves through activities and donations. Schaffer thinks the band has a good chance to repeat as grand champion. He said the group has been getting progressively better with each performance during fall competitions. Underscoring that feeling are the words of former band members who came back for the Winter Concert at the school on Dec. 7. "After that show, I had a bunch of them who came up and told me this band is our best ever, much better than when they played here," Schaffer said. "And they should know." Finally, Schaffer noted the Wright City Band has won first place in its last three competitions: Park Hill, Ste. Genevieve and the University of Missouri. "The competition at Missouri was special," he said, "because I realized the band played as well as it possibly could at that time. "We did what we were capable of," he added. "I was very pleased with the performance." In Dallas, Wright City will be the final high school band to perform, marching in front of the bands from Texas Tech and Mississippi. "That's the same position we had in 2005," recounted Schaffer. "It's the spot I would have chosen for us if I could have picked."