The 2-0 Chargers are living life on the road as they stay in Charlotte for the week ahead of a Week 3 game in Pittsburgh.
Chargers Head Coach Jim Harbaugh cited the desire to stay on the East Coast for travel purposes to avoid making four cross-country flights and allowing players to get their body clocks right.
And Harbaugh saw a chance for team bonding, which has been evident by numerous UNO card games seen around the team hotel.
But a 10-day excursion away from Southern California means plenty of logistical planning, especially for the Bolts equipment staff.
"There's a lot of moving parts," said Chris Smith, the Bolts equipment manager. "It's big, but we kind of enjoy it when it's all said and done.
"It's like a challenge. It gets hectic and gets kind of crazy," Smith added. "But when you win the games, it's a great feeling."
Kevin Duddy, the Chargers assistant equipment manager, added: "Essentially we're picking up the whole operation and moving it over there to Carolina."
Harbaugh expressed his gratitude to Smith and his staff before the Chargers traveled to Carolina on Friday.
"What our equipment staff does, they're a tremendous resource for all of us," Harbaugh said. "Everything in order, everything clean. Say when you need it, how you need it, you don't really even have to ask them and they're able to anticipate just every type of scenario.
"Chris Smith is one of the best in the business," Harbaugh added.
Here's an inside look at how the Chargers equipment staff is pulling off the feat.
Smith and his staff heard the lengthy trip was possible over the summer, a fact that was confirmed during training camp.
The staff then held three separate meetings to organize and orchestrate planning for two games and multiple practices roughly 2,500 miles from their comforts of The Bolt, the team's dazzling new facility.
"It's really just breaking it down to categories," Duddy said. "Like, we're getting ready for a game in Carolina, then we're getting ready for practice and then we're getting ready for a game in Pittsburgh.
"So, it's really breaking it down to three different segments and then nailing down each one of those segments," Duddy continued.
"They all blend together," Duddy added. "But you kind of got to attack them individually because if I'm thinking too much about the week of practice, I'm not thinking enough about the game beforehand."
Smith added: "You have to put a lot of thought of it. It really takes all your knowledge, all your skills to say, 'OK, what do we need to take and what goes where?' A lot of experience goes into it."
It helps that Smith has been with the Chargers for 34 years while Duddy has been with the team for 32 seasons. Equipment assistants Chad Jessop and Tasso Panopoulos each bring a vast knowledge, and the Bolts also brought four extra bodies for a grand total of eight members of the equipment staff.
An 18-wheel semi left The Bolt on Wednesday and arrived at team hotel in Charlotte on Monday morning.
The truck contained gear the Chargers will need for practice this week at UNC Charlotte, plus restocked equipment the staff will need in Pittsburgh. Luggage with staff clothes for the week in Charlotte was also on the truck.
The Bolts wore powder blue jerseys in their win against the Panthers but will wear their traditional road white jerseys in Pittsburgh. The white jerseys came on the semi and were swapped out in Carolina.
"We're wearing different colored jersey in Pittsburgh so normally we'd have an extra week to prepare for that," Duddy said. "We don't have that liberty."
The Bolts also loaded up their team plane with more than 17,000 pounds of necessary items.
Some of the more interesting items on the plane?
A trunk full of Harbaugh's clothes for the entire trip weighed 250 pounds, including the weight of the trunk.
A trunk full of coaches' headsets weighed 250 pounds while two trunks full of extra helmet parts, gloves and other items weighed a combined 70 pounds.
There were also five different duffel bags stuffed with footballs for quarterbacks, kickers and balls to be used in game play. The five bags weighed a combined 84 pounds.
"The more people you have with experience, the better," Smith said of his staff and the logistics that went into planning this trip.
Duddy even made sure to bring a sewing machine in case the Chargers have to add a new player to the roster on the fly.
"I have jerseys with no names on them. I have a sewing machine and I have name bars," Duddy said. "So, if I need to put a jersey together and we're on the road, we can do that."
With Tuesday marking the halfway point of the trip, it's been all systems go so far for Smith and his staff.
The Chargers used a hotel ballroom for team meals Friday and Saturday, but that space was transformed into a locker room by the time the team returned from their 26-3 win on Sunday afternoon.
What about the loads and loads of laundry that needs to be done? That will be completed at both UNC Charlotte and the team hotel.
And as for a head count, the peak travel list reached 199 people, but with some staff coming and going, the daily average is around 180 between players, coaches and staff.
Smith and Duddy have 65-plus years of experience with the Bolts, but both noted the unique challenge in making a trip like this run smooth.
For starters, both said it's the first time they can recall the Bolts staying on the East Coast for back-to-back games in their time with the team.
The duo has been to places such as Germany, Australia, Japan and London, but never have the Chargers been away for so long in the continental United States.
"We've never done this. It's something new," said Smith, who noted it's more common for East Coast teams to spend extended time on the West Coast. "We're traveling the most of any team in the league this year so this helps scale this down."
Duddy added that the Chargers have traveled to places such as Miami for joint practices and then a preseason game, but those trips weren't nearly as long as this one.
"This is the first trip we've ever done where it's two games," Duddy said. "It's not something we've typically done. But it's a new era now."
That era, of course, is led by Harbaugh, who took similar trips when he was in San Francisco.
Harbaugh said last week that he knew the Bolts equipment staff would be up for the task.
"They make it a little easy," Harbaugh said. "When it comes to somebody doing their job, the great ones have that ability to make it look easy."
Rashawn Slater also gave the equipment staff plenty of credit for making sure things run smooth behind the scenes.
"Those guys work so hard for us and don't ever expect anything in return," Slater said. "They are always so positive and are just one of the best groups in our building.
"They work their ass off and we're just very grateful for them," Slater added.
It's all just another day, errr, week of work for Smith and his staff, even if they are likely to breathe a sigh of relief when they get back home Sunday night.
"Yeah, for sure. This is this is the biggest trip of the year," Duddy said. "But hopefully the next one we have is the Super Bowl.
"That's a weeklong trip, too," Duddy added. "If that one happens, we're ready and we've done it before already."
