The Royals Caravan concluded its Nebraska leg on Wednesday with visits to Omaha and Nebraska City. Now the cast changes on Thursday, with catcher John Buck and pitcher Luke Hudson joining up for a trip to Marshall, Jefferson City and Columbia, Mo. On Friday comes the 15th annual Baseball Forecast Luncheon at the Downtown Marriott in Kansas City.

In the meantime, first baseman Ryan Shealy, after returning to Kansas City, provides this report on the Nebraska jaunt:

"I'm a little cold at the moment. Welcome to K.C., right? My home is down in Fort Lauderdale, so I went from lying by the pool to being out in this weather. But it was OK, it was fun.

"We were at Carter Lake Elementary School this morning. It was the house that [third-base coach] Brian Poldberg built. I guess that was his elementary school when he was a little guy. I'm not sure that he graduated, though; I think he was a few credits shy. I think he has a few classes pending.

"We told the kids a few valuable life lessons -- respect their teachers and work hard and all that good stuff. Sluggerrr was a huge hit as usual. That was my first experience with him. He was good, the little kids loved him.

"Then we went to a lunch given by the Omaha Royals, which was nice. The food was outstanding, which was important to me. A couple of people actually remembered me coming through playing for the Rockies, and some people were talking about me in Kansas City.

"Mostly, the people were talking about the acquisitions we made, and there was a lot of excitement about that. And, of course, they wanted to know what the lineup was going to be like, even though we haven't even had a day of Spring Training yet. It was good, though. It kind of got me excited, just to hear everybody else get excited. It gets you ready to rock and roll.

"From there we went to Nebraska City High School and talked to their baseball team and softball team, and fielded some questions from them about life coming through the Minor Leagues and what life was like in the big leagues. It was kind of cool hearing questions from those kids and telling them what it was all about.

"It was a good time. I got to meet Alex Gordon and hang out with him and Ryan Braun and Frank White. Gordon was certainly the highlight in Omaha, because he'd played at the University of Nebraska and he's certainly done well so far.

"All in all, it was a great experience, and I'm glad I did it."