Thursday, June 07, 2007

Bienvenue au Montreal

It's been 13 hours and 25 minutes of travel and the ATTR is firmly on the ground in Montreal, clicking away from the Holiday Inn Express in the Centre-Ville section of the city.

As USL-1 roadies go, we had relatively seamless travel today. Of course, as is standard procedure at this level, we had to wait about an hour after getting our bags before cramming 20 adult males into three minivans. It must look like a bad circus act to the other air travelers to witness this procession. I've clearly been spoiled by my full-time gig working for the Pac-10 Oregon Ducks, where charter buses and four-star hotels are standard fare. But hey, United has switched back to Coke products, which was an outstanding surprise.

My apologies as there was no time for an update from Dulles in the nation's capitol. We had just enough time to grab a bite to eat and listen to the life story of a soldier from Coos Bay, who was shipping off to Frankfurt for final training before heading to Iraq to guard Saddam's former palace. He seemed like a nice enough guy and gave us $36 in food script from United Airlines. He'll be an officer by the time he reaches Baghdad, something his drill sergeant was convinced he didn't have the makeup for. After spending 20 minutes with him I sadly had the same feeling, but he said there was a shortage of officers and as long as he passed a couple of tests it was a done deal.

But enough dire reality, already. This is a road trip involving sports! The Timbers will likely have a new look in their starting 11 come Friday night. Not on the travel squad this trip are Troy Ready and David Hague, while Kiki Lara is. Could this mean more time for Kiki in the midfield? Time will tell.

Well, it's time to get out of my rumpled travel clothes and prepare for some dining out French-Canadian style. Bonsoir.

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