Checking in from P.R.

After a pair of flights sandwiched around an hour in the Dallas-Fort Worth airport, we arrived in Puerto Rico late Thursday. We made pretty good time for a 4,000-mile trek, clocking in at 13.5 hours from my driveway in Eugene to the runway in San Juan. Of course after collecting our luggage and the normal wait at the rental car agency, it was about 10:30 p.m. local time before we formally arrived at the hotel. The digs are nice here at the Sheraton in Old San Juan. I may just have to go up to the rooftop pool that overlooks the bay in order to catch a wireless signal strong enough to post this entry.

Cruised around Old San Juan this afternoon and saw the sights. I'm sure the team has been laying low most of the day as it's hot and muggy outside. The 8 p.m. kickoff should help the Timbers more than the Islanders from a comfort standpoint.

Everyone appears healthy and ready to go. Notables not on the travel squad for this trip are Neil Dombrowski and Arsene Oka, but otherwise the regulars are in tact.

From a broadcaster's standpoint, I'll be engineering the webcast on my own tonight for the first time this season, so be prepared for a hiccup or two. My uberproducer John Strong has a real job now, which means he can no longer volunteer his mixing talents on most of the away matches.

Until the match...