Phase One - Day WHO KNOWS

Figured I would start this while I could still think a little bit straight.

Morning started off early in Vancouver. Windy road drive t

hrough the back roads because apparently it was the easy way to get to the airport. Actually it was the easy way to make 3 wrong turns and be later than expected at the airport. Flight from Vancouver to Toronto was uneventful. Big plane and full but luckily the seat next to me was empty.

Walked what seemed like forever to find our gate in Toronto so we could wait for 4 hours to get on that plane. Only a 6.5 hour flight from Toronto to Paris. Luckily again, I had the seat next to me wide open. So far so good onthe planes. Tried to get some sleep but that only lasted about 2 hours. Just restless thinking about our team back home and what needs to be done and how we will be next year. My mind never stops. On the flight I broke down the last of the game vs Japan last year so we would have an idea of how we might play them. I also watched a coaching video (a very bad one) and then I watched a documentary on the debated existence of the Ivory Billed Woodpecker which was supposed to be extinct years ago. After the documentary I would say the people in the area who supposedly saw it really saw a Pileated Woodpecker but purely my amateur observation. If that doesn’t sound like an incredible trip I don’t know what could top it. Oh wait, the $4 bottle of water that I just purchased. I could get 24 of them for 2.97 down at Walmart.

So as I sit and type this part it is 11:16 AM and I am in Charles De Gaulle airport in Paris. I look outside and I think of the movie taken. I want to be Liam Neeson and say, “Over a number of years I have acquired a very special set of skills……I will find you and I will kill you”. What a great movie that was.

So we have been traveling forhours and moreto come. Hope the flight to Madrid goes smoothly. I will be back soon.

Well the flight didn’t go as smooth as I wanted. Couldn’t sleep much but I tried. There was a woman in front of me with fancy clothes and big earrings, blah

blah blah. She is unhappy when I put my bag in the over head bin. She makes a commotion about my bag touching hers, rolls her eyes and takes hers down..of course after she slams mine around. So then during the flight she jams her seat all theway back and keeps on pushing it back. Meanwhile everytime I bump the chair she says something. Glad to get rid of that bitch.

So we land in Madrid. A nice looking landscape as we land. Rolling hills with a ring of mountains around the city. Very dry city though as everything was brown and I have never seen that much graffiti in all of my life. So after almost 24 hours of flying comes the next adventure. We have to wait for over 30 minutes to get our bags and then Allison’s was missing. We had to wait another little while to straighten that out then off to the bus. Cuba was supposed to arrive tomorrow but they arrived today so we had to share the bus. Cramped conditions for an hour and 15 minutes but we made.

Settled into our nice little hotel. It is small but nice and clean. The shower felt awesome but of course the backyard sprinkler would have been sweet after all that travel. So we had an hour to relax and shower and then off for a walk to get some blood flow. The neighborhood around our hotel is beautiful and there are a lot of really nice homes that are fenced and gates. We returned from the walk and hit supper.

Now I must give you fair warning. Sit back and enjoy this tale of our supper.

Started off with wine (not for me) and bread with Olive oil, vinegar and salt. A nice bread to start everything off. Next came a bowl of pasta which was fairly big. Accompanying it was fresh grated parmesan, a beautiful bowl of cooked up meat and veggies (ground beef, ham, onion, sun dried tomato, mushrooms) anda beautiful tomato sauce. Plain but extremely flavorful. We thought “Wow, what a good first meal”. Think again. Next came the salad and then 2 pork chops with pureed potatoes followed by fresh fruit and yogurt for dessert. Mother of pearl that was a meal!!!! If the rest are like this, GIDDYUP!!!!

So now I am at the point of over exhaustion. I am going to crash into bed in a few minutes. We have a 9:30 breakfast and a 12noon practice tomorrow. 2:30meal and then a 7:30 meal again. Try to get my bearings tomorrow

SLEEP AWAITS

Pic 1 - Mountains just outside madrid

Pic 2 - Typical houses in our neighborhood

Pic 1 - Peopl open a gate and drive under their house to park in their garage

Pic 2 - another few houses on our walk