Travel Day

Actually, the trip to the airport was almost as long as the flight. The plane left Orlando at 10:35am and arrived in Austin at 12:10pm. Of course that is an hour more travel time than it looks because of the one hour time zone difference, but still, we barely got into all the fun that can be had on a plane (or boredom, for that matter) when we landed. I was almost asleep.

I found the Rage (the other D team going to the World Series) at the airport in their team jerseys. They were all flying together (team, I get it) and all traveling together once they landed and all staying at the same hotel and had much fun planned for the whole trip. I knew a lot of other players on other teams on the same flight. None of my team were on the flight.

I took a bus to downtown with a couple of players from other cities. It let me off right on the corner of the hotel, which was a pleasant surprise. I found Beav at the corner bar of the JW Marriott where he said he'd be. He was already eating so I ordered a $14 burger (it's the JW Marriott) and he waited until I finished. We went up to the room and relaxed a bit, then wandered the streets of Austin until the World Series opening ceremonies.

I read some of the names of the people who died at Pulse on stage at the Opening Ceremony as part of a tribute. It was very moving. Many tears all around. Then the rest of the time was more festive and T-shirts were exchanged (tradition, though I kept mine because it started raining and I was not into sharing much that night... the seriousness of the tribute hung out with me a while reminding me of all the funerals and tributes I helped organize during June and July). We headed out to local clubs and as the only non-drinker, I wall-flowered most of the night.

The bed is a very comfortable friend as we finally returned to the hotel.

Sleep, the tournament begins tomorrow.