Colony have been fortunate to be joined by nexgen super star, North Carolina scum bag and general top bloke Tommy Lamar. Tommy has been great to have around and he has some interesting insight into his new team. Here is the man and his thoughts.
The trip of a lifetime. For me, it's hard to describe this experience any other way. The combination of wild personalities, remarkable views, and unending adventures has, at times, made it hard to explain how ridiculously amazing this trip has been. This writeup can't possibly do it justice, but here is a brief summary of what it's like to be a part of the WUCC pretour.
First, I'll start with the wild and welcoming personalities which most of you reading probably already know. After arriving in Frankfurt, Mark and I made our way to "the meeting spot " for the team. There we found Will, Calan, and Rory. While throwing back a couple of beers we chatted it up a bit and got to know each other. They let us in on their 3 day biking trek on cheap rental bikes in pouring down rain. My immediate thoughts were, "Why the hell would you go on a 3 day biking tour before wucc and before playing warmup games in 2 days?" Although, after standing butt naked on top of a rainy mountain in the Alps with 7 other guys, it really doesn't seem like that crazy of an idea anymore. After a lot of waiting around and small talk we went to the park to throw for while, ate some schnitzel and waited some more. Finally, Henry shows up next and we do some more chatting, beer drinking, and waiting. After realizing no one else is actually going to show up we moved to the next rendezvous point. The atmosphere of this quaint romantic looking restaurant quickly turned to a raging Australian get together. Mark was quick to warn me of Sacha, the food efficienado, who would order you the entire menu if you didn't back out quickly enough. Before I knew it, we were all chowing down on authentic German appetizers and pitchers of disgustingly sour cider. Our group was pretty full from the schnitzel we just devoured about an hour ago, but Sacha wasn't going to let us miss out on the greatest schnitzel in all of Germany. Before we knew it there were schnitzels all around. All it took was some rounds of beers and the finest schnitzel in the land for these guys to warm up. The rest of the restaurant stared with looks of disapproval as if we completely ruined some special dinner they had been planning for the past few months and the waiter started ignoring the table, but we were having a blast and it didn't really matter. I
knew right away this was a ridiculous group of guys, and this trip was going to be out of control. This type of thing happened pretty much everywhere we went and the theme of, "I dont care we're having a blast" was consistent throughout the whole trip.
I'll preclude the part about amazing views with the fact that I have never been to Europe or anywhere overseas before, but I'm pretty sure that there is no tour guide in the world that could give you an experience like this. I don't know if it was intentional but, to me, the trip has been exponentially getting more and more spectacular. Its started with the terraced toilets in Germany that were mind blowing to both Americans and Australians. On the way to the fields, the winding German country roads were lined with cornfields, apple trees, and grape vines that made for a nice drive to the our field site. Once we made it to Bern, Switzerland the real sight seeing began. The town was filled with cobblestone roads, old fountains, a big talking clocktower, and a massive bridge overlooking the raging brown river below. From there the Swiss Alps. Bright green grass, waterfalls, castles, and one lane roads that seemed undrivable for a 9 person van. After a car train ride and a gondala, we eventually ended up in the clouds. Heavenly.
Next was lago d'orta. This place was absurd. An island in the middle of a crystal clear lake surrounded by mountains. The house we stayed in was more amazing than the island itself. A midevil maze of stone walls and staircases that were never ending. I tried to go through every room and somehow missed the library and dungeon; not to mention the entire other side of the mansion that we weren't allowed in. Each room was filled with historic antiques and artwork that definitely belongs in a musuem. There is really no way to put into words how incredible this place was. I'd be surprised if any of us ever stay in a place as historic amd amazing as this for the rest of our lives.
Finally, the adventures. It can pretty much be summed up by our gps. 1 hour before returning the rental car we determined that the gps had been set on avoid main roads aka "adventure mode" the entire time. At one point after burning out and moving backwards, we literally had to all get out of the van and start pushing while Joel floored it up this sketchy one lane Italian road. There was always a basic plan in place, but it never seemed like it was thought all the way through. It was perfect. Hence how we ended up on the car train, looked for "the only gondala in Switzerland," met the nicest old Italian woman with the hospitality of a saint, took a solo boat ride in reverse to pickup JP and his kids, etc... the stories could go on forever. I know I will remember this trip for the rest of my life, and I'm sure everyone else will, as well. It's a crazy group of guys, a hell of an adventure, and a trip we will never forget.
Richtig.
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