Late night travel is just part of the job. A professional baseball player comes to expect those bus rides through the middle of the night. When they come after a victory, the ride usually seems to go smoother. There’s laughter and lively conversation. And the beds just seem to be slightly more comfortable even though you didn’t hit the proverbial sack until 4:00 a.m. Provided that is, there is a room reserved for you with a sack to hit at the hotel at which you arrive.

Yet here are the Arkansas Travelers…sitting in the lobby of the Comfort Suites six hours after a well-played 3-1 victory at Midland gave them a 2-to-1 series win over the RockHounds. For some reason (and honestly who cares why) there are no rooms for the team. That’s right…no rooms. There is no vacancy at the inn. That’s 32 men who have just unloaded off a cramped bus each looking forward to a few hours of sleep before waking and heading to Dr Pepper Ballpark to begin a series with the Frisco RoughRiders. Thirty-two men who now have nowhere to go except to the Comfort Suites’ breakfast area, which has become the de facto Travs clubhouse for the time being.

They actually seem to be enjoying this little misadventure. Instead of complaining and getting bitter about their lack of room and board, the Travelers are sitting together making light of the situation. Many more laughs are audible than groans…but that’s just 30 minutes into this detour.  So while the innkeeper here attempts to find someplace that will take the team in for the night, I’m going to see what’s so funny.

 

Phil Elson