oday my great adventure finally came to an end as I drove the six hour trip from Vancouver south to Portland. It would take me about 45 minutes to cross the border at the Peace Arch, as I always seemed to be getting in the slow line. But the crossing itself was pretty easy, and at about 4:30pm I rolled into Portland.

Update: A Timbers fan has graciously captured a copy of the video and made an mp4 file that should be playable by Windows Media Player or RealPlayer. You can get a copy of the video here. I have also added a link to the video at the appropriate place in the travelogue below. Thanks nborders!

Epilogue:

As I look back on this remarkable two weeks, I have many vivid memories of the trip, but the strongest impression left on me of this trip is by far the extreme passion for the beautiful game, and for the Sunderland AFC team by our host, Gary Lamb. Gary was the person who organized this trip in the first place, and did an incredible amount of work to not only make the trip happen, but make it happen smoothly. He prepared welcome kits for each of us who were staying in Seaham with all the schedules and information we needed for the visit, arranged all of the tickets, arranged the parties and other events, arranged all the transportation, and did everything he could to make this trip perfect for every single one of us that made the trip. I will be forever in debt to Gary, and to his wife Jackie, for the work they did to make this trip happen. As I was talking to my coworkers about the trip, someone asked me what I was going to do for my next trip. And the only thing I could think was, "How can I ever top this?" I don't think I can.

Another special thank you has to go out to Iain and his wife Maureen, who manage the Harbour View Hotel, where most of us stayed in Seaham. They were always ready to feed us all breakfast in the morning, fix a meal or pour a beer at any time we needed it, and frequently kept the bar open until 4am. They also clearly went above and beyond to make this trip memorable for all of us, and even wrote a song about the Timbers Army visit! I don't have a copy of it here, but will post it in the follow up (see below) as soon as I have a copy.

I also want to thank the Sunderland fans, in the UK and around the world (who I heard from via e-mail) who made us feel so welcome. You are always welcome to come to Portland where we will return the hospitality, again.

And lastly a thank you to the people of the Timbers Army, and the Timbers community as a whole, who I proudly call friends. Without them being there to share it, it wouldn't have been as nearly special as it was. And I can only think once again, how can I ever top this?

To be continued:

While it seems that I am drawing this all to a close, I am sitting on alot of material from the trip that I have not yet posted, some because I simply had too many photos and just haven't had time to post them all, and also have video to post from some of the events in Seaham. There is also some very important material that cannot be posted until after the Timbers home opener on May 5, which will become apparent at the time. But just know that there is more to come, so keep checking back over the next two weeks as I add more to this travelogue.

And a final thank you to everyone who has been following along. I have received many e-mails, and been approached in person by people who were following along with the trip, and I very much enjoy being able to bring this all too you. I kept the travelogue mostly because I knew there were many people who could not make the trip, and also wanted to be able to share the experience with soccer fans everywhere. To hear that so many people read along and enjoyed it makes it all the more worthwhile.

But for the third time I can only ask, how can I top this? I doubt I ever will.

Allison Andrews
Portland, Oregon, USA
April 24, 2006

End of trip (but more to come)

t was nice to sleep in today, and I wandered into the shopping center and had a nice lunch. It's a beautiful day in Vancouver, and I can almost see where Swangard Stadium is from my hotel (other than the hi-rise building in the way), though I know the stadium is only a few blocks away.

The Timbers 2006 season finally opened tonight in Vancouver, and though the Timbers played fairly well with their new roster, they dropped a 1-0 result to the Whitecaps. About 70 Timbers Army were on-hand, incuding perhaps a dozen who had been in Sunderland. I had another nice surprise when the woman at the pass gate recognized my name and had been reading the Travelogue, and was originally from Sunderland. I also got to meet Butch Kamena and his son, who had come up from Bellingham for the match. Butch was a Sunderland supporter and had been following along as well, and had dropped me an e-mail to look for him at the match. It wasn't hard to spot him, with both he and his son wearing Sunderland home kits, and we had a nice chat about the trip and Sunderland AFC.

You can read my match report and see 14 photos from the match here.

April 21, 2006 Manchester to Chicago to Seattle to Vancouver

ot much to write about today, other than flying, flying, and more flying. 8 hours from Manchester to Chicago, then walking, walking, and more walking at O'Hare as I had to go through customs, pick up my bags, through customs again, drop off my bags again (I knew at this point they were in danger of not making my flight, as I was I), then walk out of the terminal, catch the train to terminal 1, back through security, then walk all the way to the midfield terminal at O'Hare and barely making it to my flight on time.

After 12 hours of flying, I land in Seattle to find my bags did not make my flight (I wonder why), so I sit here outside Dish D'Lish at SeaTac with my bags expected to be here in about ½ hour. I still have a 3 hour drive to Vancouver at which point I expect to collapse and sleep until game time.

It's almost an afterthought to the events of the last two weeks that tomorrow is opening day for the Timbers. But all I can think about now is my bed in the hotel room in Vancouver, still over 3 hours away.

The trip up to Vancouver wasn't too bad, and at about 11:30 I drive into Vancouver from the south, a little disoriented (probably from being so tired).

So I start looking for a convenience store or gas station to pick up a map as I didn't bring one, and I spot one up ahead on the left, but as I get ready to move over, I see a plume of white smoke ahead and cars are scattering. Why?

Here's why:

So of course I hung around and snapped some pictures until the fire engine arrived, which was very, very quick. I'd say about 4-5 minutes:

just needed to get down to Manchester on this day, but decided to make a trip to the National Football Museum, which is physically part of Deepdale Stadium at Preston North End.

I had seen the American Soccer Hall of Fame in Oneonta, New York in 2005 and was quite frankly disappointed in the number of displays available. So I guess I had set my expectations a bit low about this museum. But I shouldn't have set my bar so low.

Outside the National Football Museum in Preston

The history section of the museum (called the "First Half") was quite simply amazing. One display that I found particular interesting was a wall that showed the members of each league of English football going back to the first season of 1888/89, when PNE won the double. It showed the teams that were promoted and relegated each year and it was fascinating to walk along the wall and watch the teams go up and down between the leagues.

The breakdown of every English league going back to 1888

The number of displays talking about the history of soccer in England, and really the history of the sport worldwide, was quite amazing. There seemed to be a new display for every few years, and talked about the various cups, the emergence of FIFA, the women's game, landmarks, disasters, and just about everything that was an important historical date for the beautiful game. I didn't have as much time to spend as I'd like, but I'd estimate that if you stopped to look at every display just in this section of the museum, it could take a good 2-3 hours to get through it all. I feel liked I rushed through, spending only an hour on this part.

Some of the various displays in the "First Half" section

Upstairs was a more interactive section, called the "Second Half" of course. The first thing that caught my eye was the "Goalstriker" interactive room, where you paid 2.95 for the chance to take 3 shots at an animated keeper, and get scored for accuracy and speed. For the record, I took a total of 6 shots and the results were:

Just over the bar, center
Goal, right down the middle (got that, Kevin Jeffrey?)
Goal, just under bar, right side
Goal, just under bar, center (my best shot of the six)
High and wide right
Goal, just to the right of center

Since on just about every shot I was going for upper corner or just inside the post, I think my accuracy leaves a lot to be desired, though the fourth shot would have been a hard one to save.

There was also a section that had more interactive displays, like a foosball table which had cameras and instant replay, but did not seem to be working (the ball would not drop). There were also other interactive displays, and it was clearly aimed more at kids than adults, but at least there were a large number of displays for them to interact with.

Along a hallway outside this area was the Preston North End section of the museum, which was focused solely on the home side, who has a history as long as anybody as the team pre-dates even the English leagues themselves. At the end of the hallway, a glassed-in box actually puts you into the corner of the stadium itself. To me it was like stepping back into a stadium of the past, with the covered grandstands and terraces, the type of stadiums that are, sadly, slowly disappearing.

Deepdale Stadium, as seen from the Museum

Part of the Preston North End club display

And a special thanks to Rick back in Portland who put me in touch with Mark Bushell at the Museum. I wasn't able to connect with Mark in time to meet him at the Museum but I did have a nice chat with him on the phone that night and told him how much I enjoyed the visit.

I dropped my car off at Manchester International Airport and walked the short distance (in the pouring rain, bright move on my part) to the hotel and that gives me a chance to briefly mention one of my sticking points about this trip that I will write about more at a later date.

Litter.

I had a small bag of trash in my rental car that I courteously took with me when I returned the key, with the intention of throwing it away. In the U.S. most rental car return areas have trash bins right there. And most airports I know, have them everywhere to encourage people to be tidy. Well, this just isn't as true in the UK.

I returned my car key, walked through the bottom level of the terminal to the entrance closest to my hotel, then all the way to the hotel itself without seeing a single trash bin. I finally found one outside the hotel entrance, and dumped my car trash there. I think the UK has a bit of a trash epidemic that I'm not sure is getting any attention at all, but in my places that I visited over the nearly two weeks I was there, trash was definitely a problem.

But as I said, more for another day.

April 19, 2006 Mini-tour of Scotland

till feeling sick today, but at least my leg was feeling better, but I only had one day to take my mini-tour of Scotland, so at about 10:00, I headed north towards my first destination on the day, which was Doune Castle.

Content warning:

Today's destinations were not so much about seeing the most important landmarks in Scotland, but more about seeing the filming locations of my favorite movie of all-time, Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The movie was almost entirely filmed in Scotland, and it was my goal to see at least three of the major landmarks in the film. As it turned out, I only saw two, but those were well worth the trip.

Doune Castle is only about 10 miles from my hotel, and was the shooting location for just about every castle scene in the movie except the Castle Aargh scenes (see later visit). The opening scenes were shot here (a five ounce bird cannot carry a one pound coconut) as were the Castle Anthrax, the French Taunter, and Swamp Castle (One day lad, all this will be yours. What, the curtains?).

Doune Castle

The entryway

I had just watched the "The quest for the Holy Grail locations" video on my laptop the night before, so it was fresh in my mind what I should be looking for. It was like stepping into the movie as I walked up the entryway where John Cleese charged into the castle before slaughtering many wedding guests (in the film of course), and I found the steps up to the "Castle Anthrax" room to the right. It was a short climb up some very tight and steep spiral stairs to the Great Hall which is where the "Camelot" video was shot. I found the alcove where the members of Monty Python sang the song as a chorus and stood up on the same stairs where they stood.

The courtyard

The entrance to the "Castle Anthrax"

Inside "Castle Anthrax"

The great hall, location of the "Camelot" song

The "Camelot Chorus" stood on these steps

Another level up the tight spiral stairs and I was in the room that was used for the bedroom in Swamp Castle, and the same room was used for a main hall in the wedding scene, but the steps and walkway across the top (we've going to have all of this knocked through) were not there, having just been a prop built for the movie.

The bedroom area. The window at right was blocked with a false wall for the movie

At the opposite end of the same room.
There was a stairway up the right side and walkway at the top for the movie.

The walkway in front of the castle and the car park.

After spending some money in the Doune Castle gift shop (yes, you could buy Grails there, though not guaranteed to be holy ones), I walked around the outside and saw the large wall that was used for the memorable first scene of the movie. There was nobody at the top to argue about flight dynamics with, but it was a blast just the same.

The wall where the opening scene of Monty Python and the Holy Grail was filmed

The dusty contents of the castle had not done my increasingly bad cough any good, but having spend 90 minutes reliving my favorite film (though I did NOT bang any empty halves of coconuts together), I headed northwards towards my next destination.

My rental car parked as I move north into Scotland

It was to be the Cave of Caerbannog, along the southern shore of Loch Tay, but there was no way I was going to be able to make the demanding climb up the hillside in search of the cave, so I decided I was going to have to skip that, and headed west.

Rannoch Moor

I have to give special mention to The Real Food Café, in the Scottish highland town of Tyndrum, for fixing one of the most amazing cheeseburgers I have had in a long time. From Tyndrum, I drove north along the A82 into some of the most spectacular scenery I have seen anywhere.

The pictures I am posting just don't do it justice, as it's like driving onto the surface of another planet. Despite only being about 4,000 feet high, and peaks looked twice as high in the clear Scottish air, and many were still snowcapped.

About 10 miles north of Tyndrum, the road turns sharply to the west, and the vista to the south and the west is something that is just beyond belief. The small parking lot along the road was crowded with people also taking in the view, and I used my camera to snap a panorama that roughly shows the horizon from east, to the south, then to the west. As beautiful as the state of Oregon is, there is nothing there that can compare with the vistas I saw along the Rannoch Moor and Glen Coe.

Click on the image to see a much larger version of the panorama

Somewhere in Glen Coe was the filming location of the "Bridge of Death" scene in the movie, but I knew it was well up the mountainside and knew I was not going to have the time or energy to give it a go.

Just after passing the town of Glencoe I turned south along the west coast of Scotland, and knowing that the point at which I turned south was the most northly point I have ever reached, at just over 56' 40" minutes north (almost as far north as Juneau, Alaska).

About 15 miles down the coast was my final destination of the day, Stalker Castle, which is the "Castle Aaargh" in the Monty Python movie. Information I had seen on the internet indicated that finding a good place to view the castle was a bit tricky, but apparently that information is a bit out of date because a "Stalker Castle View" visitors center has been built on the hillside to the north of the castle.

Stalker Castle (aka Castle Arrgh) seen from the visitor center to the north

The castle sits on a small island a few hundred yards off the shore, and the view from the north was not quite the same one seen in the movie, but it was spectacular nonetheless. But I wanted a view more like that seen in the movie, so I used the instructions I found on the website for a way to get down to the beach near the castle, and was able to get a better view. The pictures should speak for themselves.. it looks like a movie set as it almost seems too spectacular to be real.

Stalker Castle seen from the beach

As I headed back towards Stirling I drove long Loch Lomond, which was nice but paled in comparison to the scenery I had passed earlier in the day.

April 18, 2006 Seaham to Stirling, Scotland

oday was my last day in Seaham, and it was very difficult to leave the hotel and all of the great people there, because it did feel like home, and everyone there felt like family. I know I will see some of the Timbers supporters in Vancouver on Saturday, and the rest back in Portland when the home season starts, but it was still a difficult goodbye.

My hotel room at the Harbour View Inn.
(No, I don't drink beer and I gave those two cans away.
They were gifts from the management when I arrived).

After a quick stop at the local outlet mall to use the hotspot at McDonald's to do the upload of the previous day, I headed north towards Scotland. I got caught in a very embarrassing situation when going through the Tyne Tunnel when I realized just as I got to the change basket that I only had 80p in change. I asked the policeman who was monitoring it if I should run over to the cash booth to get change, but he just let me go through, so I am thankful to him for that.

It was another beautiful day as I drove north along the coast, with the very blue North Sea off to the east. After crossing the border into Scotland, the motorway turned west along the southern shore of the Firth of Forth, and I left the freeway to get a better view of some of the islands that were in the strait, and was able to find a public car park in North Berwick, just a few blocks from the shore, and was able to go get a few nice pictures.

Bass Rock and the coastline, seen from North Berwick

Closeup of Bass Rock

The Isle of May, 10 miles north

The narrow street leading down the the shore, North Berwick

As the day went on, I was feeling more and more sick, having been exposed to five days of smoky pubs while in Seaham, and being allergic to smoke, it had finally taken it's toll. I was also nursing a sore calf from kicking a football around in front of the hotel in Seaham the night before, so by this point I decided I was going to have to give Edinburgh a miss, at least for today, and head for my hotel in Stirling.

Strange crop circles appearing on roadsigns in Scotland

I did get one final nice bonus as I looked out of the window of my hotel room in Stirling. Not only could I see the Wallace Monument off to the right, just a short distance away I could see Forthbank Stadium, home of Stirling Albion Football Club, the only other club in the UK other than Sunderland AFC that has the initials S.A.F.C. How is that for synchronicity?

Forthbank Stadium, home of Stirling Albion Football Club
as seen from my hotel room

Wallace Monument, also from my hotel room window

oday was the big match, of course, as the local derby took center stage when Sunderland hosted Newcastle United at the Stadium of Light. And it is a local derby in the truest sense of the word, as Newcastle is only about 10 miles from Sunderland.

The rivalry is a very intense one in every way, so the fans are kept separated as much as is possible, with the Newcastle buses being brought in under police escort, and led directly to their section as soon as they arrived. The Timbers Army would be sitting at the other end of the ground, and were granted access to an executive bar before the match, while I was underneath the bleachers in the slightly less extravagant photographer's room.

Gary Lamb had helped me with getting photographer media access for this match, so after getting my yellow bib (SAFC Media #19), I was led to the photographer room, which is underneath the grandstand, and is a pretty small, utilitarian room where the photographers can prepare their equipment before the match and can also get their laptops connected to the internet. They also brought us some sandwiches and soup before the match to warm us up on this cold, windy day.

I must say a special thank you to the photographers there who greeted me warmly, and also to the supervising steward who also greeted me. And a special thank you goes out to Raul from the Northern Echo (I believe) who really showed me the ropes, and I very much appreciated it.

Click on the image to see a much larger version of the panorama

After spending a little time in front of the Newcastle supporters before the match, I moved to my preferred position for the match which was at the northwest corner, below where I knew the Timbers Army would be sitting. At about 5 minutes before the match, I saw them move to their seats and got them to raise their scarves to get a picture.

There's no need to do a detailed match report here, as the match is well covered, but Sunderland did dominate the first 60 minutes, and had a 1-0 lead at the half after a goal by Justin Hoyte. But then starting in the 60th minute, everything fell apart for the Black Cats, with a defensive mistake, and a tentative charge off the line by Sunderland goalkeeper Kelvin Davis would allow an easy Newcastle goal. And seconds later, a foul in the box brought Newcastle to the line and just like that, it was 2-1 to the visitors. Within a minute or two, another defensive mistake gave the visiting side their 3rd goal in just over 3 minutes, and a 1-0 lead was suddenly a 3-1 deficit. Newcastle would add another late for the 4-1 result.

But though the match was the main event of course, I was just as interested as the atmosphere, the event, and the electricity in the grounds, which was best described as intense. Being a supporter on one side of what is arguably the biggest rivalry in the USL First Division, that being with the Seattle Sounders, I had seen first-hand what I thought I could describe as an "intense rivalry", but that is nothing compared to the feeling of a Tyne-Wear derby match, which is completely off the scale compared to what I had experienced before.

Later that night, Sunderland manager Kevin Ball stopped by the Harbour View for a few minutes to thank us for making the trip, and for us to present him with a scarf.

The match tickets all laid out at the Harbour View Inn

Walking to the Stadium of Light

Inside the photographer's room

The pitch seen from the south side of the stadium

The Timbers supporters show their red and white, and green and white scarves

The starting lineups

"How wide do you want the goal?"

Sunderland supporters behind the north goal

More SAFC supporters, closer to the pitch

Portland fans in among the Sunderland supporters

A nice shot I got of the corner flag

Gary Lamb catches a few minutes sleep at the Harbour View

Steeplechase presents a commemoriative scarf to Sunderland manager Kevin Ball

The Sunderland manager poses with some of the traveling Portland fans

unday was a much busier day as we were shuffled off to the Seaham Leisure Centre for a reception with the mayor of Seaham, Councillor Edward Bell, and Sunderland AFC legend Gary Rowell was also recognized at the gathering. We also met the mayor of Sunderland, and lots of Sunderland football memorabilia was passed around as well.

Afterwards, we all gathered in a gymnasium downstairs to be introduced to "New Age Kurling", which is very similar to the sport of curling as played in some countries, especially in Canada, but is played using rocks (large disks) that roll instead of slide on ice. There were about 12 teams of which 8 or 9 were purely Timbers Army members, and the World New Age Kurling champion taught us the basics of the game. As it turned out, my own team, the "New Age Kurlers" made it all the way to the final before being ousted by another of our Timbers Army teams. But a great time was had by all, and the possible foundation for starting up a New Age Kurling league in the US was formed as there seemed to be a lot of interest in seeing the sport continue.

Waiting for the bus in front of the hotel

The Mayor of Seaham addresses us

The Mayor makes a presentation to Betsy

And is then given a commemorative scarf by Hoss

The two mayors present a signed Sunderland kit to the Timbers Army

Hoss scarfs Sunderland legend Gary Rowell

Who then (reluctantly) poses with the Cider Girls

Hoss is interviewed for the Sunderland AFC website

The Timbers Army enjoying a game of New Age Kurling

Finnegan accepts the winning trophy for his team

Betsy gets the tournament MVP award

The winning team, the "Abnoxious Americans" pose with the winning trophy

The tournament championship trophy

Later in the evening, we were the guests of another Sunderland legend, Bobby Kerr, who captained the 1973 FA Cup Champion Sunderland squad. We also met and had a question and answer session with a few more famous Sunderland lads, Gary Bennett and Paul Atkinson, and afterwards had another charity raffle and auction, which will also be covered in more detail at a later date. There were also other Sunderland fans there from at least four other support groups, including a group that came all the way from Northern Ireland. With the biggest match of the year, the local derby against Newcastle United less than 24 hours away, there were a lot of pints poured, stories of matches against Newcastle from the past exchanged, and several creative chants aimed at Newcastle could be heard, with a few taking jabs at the Timbers' rival Seattle thrown in for good measure. Lots of photos from today to post, and maybe when I get back and have more time, I will write more about the two parties on fhe past two nights, which were indeed very special events.

A spectacular English sunset, seen from the parking lot of Bobby Kerr's pub

Gary Lamb addresses the gathered crowd

Sunderland AFC legends Bobby Kerr, Gary Bennett, and Paul Atkinson

Eddie McGee shows "No Pity"

Bobby Kerr presents the Timbers Army with a photo of him holding the 1973 FA Cup

Betsy talks to her hosts in the UK, Gary Lamb and his wife

Eddie insisted on talking to the mother of one of our TA members!

Just before we returned to the hotel, our host, Gary Sunderland AFC Lamb assured us that tomorrow's match against Newcastle would be the most memorable event of our lives. So with that match less than 24 hours off as of this writing, I sign off at 2:51 am from room 1 of the Harbour View Hotel in Seaham.

April 15, 2006 Seaham, England

ot much to write about on this day. Many of the Timbers supporters went a few miles down the coast to see the Hartlepool-Bristol City match, while I stayed in Seaham, getting a little extra sleep, and searching for an internet connection, which I eventually found at McDonald's of all places, though the connection is very expensive. The local library has a free connection but they are closed for much of the weekend as this is a holiday weekend in the UK.

I did also spend some time walking along the beachfront in front of the hotel, which is very rocky and rugged, and watching some of the ferry boats that had left Newcastle heading towards Norway, Denmark, and Holland, which lie 250 to 300 miles across the North Sea.

In the evening we had another party, a benefit dinner that I will post more details about at a later date, but for now I provide a few pictures from this lazy day in Seaham.

Breakfast at the Harbour View Inn

The Habour View Inn (center of picture) from the beach

The rocky coast of the North Sea, just in front of our hotel

The North Road, which runs along the seafront

Our hotel from the back

At that evening's charity party

Sunderland fan Eddie McGee gets scarfed by our own Steeplechase (Tim)

he first big day of our trip was here, as this Good Friday saw us loading up a bus in front of the Harbour View Hotel at 11:00 for the trip down to Manchester to watch the Black Cats take on the biggest football club in the world, as Manchester's Old Trafford would be hosting Sunderland that night.

Gary greets us on the bus as we prepare to depart

Looking back to our hotel from the bus, Ian (the hotel manager) in the doorway

A white horse cut into the mountainside above York

After picking up some other Sunderland fans on the way down, we arrived a few miles from the stadium at about 2:00. There are very strict rules involving visiting soccer fans in the UK, and we were tailed through Yorkshire on the M1 by a police car, who could have pulled us over at any time to examine how much alcohol we had on the bus. There is also a restriction about having the bus within 10 miles of the stadium during certain hours on match day, and we expected our driver to have to move outside that 10 mile limit at about 3:15, but we were given a special exemption by the Manchester police because we had several more fans who were coming into London and Manchester on this day, and were expecting to meet us at that particular pub. So we were allowed to say where we were, and made friends with the fans who came into the pub, with many Timbers and special edition Timbers/Sunderland scarves being exchanged.

At the pub in Manchester before the match

A Timbers Army scarf quickly found its way behind the bar

An 86 year old football fan making nice with Betsy

I also have to give a special nod to the excellent (and cheap) food at the fish and chip shop we found just down the road. After four of us found the place early that afternoon, we directed a constant stream of Timbers supporters their way that afternoon, and all came back pleased and full.

There were about 30 Timbers supporters crowded into this pub in outer Manchester, which was a surreal experience to us. Here we were, 5,000 miles from home, about to go to a match at the home of the most famous soccer team in the world, and we were there with a group of people that many of us consider to be many of our closest friends. I think the main reason that this trip is happening in the first place, and going as well as it is, is that we are not only a support group, we have also become good friends, and the fact that 30 of us had gathered here on this day was just a testament to how close we have all become. At 6:15 it was time to load up and head downtown to Old Trafford where I think most people expected a Manchester United blowout. But there was a sense among the Sunderland supporters that it was not going to be that simple.

Pounder shows off his scarf outside Old Trafford

The constable in the middle of the of the photo is the kind gentleman who allowed us to bring the bus closer to the ground than
regulations usually allow

The massive glass face above an entrace to Old Trafford

Security at all England football founds is very, very tight and many of us were frisked before entering the stadium, which isn't as easy as you might think as you have to slip through a very, very narrow corridor to pass past the ticket window and through the gate. Eventually, the 30 of us gathered in the southeast corner of the stadium, which is the designated visitors section, and we took our seats spread out over about four rows, among about 3000 other Sunderland fans who had made the trip.

The Timbers supporters settle into their seats

Obi-Wan proudly shows off our commemorative scarf

The teams take to the pitch

It's no mystery that the Sunderland Black Cats have had a disastrous season, sitting dead-last in the English Premier League with only 11 points, only 2 wins, and facing the mighty Manchester United with any result other than a Sunderland win making their relegation to the next lower league, the Championship, official. But one thing I have learned in the years that I've been attending soccer matches is that there is no correlation between the passion of a team's supporters, and the team's success on the pitch.

As much as we like to think we help our team on the pitch with our support, and to an extent, we do, a team having a history of success, like Manchester United, does not mean that they have a passionate following, or at least fans that like to show that support in the stands. And this would lead to probably the biggest shock for the 30 or so Timbers fans, all attending their first EPL match, who took in the atmosphere of Old Trafford stadium.

Or more accurately, the lack of atmosphere.

The official attendance on this night was just a bit over 72.000, and would put Manchester United into record territory for most fans in a single EPL season. But for reasons that I can't explain (or maybe I can, see below), the Manchester United fans, all 70,000 or so of them, spent the entire match sitting on their hands, in almost dead silence. Despite the fact that it was an exciting match, only a close scoring chance by the home side brought them from their seats, or got them to say anything at all. There were also a few Man U fans in the seats close to the visitors section who reacted to the constant singing and chanting from the Sunderland supporters section by returning the taunts, but for the most part, the home fans showed and incredible level of disinterest in the match.

Our view of the pitch

Kelvin Davis makes one of many spectacular saves he had on the night

Many of the Timbers supporters were astonished at the level of apathy of the home fans, as the 3,000 or so Sunderland supporters easily out cheered the 70,000 Manchester United fans, who apparently have translated many years of success to a complete lack of interest unless their side is winning. And on this night, they were not.

With official relegation staring the visitors straight in the face, and the home side looking to try to chase down league-leading Chelsea, it was the visitors who knocked the Red Devils back on their heels right from the start as they startled the world's biggest club by attacking them right from the opening whistle. Eventually Manchester United would recover and we ended up watching a wide-open, exciting match, that went into halftime level at 0-0. Kelvin Davis, the Sunderland keeper, was playing absolutely out of his mind making brilliant save after brilliant save, while Sunderland had a few great scoring chances slip just by the post. At one point late in the match, the Manchester United goalkeeper tried a quick re-start on a free kick just outside his box, while a Sunderland player disputed the call, standing right over the ball, and the free kick, expectedly, rebounded off the visiting player, but ended up at the foot of another Sunderland striker, and with the center referee slow to blow the whistle, chipped the ball into the goal from 30 yards out before we knew the referee had called the play back.

But on this night, it was the only ball that would find the net, though it did not count, and the bottom-of-the-table Sunderland Black Cats shocked 2nd place Manchester United by stealing a point in a 0-0 draw at Old Trafford. Sunderland also gets the distinction of being the only team to hold Man U scoreless that home this season, even though the draw made their relegation official.

The Sunderland supporters celebrate their point

The Sunderland team thanks the 3000 Sunderland supporters for making the trip

That fact didn't dampen the mood of the Sunderland supporters, who stood and sang for several minutes after Old Trafford had already mostly been cleared of home supporters, and this fact caught the attention of Sky Sports TV, who apparently were impressed at the passion shown by the fans of a team who had just been sent back down to the Championship, and apparently featured that fact on a match report that evening.

A group of tired by happy supporters made the trip back to Sunderland, arriving at just after 1am (which was noted as being 5pm in Portland by Obi-Wan as the bus pulled up). Yes, it's Five O'Clock somewhere and the Harbour View Hotel pub was busy with pints being poured and Karaoke until well past 3am, celebrating good friends, and a football club whose supporters know what being a supporter REALLY means, and made that point more than clear in front to many people on this evening.

April 13, 2006 Nottingham to Seaham

oday was the day I headed up the M1 from Nottingham to this trip's prime destination, Sunderland, which is a port city in northeast England, right on the North Sea, just a short drive from the Scottish border. I was driving by myself, an hour or two ahead of a mini-bus full of Timbers supporters that were coming up from Manchester. Both of us ended up battling very strong winds coming in from the west, and though there were signs along the motorway indicating strong side winds were common, the electronic message boards above the freeway acknowledged that today was particularly bad, with a "High Winds, Use Extreme Caution" message. At times it felt like the left wheels of the car were being lifted off the road as the side winds did everything they could to push the car off the road.

We also saw several messages on the electronic board indicating "A68 closed", which didn't mean anything to us at the time, but we'd later find out exactly why.

I arrived in Seaham, which is a few miles south of Sunderland, and right on the North Sea, at about 12:30. The strong winds that had rocked my car on the M1 were even stronger here on the coast, and as I tried to take my jacket out of the car, the winds blew it out of my hand and towards the North Sea. I was able to chase it down, but with that surprising greeting, I had arrived. And Mr. Gary Sunderland AFC Lamb, who had arranged most of our trip, and can probably take credit for the trip happening in the first place, came out to greet me.

The BBC interviews the Drumman

One other Timbers fan, the Drumman, had already arrived, and within an hour or so, the mini-van with about 10 more supporters was there. A BBC reporter was already there and had already interviewed the Drumman, and took video of the visiting fans as they emerged from the van, singing "Where's the beer, where's the beer, where's the beer..?", which would later be seen across much of northern England. The BBC reporter interviewed a few other fans before he and Gary Lamb, our favorite Sunderland fan who helped arrange of this, had arranged a visit for us to the Stadium of Light, Sunderland's home ground, and nearly all of us took the opportunity and loaded back up into the mini-van to head to downtown Sunderland, about a ½ hour drive away.

Hoss at the wheel on the way to the Stadium of Light

At the beginning of the tour, we were taken directly down to the pitch, emerging from the same tunnel that the players emerge from, and we all took in this spectacular football stadium for the first time.

Standing in the tunnel, waiting to go out onto the pitch

Our first view of the Stadium of Light from the inside

Hoss takes it all in

As do the rest of the Timbers supporters

Our seats for Monday will be in the upper deck, near the top of this picture

Looking to the southwest corner

The Stadium of Light, which was opened in 1997, is a traditional English football ground in that it's a square stadium with covered grandstands, and all seats very close to the pitch. The inability for of the soccer-specific stadiums built in the US in the last few years to get this right has always been a bit of a sticking point for me. While some of the grounds are quite nice, and some are built a bit on the cheap but are functional, I'd love to see a proper football ground built in the US someday. For now, none are on the drawing boards so for now it's just a wish, but one can only hope someday, someone will get it right.

Checking out the Sunderland locker room

Our scarfed BBC reporter

A large pub inside the Stadium of Light

The Sunderland AFC crest above the main entrance

The Stadium of Light was definitely not a stadium built just to be functional, as we found out as the tour continued. After seeing the locker rooms, we were shown the player's children's area, the media area, several cafeterias, meeting rooms, pubs, suites, and a constant supply of Sunderland memorabilia hanging from the walls. I was told the 1973 FA Cup was in the lobby as we entered, though I did not see it. But we did see the large painting on the back wall of the lobby area, painted in the late 1800's of a Sunderland match, which we were told is the oldest existing painting in the world of a professional football match. It's a spectacular facility, and left more than one of us with dreams of such a facility in Portland someday.

At just after 6:30, we gathered around small, slightly snowy TV in the downstairs pub of the Harbour View Hotel, and watched as BBC North ran a five minute feature about our visit, explaining where we came from, why we came, and getting the opinion of several of us about what we thought about the experience. Most of us were interviewed that afternoon on-camera by the BBC reporter (whose last name I have forgotten, but his first name was Andy). In the end, four of us appeared interviewed on camera, with Hoss, Obi-Wan, Drumman, and myself getting the chance to give our opinions on camera. Drumman made a confident on-screen prediction of a Sunderland win in Manchester, which the BBC reporter in the studio reacted to with a disbelieving shake of her head when they returned to the studio. I am working to see if we can get a copy of this story posted at some point, which we found out later was seen by quite a few Sunderland fans across northern England. The Timbers Army had definitely arrived.

Waiting to watch ourselves on the BBC that evening

From the front of the hotel, looking towards the North Sea, which is only a few hundred yards away

Update: A Timbers fan has graciously captured a copy of the video and made an mp4 file that should be playable by Windows Media Player or RealPlayer. You can get a copy of the video here. Thanks nborders!

Later that evening, the traveling fans from Portland were given a welcoming party a few blocks down the street from the hotel, as many of the Sunderland fans who made the journey to Portland in July, 2005 were also in attendance. There was a charity raffle where we watched one of our Timbers Army members, General Howie, make his $20 worth of raffle tickets pay off by winning FOUR times.

A very crowded hall for the welcoming party

A local photographer talks with a Timbers supporter

nlike yesterday's dreary conditions, this morning would offer a blue sky and somewhat warmer conditions. After getting an early start and a nice English breakfast (baked beans with breakfast, gotta love it), I headed about 90 minutes southwest of London towards the one destination that I had to make sure to include in this trip somehow, tucked into the softly rolling hills of Salisbury Plain.

I promised myself years ago to visit Stonehenge someday (insert your favorite Spinal Tap or Eddie Izzard Stonehenge joke here), and at about 9am I had found the site, on a small side road and marked only by a single sign. The rock formation is fenced off and only accessible through the visitor center entrance, which is just on the other side of the road, and reached by a tunnel under the road, after paying your 4 pounds 90 pence of course.

As it turns out, Stonehenge doesn't "open" until 9:30. As I went back to my car to keep warm and listen to BBC Radio 4 while waiting for 9:30, I couldn't help finding some humor in the fact that there was this spectacular stone monument that has stood for thousands of years, and was likely used to mark the sunrise on important celestial dates, where the rising sun would peek over the heel stone as seen from the center of the stone circle, and I was sitting in the car park waiting for Stonehenge to "open".

At present, you can't actually go up to the stones, as the path around the monument stays at least 10-20 yards away, but it's no less spectacular to actually see this amazing sight in person. Your admission price also gets you a paddle-shaped phone-like device that you can listen to commentary as you circle the stones, which was quite useful in identifying things you might not have noticed otherwise. For the first several minutes I was there, I was nearly by myself but by the time I left, the path around the stones was filling up. But the side trip was definitely worth it. Time to scratch another one off my list.

Words just don't do it justice

I started heading roughly northwest towards Bristol, and spent the next hour or so driving across Salisbury Plain. Some people describe this as quite a mystical place, and of course is legendary for it's monuments, as well as crop circles (I didn't see any, but wasn't really looking). But if terms of sheer beauty, especially on a lovely day like this, the green rolling hills are quite a spectacular backdrop.

Driving through Salisbury Plain

Unfortunately I hit major traffic tie-ups in both Bath and Bristol which prevented me from making a few other small side trips that I would have liked to have made, but I did make a small trip west to cross over the mouth of the river Avon (one of many named Avon) that separates England from Wales, and though I didn't go very far inland before stopping at a Service Area along the motorway before turning back, it was interesting to see the road signs in both England and Welsh, and I an now honestly say I've been to Wales, even if only for about ½ hour. To mark the occasion I took a shot of my rental car in the parking lot in the Wales Service Area.

My rental car during it's brief visit to Wales

It took about another 3 hours to get to Nottingham, my destination for the evening. I have nothing particularly interesting to say about that part of the trip, except to mention that the Service Areas along the motorways in Britain are exceptionally nice, clean, usually have a few restaurants and a gift shop, and are quite expensive. Some of them even have hotels on-site which I think is an interesting idea, one I haven't seen tried in the states yet.

Speaking of things you don't see in the US, I have to make an observation at this point about driving in Britain, and more specifically, British drivers. I've only been driving for a few days in the UK but have to say at this point that I think the drivers here are much better drivers than American drivers, on the whole. I think it has a lot to do with the drivers here having a much better perception of "right of way", and that shows particularly well on the roundabouts, which are everywhere, and there's no way to avoid them.

Roundabouts are a very interesting dance of cars and trucks around a circle where there are a very specific set of rules about which lane you go into in order to indicate where you are going to exit from the circle. For the first few times I followed cars around to get an idea of how things work, but now that I know how they work, it's amazing how efficient they are. At first I found them a bit of an annoyance, but now I find myself getting a bit annoyed when I do have to stop at a traffic light, because the roundabouts simply do the job much better, and much quicker. It's a shame they aren't used more in the US.

I think the discipline of British drivers that they learn on the roundabouts also applies to driving on the motorways, because there seems to be a very clear set of rules that nearly everybody follows, and it works very well. On American Interstate highways, one of the things that drives me crazy (pardon the pun) are people who block the passing lane, presumably because they figure that they are going the speed limit (or a few MPH over), and NOBODY should have a need to pass them. That's something you just don't see here. The left lane (slow lane) is for trucks, the center lane is for cars going basically as fast as they want. I was cruising at 80 to 85 MPH in the center lane for quite a long distance today. And the right lane is for passing, and passing only, and nobody sits in the passing lane. It's amazing how smoothly this choreography works, and cars breaking the rules of the road are very rare.

After tonight's stay in Nottingham, I'm on the way to Sunderland where I will be staying for the next five nights. Actually, I'll be a few miles down the coast in Seaham, but our hotel there does not have internet access, so my updates for the next five days will likely be sporadic as I will write when I have the time, but will post when I can get to an internet connection.

And I apologize for the lack of footy content to this point.. but that will be changing quite a bit over the next few days, I promise.

April 11, 2006 London, England

oday was my one day to see London, a city I had not visited since I spent 2 ½ months here back in 1989. Much of London is exactly the same of course, but little bits and pieces have changed of course, and my first destination on the day was one of those brand-new attractions, in fact the second-most popular tourist attraction in Europe: The London Eye.

I took the Underground to the Westminster station and started to cross Westminster Bridge to get to the London Eye, which is on the south side of the Thames just downriver. As I left the station, there were four women who were offering small red flowers and asking for money, though it was not clear who they were trying to benefit, but I just slipped by as I shook my head as they offered me a flower as I passed.

Apparently that didn't please the person who was trying to peddle money from me, and she started to call "hey, hey!" to me as I passed. Then, in a most ridiculous example of exactly how to go too far, she caught up to me and grabbed my arm and spun me around. I was quite shocked and just shook her arm off mine and walked away. I stepped a few yards away and noticed that they were doing this to quite a few people. I'm surprised that peddling has gone that far, where they were trying to actually restrict people from leaving.

I closed my hood and leaned against the strong winds and rain that was kicking up by this time. This would definitely be referred to as a "blustery" day, but it was my only day in London so I was going to have to make the best of it.

The London Eye was definitely worth the trip though, and after a bit of a problem trying to find the proper window to get my tickets, I boarded the "flight" with about 20 other people. I had paid a few extra dollars to get a guided "flight", which was definitely worth the money as he could pick out many sights and landmarks that would have been much more difficult to identify otherwise. He pointed out the faint structure of Wembley Stadium to the north, and also confirmed that a faint structure to the west was Earl's Court, near where my hotel is located. It took a very leisurely 30 minutes to make the complete cycle, but it's a wonderful way to see the city. On my way back to the Westminster tube station, I was once again confronted with a flower peddler (a different one this time), but amazingly enough, she did the exact same thing, grabbing my arm when I attempted to pass without giving her the pound she wanted. I turned on her this time and a decisive "NO" seemed to get the point across.

The capsules on the London Eye are numbered 1-33 (skipping #13).
We were in module #1 (woohoo!)

The view to Earl's Court from the London Eye

The white arc faintly visible through the London weather is Wembley Stadium

The Houses of Parliament from the London Eye

After the London Eye I made my way over to the Greenwich Observatory, which I had really enjoyed when I visited in 1989, and looked much the same when I visited this time, of course. Once again I was able to straddle the eastern and western hemisphere's while taking a picture, and for those of you who may have noticed that I visited two sites within 24 hours that are important because of time (along with the Iffley Road track in Oxford), yes I did notice the connection as well. I guess you could say time and space are hobbies of mine.

I saw this in Greenwich. I have no idea what it means, but the possibilties are intreguing

On the Prime Meridian at the Royal Greenwich Observatory

The sign says "FA 2 Harrier, Keep Off The Grass.
I hate it when those damn jets land on my lawn too

This angle makes it a bit clearer, but the placement of the sign made the above shot look a bit odd

I also went to Oxford Street for some window shopping, but the weather was definitely deteriorating so after walking down Oxford Street for about ½ hour, I headed back towards my hotel, making one more detour to swing by the apartment where I lived for a few months in 1989, which is in the Ladbroke Grove area of North Kensington. Very little has changed in the 17 years since I spent a summer here, and amazingly enough, the American fast food restaurants that have invaded just about every corner of London seemed to have left my old neighborhood alone. That makes it one London neighborhood that isn't deteriorating as fast as the rest.

Speaking of "deteriorating", the one thing that has changed a lot (as it has in most cities in the world) is the persistence of cell phones. Everyone apparently has one and they talk on them all the time. They are supposed to be banned on the Underground, but that doesn't stop people immediately making calls as soon as they can get a signal. And having to hear other people's conversations (usually about, well, nothing) is very annoying and frankly, rude. Is there a company that makes cell phone blockers? I might be interested in investing.

Back to the Earl's Court area where I had some fantastic Italian food just before heading to the internet café to post this.

April 9-10, 2006 Manchester to London

oday was my flight day from Seattle to Chicago, then on to Manchester, England. Being somewhat claustrophobic, I am not the world's best flyer, but both flights were actually very pleasant. I had read some horror stories on the internet recently about BMI, the airline I flew from Chicago to Manchester, but I found no reason to complaint. They had movies, TV shows, and video games on a screen on the back of every seat, the dinner was good, the breakfast was a bit bland, but overall, I was very pleased and it was a comfortable flight.

Manchester was not quite as comfortable, at least in the fact that it was quite cold, just a degree or two above freezing, and so cold that they were de-icing the plans sitting at the gates at Manchester International Airport. Going through customs was a breeze, and within 30 minutes of touchdown, I was getting my rental car, which took a very interesting turn, as they were out of the car I had reserved.

I had rented a Vauxhall Astra 1.6 "or equivalent". Basically a small car, but I needed an automatic as I am not going to struggle with learning a clutch while trying to learn to keep left. The problem is, they didn't have an Astras "or similar" and asked if I wanted a free upgrade. With the price of gas in the UK something close to $7 per gallon, the last thing I wanted was a larger car. So finally they gave me another "class" of small car, which was quite a surprise when I saw what it was: A Mercedes Classic SE, which is a small car, similar in size to a PT Cruiser and a very nice little car, I must admit.

Having a car that handles so nice has proved to be quite an advantage, because driving in Britain has proved to be quite a challenge, though after my drive down from Manchester, I think I'm getting the hang of it. But that's not without a few close calls.

Getting used to driving on the left, and the seating position of the driver on the right, has proved much easier than I thought it would be. The main problem I've had is that it seems to be very common on the narrow streets of Britain to have parking spots and bus stops protruding into the driving lanes, and oncoming traffic doesn't seem to make any allowances for this as everybody just squeezes through at full speed and all I can do is pray that there is enough room to get through. It's a skill that British drivers seem to be used to, but for American drivers who are used to wide roads where there is always adequate clearance, it can be quite a shock.

My destination on this day was London, but I was going to take a few side trips on the way. My first side trip was to go a bit west of Birmingham to the city of Telford, where the company I work for (Epson) has one of their manufacturing sites, a sister company to the plant where I work in Portland, so I probably caused a few head scratches when I decided to stop by just to take a few pictures and say hi. I very nearly didn't have the opportunity as my rough drawing of where the plant was located turned to be wrong, so while driving around lost just trying to get back to the freeway, I happened to come across the Epson Telford plant. Sometimes, the best way to get where you are going is just to drive around aimlessly. Well, maybe not. But today, it worked well.

I found this at a rest stop along the M40.
Apparently, trash cans have ATM capability in Britain.

I also made a short side trip to Oxford as I wanted to see the track where Roger Banniester ran the first sub-four minute mile in 1954. Once again I had the location somewhat wrong on my map, but like earlier, I happened to find the right road just by chance. The Iffley Road track is behind locked gates, but I got a few shots over the top of the fence.

My hotel in London is in the Earl's Court area, and parking is not exactly on every corner here, so I ended up putting the rental car into the lot in another hotel about 15 minutes walk away. Unfortunately, the wireless internet at the hotel is not working, and is not expected to be fixed before I leave, so the internet café around the corner will have to do.

The view out of my hotel room, looking Northwest

I love old buildings where the steps could kill you if you slipped on them.
These are in my hotel, and are much steeper than they look here

Since I hadn't slept since Seattle, by about 9:30 I was out cold.

April 8, 2006 Seatac, Washington, USA

t may have been a huge disappointment at the time, but a missed penalty kick may have been the most important moment of the 2005 season for some Portland Timbers fans.

It was on July 23, 2005 at PGE Park that the Timbers hosted Sunderland AFC, recently promoted to the English Premier League, and in the 43rd minute, after two consecutive Timbers shots rattled the left post, the referee brought the ball back to the spot after Nyron Nosworthy had been called for a foul on Timbers forward Byron Alvarez. The Timbers had not missed a spot kick in recent memory, but Alvarez's penalty kick attempt would soar well over the bar and high up into the crowd at PGE Park's north end. The match would end 0-0 in front of over 15,000 fans that day, but hardly anybody left the park disappointed. And for bond that would be struck between some Timbers and Black Cat fans, the 0-0 draw in front of an enthusiastic Portland crowd.

One of the fans who make the trip from the UK for that game was Gary Sunderland AFC Lamb. Yes, that is his real name, changed by deed pool in the 1990's. Gary and the other Sunderland supporters who made the trip had been very impressed by what they had seen.

Gary, who incidentally works for Caterpillar UK after having spent 23 years as a truck driver, posted these comments recently on a Timbers message board:

"I personally, have been watching my team Sunderland AFC both at home and away for 34 years, visiting numerous countries worldwide watching pre-season/exhibition games, as well as all league and cup games, and NEVER before have I/we ever experienced the kind of hospitality we received from the Timbers Army in Portland, anywhere else in the world. (The Timbers) fans adorned us with Timbers scarves and jerseys, bought our beers, invited us to specially arranged house parties, in fact they simply gave us the experience of a life time, in all of our years of following Sunderland."

So the idea was struck to return the favor. Gary continues:

"The idea of the Timbers fans coming over here was through (a Timbers) message board which we originally used before our visit last July, to gather information. Then after the friendships that were built up during our time in Portland, I decided after returning home that it would be great to get the Timbers fans to the UK to watch Sunderland, I put the idea on the board, and the rest is History."

As soon as four days after the match, the idea of a return trip to Sunderland for the Timbers fans was already floating around the Timbers message boards. By July 31 (eight days after the match), 15 people said they were going. Plane fares were posted and ideas were exchanged. But it wasn't until Sunderland ultra-fan Gary stepped in, that things started to come together.

Before long, Easter weekend 2006 was being targeted as the date, with Sunderland playing at Manchester United on Saturday, April 15th 2006, and hosting their fiercest rival, Newcastle United, on the 17th. Gary arranged for the Timbers fans to take over a small hotel in his hometown of Seaham, just down the North Sea coast from Sunderland, and before long, its seven rooms were booked. So Gary arranged for another nearby hotel to be swarmed with Timbers fans for the weekend. And before long the number of fans committed to the trip had topped 30.

Tickets for both games were being secured, but Mr. Sunderland AFC Lamb has much more in store for the Timbers fans who are making the trip. With most fans staying 5 nights in Seaham, he had several free days to make plans for the visiting fans, and make plans he has. In addition to a welcoming party on the night that most Timbers fans will be arriving, which is April 13, other events await the Timbers fans who are making the trip across the pond:

• A crew from the BBC will be doing a story about the Timbers Army supporters as they arrive in Seaham on the 13th.
• A reception from Seaham’s mayor honoring Sunderland legend Gary Rowell
• A "New Age Kurling" tournament between teams of Timbers fans and a team led by World Champion & local lad Steven Huntley.
• A 1973 themed evening at Bobby Kerr's pub with the opportunity to meet former Sunderland AFC legends from the 1973 FA Cup winning team.
• A Saturday night party that Gary has kept the details secret from all who will be attending. He only tells the visitors from Portland that it will "blow your minds"

This is in addition to the two Sunderland matches most of the travelers will be attending:

• Sunderland at Manchester United, now moved to Friday, April 14th and televised live in the US on Fox Sports World at 11:30am pacific time. It will be shown again Friday evening at 8:00pm pacific time.
• Newcastle United at Sunderland, Monday, April 17th.

Some of the traveling Timbers Army members are going to take in another match just down the coast in Hartlepool, as Saturday became a free day after the match at Manchester United was changed. Hartlepool fans who became aware of the trip decided to show their own hospitality to the visiting fans, and have arranged drinks for the traveling fans before and after the game.

In all, about 30 fans (including yours truly) will be making the trip, with many fans making sightseeing side trips a few days before converging on Sunderland. Many Sunderland fans also stepped up to sponsor trips for two Timbers fans who probably would not have been able to go otherwise. Having sent one of their own fans over to the US in 2005 (with mixed results, as he never made it to Portland, but the story is too long and complex to relay here), they stepped up to do the same for a few Timbers supporters. There is also a certain amount of plotting and scheming going on as to what “challenges” they will present the sponsored travelers with. Stay tuned to see how that turns out.

Many of the Timbers supporters will also be bringing along a special scarf to commemorate the trip. Green and white on one side, with the proud Timbers Army slogan of “No Pity”, and red and white on the other, proudly boasting Sunderland’s “Red and White Army”, many of these scarves will be presented to Sunderland supporters as mementos of the visit, and as a token of appreciation for their hospitality.