Open Road with Gearbox

-Words / photos provided by Joel Arredondo

A glimpse of sun shining through the opening of the mini blinds wakes us up to start our day, which is a change from rain tapping at the window the last 3 days in Washington. Anthony is always the first one up and usually in the front of the bus working on his lap top while listening in to his old school tracks. I mean, the kid is 25 years old but at times rocks out to tunes my grandmother would not even listen to. Within minutes the whole crew is up and about the Gearbox bus getting ready for our next mission.

Day 63 of our tour and it just keeps getting better. Have you seen movies that are in search of something such as, tornados, exotic island or best restaurant in town? Well, being on this Gearbox tour totally reminds me of one that is in search of the racquetball courts and tournaments. We have found some perfectly kept facilities with 3-4 glass back courts in towns with population of 3,000 in the middle of nowhere and even homes with courts running small leagues. It’s amazing to experience this 2 month road trip going state to state, town to town and meeting new players of all levels, seeing old friends and making new ones.

Our morning mission routine is always a fun one with getting Anthony’s “coffee”.  He is not a coffee drinker but calls his hot chocolate “coffee”. It’s confusing at first when you hear him say, let’s get some coffee! Then walks up to order and asks for a hot chocolate, completely strange but then again so is Anthony. Once we all have our “coffees” in hand, it’s back to the bus and ready to hit the nearest club to play with the morning members. Morning club runs are where it’s at! It gives us a chance to play lots of doubles and mixing in with many members of all levels. To be honest, it’s just a blast when Anthony has a weaker partner then we do which makes him go IRT in there. He hates losing so he picks up the slack by diving all over the place and chasing down any ball his partner can’t get to. Ever seen a cat play with a ball of yarn? Well, watching Anthony chase the ball around the court reminds me exactly of that.

Rafael is another story when it comes to morning missions. This guy loves meeting everyone first of all and everyone loves meeting him. By the time we have all played 5 games, it seems that’s when Rafael is about ready to start this first. By 11am we are all cleaned up and in the bus waiting for Rafael to finish his mini clinic he started with a group of players after playing. It does not finish there, it’s always seems to be a 1 hour Q and A after the clinic and by then we are famished, ready to eat someone’s leg! We are really trying to figure out if Rafael really loves the game of racquetball or just the interaction of meeting people, because this guy can talk. Just kidding, we know he loves racquetball when he spends close to 200 days a year touring around in the Gearbox bus giving clinics for free. I guess you can say we all do, as this tour has been the best time of our life!