Paintball Media Magazine August 2020 August 2020 | Page 87

Tragedy stuck at this point. The paintball
community lost Tim Montressor to Covid 19.
This drove home the real danger involved with
traveling. Bud, Dan and Fred all decided to
listen to their wives and stay home. It’s funny
but it is true. Honestly, they made the right
choice. I would have hated to see this damn
disease take any more legends from our sport.
I however was still going to go. I missed my
friends on the team. Also, this is going to sound
strange, but every fibre in my body was telling
me that I needed to be in Denver. One of those
gut feelings that you can not explain and they
do not go away.
On the Thursday morning before the event I
was all packed up for the weekend and on my
way to the airport. To say I was nervous, would
be an understatement. I honestly did not know
if I was going to be allowed to board the plane.
I knew that I SHOULD be allowed but despite all
my research, there weren’t any clear-cut rules
about who is and isn’t allowed to cross the
border. I showed up to customs early, because
I wanted to give myself time to argue/plead
and if necessary, beg my case. In retrospect,
looking back I should have taken a lump of coal
with me because with a little creativity I could
have made a diamond as parts of me were so
tight. I walked up to the border guard, gave
him my paperwork and when asked my reason
for traveling I responded, “I’m the director
of public relations for the Ally Remembered
Foundation in Denver. We are holding our
second annual fundraiser and with Covid, the
spike in domestic violence is through the roof.
I need to be there so that we can help as many
people as we can.” He looked me square in
the eye and said “Sir, that’s awesome, come
on through.” *huge sigh of relief* then the
euphoria of the realization…YES!!!!!! WHEELS
UP! Denver here I come!
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