My Tour Experience

06.03.10.
Yesterday was the beginning of tour. I have been very busy the whole time and so haven’t been able to write about it till now. Wednesday morning began with a huge thunderstorm right before we left. I spent forever making lists of what to pack, and packing. Finally, we left 30 minutes late. When we arrived up in DeWitt where the bus was, it was still raining and storming pretty bad. It wasn’t long before everyone’s stuff was packed away/on the bus. Rachel, Elaine, Tim Frazee, Ian, Jon, Mrs. Bowman, Mrs. Dufrin, my mom, and I were in the van for the first stint. The van pulled the trailer with percussion, sleeping bags, and uniforms in it. After about 2 ½ hours, we all stopped at a rest stop and we got to ride in the bus finally. Everyone was supposed to be on a stint in the van for approximately 2 ½ hours in all. I got to sit with Madison for a while until we got told that the van broke down (this happened at about the same time last year). So we had to go back and pick up all those people in the van plus the percussion stuff. We were *extremely* squished. In two seats, we managed to fit Erin, Elaine, Madison and myself on top of them. We remained this way for about an hour. At this point, we arrived at the hotel in Heath, Ohio where we’d be staying that night. We unpacked and changed into our tour t-shirts and jeans (because our uniforms were in the trailer on the broken van). We then travelled (squished again) to our first concert about 30 minutes away in Newark. We played at this church last year also. That concert was fun, especially after it was done, because it began to start pouring outside and there was a lot of wind plus flash flood warnings and tornado warnings. Shortly after, it not only began to thunder and lightening, but the tornado siren went off too!! It was so much fun! I was so excited! I grabbed Madison and ran outside where we proceeded to dancing in the rain and splash in the puddles! We got soaked all the way up to my knees (my clothes still aren’t dry as of this morning). Soon after this, we headed back to our hotel. I was supposed to be under the care of Mrs. Dufrin in the room with Ellen, Marlin, and Amber, but I asked my mom if I could sleep the night with her, my sister, Christy, Tori and Madison!! And she said YES! Elaine came in for a while also, and we had a wild party. I had soooo much fun plotting and scheming with them. If you’re interested in what we did, you should ask me sometime. Our curfew was supposed to be at 11 pm, but I didn’t get into bed till about 1:30. I woke up at 6:20 and ran back to my original room to grab a shower and pack up. After that, I went and got my coffee for the morning and then had all my stuff outside by about 7:20 am. We boarded the bus according t middle names and here we are at another concert and about to go on.

06.06.10.
I’m home at last and now must finish my story of tour. That concert was at a retirement home called Sunrise at Gahanna which was very nice. After that concert, we went to a new hotel in Marysville OH, where we had a lot of time to unpack, settle in, relax, and have tons of fun. There was a pool there, but we weren’t allowed to swim. They did, however get a game of frisbee golf going until Elaine got hit in the eye with the frisbee. Shortly after, she left for the ER, and we left for our next concert in Plain City, OH. That was probably one of my favorite concerts on tour. We also had to wear our uniforms for this one, since we were able to get them back. Elaine was supposed to give the testimony for orchestra that night (we had one person from each group get up at the concert and share how HSMA has been influenced their life), but since she was at the ER, I volunteered to do it instead (don’t ask me why, I still don’t know). We had dinner their before we played and that was nice. I got to meet a ton of new people there and that was fun too! After a short bit, we left to go back to the hotel. Elaine was back when we got to the hotel and she seemed to be doing a little better. I stayed up late helping to make sandwiches for everyone the next day. I also stayed the night with Madison and Tori again. I specifically remember how my mom wouldn’t turn off the light that night and she would stay up and text. Madison, Tori and I were all sharing a bed and couldn’t get to sleep. We threatened to go tell on my mom, and finally she turned off the light. Almost immediately, Madison and I began to giggle uncontrollably (Tori was more or less asleep). My mom mentioned that we sounded like chipmunks. So we decided that we’d be the three chipmunks (Tori included although she wasn’t giggling). The next day, we decided that Tori would be Alvin, Madison was Simeon, and I was Theodore…fun stuff, huh? I got about four hours of sleep, before I woke up bright and early to go down and have my morning coffee.
The next day, we didn’t leave till later because Elaine had a doctor’s visit at 8:15 and we had to wait for her to come back. In the mean time, Erin and I had the best fun ever dropping leaves on a couple of the guys (like Ian, Cam, and Andrew). They ended up chasing us all over…now *that* was great fun. When Elaine got back, we boarded the bus according to eye color (I got to sit next to Madison and Tori) and headed off to the Air Force Museum. We got to go on the Presidential Tour and then walk around a little bit before leaving to go to another hotel, this time in Dayton OH. This one was really *really* bad…everything was broken or breaking and the room smelled really bad. The hotel itself was basically in the ghetto part of town. Due to this, there was a rule that no girls (no matter how many) could go anywhere without a male escort. We left shortly to head off to our last concert. This had been a very long day and therefore, the majority of us were falling asleep during the concert. After the concert, Madison had an asthma attack which was very frightening as I had never really witnessed one before. I never felt so helpless before. She left after a little while, for the Urgent Care with Tori, and my mom, so the rest of us returned to the ghetto hotel. Although I was still very worried about Madison, I managed to be distracted thanks to many of my wonderful friends who greatly encouraged me. We had a large group run across the street to the Marathon station and get a ton of pop/monsters/coffee/sugar but since I had lost my wallet the first day, I couldn’t get anything. At this point, my wonderful brother stepped in and offered to get me something. I asked if I could have Root Beer (I have been brought up on root beer since I was little) and he proceeded to go in and get me a 2 liter Root Beer and come out and shock me to death! I love him so much. :) After partying for a while longer, we retired to bed. This night, I slept with my original group (Mrs. Dufrin as chaperone, Ellen, Marlin, and Amber.)
After 3 hours of sleep, I woke at 5:30 and headed down for…whoops, no coffee here, so I guess I’ll just have some more root beer. Madison was back and I have never been so glad to see her. We packed up and left after a little while to head back to the Air Force Museum for the rest of the day. It was very long but very enjoyable. While there, we got to see the Hubble movie at IMAX and then eat lunch outside. After that, we boarded the bus according to pizza toppings and after 15 minutes, we arrived at the cute little pizza place for dinner which I believe was also in Dayton. After a delish meal (of which I had about 4 bites), we loaded back on the bus (this time according to birthdays) and began our trek home. Just after we got on, I found my wallet tucked between a seat and the window (what are the odds???) and then we stopped at a rest stop where I loaded up on Skittles and also received a Dr. Pepper (I was running out of root beer). Hours later, after giggling insanely forever and after the most amazing ride of my life, we arrived in DeWitt. We all helped unload and clean up the bus before having to hug all of our friends goodbye. I got to sleep in this morning till about 10 for which I am *very* thankful for. In all, I believe that I got 12 hours of sleep in the 4 days and 3 nights that I was away.

I got to spend time with my wonderful friends: Elaine Bowman, Madison Dys, Tori Dys, Amber Keilen, Christy Keilen, Ellen Miller, Emily Pohl, Rachel Skiba, Erin Swett, Heather Case, Andrea Chester, and Marissa Chester. I also to get to know Marlin Dugan, Becca Holderread, Kelsey Lamp, Kelcey Wixtrom, and Wendy Bullock.

I will probably have work tomorrow, and then I will be going to the HSMA picnic. I am praying already for a peaceful and relaxing week!