January 1, 2011 -
After a treacherous travel day to make it back to Branson just in time to work our New Years Eve show, I laid there in my bed the following morning with my alarm blaring at me to wake up at 5am. I need to add that waking up at 5am after working a New Years Eve show is like punishment- and after the rough day of travel before that for me, it was in the cruel and unusual league of punishment. But I did get out of bed- even though the sun hadn’t even woken up yet. I hustled to get some makeup on, and to finish packing up the last of my suitcase. Just a few short minutes later, I found myself in my car driving next door to pick up my dad and Tim. I knew I was in no condition to be driving, so I gladly turned the keys over to Tim as I crawled into the back seat. I was back in my blissful dream world before we left our street.
Woke up to find that we had made it to the Springfield, Missouri airport, and it was just before 7am. We got the bags out of the car, and met up with the rest of the band- Larry, Bob, and Gabe. We moved the bags just inside the door at the airport, while some of the guys went to park the cars. I took a seat on the ground next to the bags, and curled up in my big fluffy jacket, it was definitely cold that morning! Tim (AKA Timmy the Ringleader) got us all set up and checked in. Soon we were scooting on over to security, which we breezed right though- one of the major bonuses of flying out of a small airport… Small security lines! Once we crossed over into the point of no return, we reassembled at the only restaurant in the small 10 gate terminal.
My dad- true to form, got a hot dog. Yes, a hot dog at 7am. And I am a Medley, therefore, I was not much better… I got a cup of chili. But it just sounded nice for an early, cold morning. The rest of the band got more reasonable breakfast snacks. But seriously, what is the point of being more “reasonable”? It was 7am on New Years Day, we got maybe two hours of sleep each- after a “keep you on your toes” kind of fun New Years Eve show (with the incredible Texas Tenors), and we are sitting in an airport terminal about to fly to Chicago, only to get on another flight to cross the boarder into Canada. The whole situation doesn’t sound too “reasonable” to me! Luckily, our gate was right next door to the food. What was even luckier, the flight was on time! 8:05am to Chicago O’Hare.
Walking on the plane we realized that we were all sitting together in the same area; and since this is one of those small airplanes, we basically took over a little section and made it our home for the next two hours. But not more than a few minutes after I arrived at my seat, I fell right back to sleep.
About an hour and 15 minutes later, I woke up to the clicking sounds of Gabe taking pictures of Chicago with his phone just a few minutes before we landed. It was a beautiful view. We eventually landed at our gate, my memory is a little fuzzy around this part since I was still in the process of waking up… But when we got off the plane, the terminal we were in was still decorated beautifully for Christmas- which made the adjustment to waking up much more pleasant!
After gathering together, we let our fearless leader- Tim, navigate us toward the next flight. Once we saw where the gate was, we found the closest place to eat, O’Hare Bar and Grill. We all ordered some breakfast. I went with the “Fresh Start”, which you better believe did not go unnoticed! It was New Years Day, and I had been having some emotional issues the last few days, and there I was ordering a “Fresh Start”… Yeah, the first thing I heard after I placed my order was, “I bet you do want the fresh start.” I should have seen it coming, but honestly I was too tired to care.
After I ate my “Frest Start”, I soon began to feel very sleepy again. Next thing I knew, I had my head down on the table, and I was taking a bit of a nap. Now, I do need to explain- I am NEVER that tired! It is highly unusual for anyone to see me in this form. But none the less, it had been a rough few days, with very little sleep, and my body was just trying to do what it could!
Soon we moseyed over to our gate. Only to find out that we had a gate change, which involved a much longer walk to the end of the “G” gates. Oh well, a little extra exercise couldn’t hurt! Once we arrived, we all sat talking at our gate for a few minutes. Soon the minutes became later than the boarding time that was so clearly written out on our boarding passes. But we waited, well, somewhat patiently. It wasn’t too much later that our plane arrived, and we watched the people unload. I actually talked to my mom on the phone while we were all sitting there, and she had just spoken with Jennifer Warnes, (the amazing singer who did the duet “Time of My Life” with my dad for “Dirty Dancing”) and Jennifer had just listened to a new original song I had written, and she loved it. She thought it was a hit! So that was really encouraging, and that definitely lifted my spirits for the long travel day ahead!
Soon we were up, and boarding the plane; however, we were boarding the plane at about 11:30am, which was when it was supposed to depart. But at least we were moving, and on the way to our destination- on yet another small plane. Boarding was a bit of a situation. Two different flights were boarding out of the same gate at the same time; there was our flight to Toronto and also a flight to Green Bay. It was hard to tell which line to get in. I used some deductive reasoning though when I saw three burley men all dressed in Packers gear. I figured they must be in the Green Bay line, so the other long line must be ours. Thank God Packers fans love to support their team!
We were all sitting in the same seats as we were on the first flight. And yet again, not much more than a few minutes after I sat down, I fell right back to sleep.
I woke up to hear the landing gear, and noticed that outside my window, there was no visibility. Luckily, that changed a minute before we actually touched down. Always a little scary when it is like that! As we were making our way to the gate, we were all screwing with our cell phones to see what kind of reception we got in Toronto- or what fees would be applied to us while we were in Canada. Actually, let me clarify that, all of us were screwing with our cell phones, EXCEPT my dad who does not have a cell phone- well, he has one, but he never brings it, it is pretty much just used as decoration for my mom’s desk at their house.
Soon we got to where the gates were. But instead of rolling directly into a gate, the plane came to a stop. I’m pretty sure you could hear an audible groan from our group. The captain came on the loud speaker, and said that even though we were arriving late, our gate was not ready yet. Of course it wasn’t. After sitting there on the tarmac for about 15 minutes, the plane began to move again, and the captain said we were going to move to a different gate, and not be using a jet bridge. So we arrived at our parking space, and I could see out my window that there was a lady with the stairs for our plane, and instead of rolling them over to us, she was gossiping with some of the other ground crew. Nothing more annoying than when you see your way off a tiny plane, and someone is taking their ever-loving time to make it happen! Eventually she slowly rolled the stairs up to the plane and we were allowed to get off.
The weather was surprisingly nice in Toronto. It had been colder in Missouri for sure! But we did as instructed and walked into the plain hallway that lead us all eventually to customs. They had the heater pumping inside though. I guess they really want you sweating it in their customs; maybe they think people will be more honest that way or something! The customs line moved pretty quickly, and didn’t seem that long. Tim got to the customs lady first, and she signed off on his declaration of goods, and then she called for the next person. Tim moved a few feet away to wait, but moments later, a security guard- fashioning a bullet proof vest, came over to harshly tell him he needed to keep moving. At which point we all in unison yelled out, “But Tim? What are we supposed to do without Timmy!” Tim laughed as he walked into the next customs room. Gabe followed him, and I got cleared after Gabe.
The line in that room was a lot shorter; Tim and Gabe were standing together, and then there was a tall 30-something guy in line between Gabe and I. We were patiently waiting- no need to be impatient when it comes to customs, those people take their job very seriously. Even as I made my way into the room, I over heard the security guard that told Tim to keep moving, this time he was chastising a woman who had a question about where to go, and all I heard was, “Woman, get behind the red line, this is the last time I’m going to warn you!”
We waited in our line, and one or two of the booths opened up, but they hadn’t called Tim forward yet. After less then 30 seconds, the guy that was between Gabe and I started getting pissed off! He was yelling something about, “What the Hell are you doing? Come on, keep the line moving, there are open people, and I have a flight to catch!” And as he said that, he pushed Gabe out of the way, and walked around Tim, and tripped on his bag. He went through the little metal gate Tim had been waiting behind, and he let out a big huff. (The kind you would expect from a big bad wolf about to blow a certain house down.) He charged one of the open booths. Only to be shut down when he got there. The lady strictly told him to “Get back to the line, I didn’t call anybody over here yet.” He walked back to where we were standing- he was of course still huffing and puffing. A moment that Gabe and I couldn’t stop giggling about. It is so wonderful to see mean, impatient people get what they deserve! Eventually one of the people called the next person forward, and Tim just said, “If you’re in that bad of a hurry, go ahead.” He did.
Tim was summoned forward soon, then Gabe, and then myself. They stamped my passport and asked a few questions. By the time I was done, the rest of our group had made it up to one of the booths and they were almost finished as well. We gathered together, and walked into the bustling baggage claim. As we approached our carousel, we saw a lone guitar case sitting in the middle of the floor between our baggage claim and the next. Sure enough, that was Larry’s Fender guitar waiting for him out in the middle of all the hustle and bustle. The rest of our bags were all patiently circling the carousel for us. We quickly picked them up and got our stuff situated so we could get out of there.
After our adventure in customs and baggage claim, we were all ready to get out of there. We walked through some sliding glass doors, into a room where people wait for their loved ones to appear. Front and center was a young man holding a sign that said “Bill Medley”, and our monitor guy, Jeff sitting right next to him- in his trademark shorts. Jeff is from Wisconsin, and no weather is too cold for him to not be wearing shorts! They led us outside, where we waited for our rides to arrive.
The first car that got there was a big black SUV, and Dad, Tim and I all crawled in there. The rest of the guys were in a Van a few minutes behind us. We had a hearty hour and a half drive to where we were going. Our driver also informed us that today’s weather was a wonderful surprise, and that it should be back to crazy cold by the next day. Not the best news, but at least the weather was nice that day! We drove into some pretty thick fog, and we also drove by some ski resort areas- which led me to question why I wasn’t staying a few extra days to enjoy some skiing! I think I passed out for a few minutes here and there while we drove. But I got a call I had been waiting for when we were getting close to the hotel, and that sort of woke me up a bit. Amazing how that can give you a jolt of energy!
The driver said we were driving next to the Couchiching Lake even though we couldn’t see it through the fog. We were informed it was pronounced, koo-chi-ching. A name I found to be somewhat entertaining- especially in my exhausted delirium. Minutes later we arrived at Casino Rama. Whose logo is a deer or elk (something that looks like that- some sort of similar horned animal) jumping through the sun. We pulled up and got checked in. Dad and I went straight up to our rooms, while Tim waited for the rest of the guys to arrive.
My room was beautiful. It was a mini-suite, and even had an electric fireplace! It also had a welcome basket featuring fresh fruit, and was accompanied by an assorted chocolate plate- with truffles, fudge, and (one of my favorites) chocolate covered strawberries; and they weren’t just regular chocolate covered strawberries, they were decorated to be wearing little tuxedos. It was so sweet! I loved it! Soon I decided I needed to get out of my room, or else I was going to fall back asleep- and it was only 5pm, I couldn’t go to sleep yet!
I found out that the band was down at the Willow (the Chinese buffet), so I went to join them. I made myself a small plate of a few of the things that looked tasty. It was pretty good. (Saw a few things at the buffet that seemed a little strange- something about pork feet maybe? But the stuff I got was good!) While leaving there, I got a fortune cookie. I opened it, but I ate the cookie before I read the fortune, (I remember hearing somewhere that if you do that your fortune will come true, and ever since then I just sort of figure why not eat the cookie first- just in case!). My fortune was something I talk about a lot with someone I’m really close to, it read, “Catch on fire with enthusiasm and people will come for miles to watch you burn.” I folded it up to keep it in my purse. I very much like the sentiment.
We all stopped at one of the bars in the Casino for about a half hour. The guys were trying to figure out how to gamble. There was a situation with getting Canadian money, and the slot machines didn’t take American. I think we were all so tired that we couldn’t put a whole lot of thought into fixing the situation. We eventually all started to disburse. I walked toward the hotel part, and stopped to take a picture of a really cool piece of art they had on the wall of the Grandfather Teachings (It is an Indian Casino, and so it was the Grandfather teachings of their tribe.). And around the corner was an Indian store, so I figured I would stop in there and see if I couldn’t find anything to buy. They had a lot of really great things! I found a few small presents for someone; then I continued on my journey.
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| The Seven Granfather Teachings |
I ordered a glass of wine, and Bob, Gabe and I sat and attempted to figure out the problems of the world- well, at least our problems… I’m not sure we cured cancer with our discussion, but it certainly helped me, and made me feel better. After a while, we were all saying it must be late, and we better go get some sleep; only to look at our watches and realize it was only 8:30pm! But we were all so exhausted, so we went up anyway.
I wasn’t quite ready to just sit in my room though, so I went down to the gym for about 30 minutes. I didn’t last long down there- for a few different reasons, but my body did feel better when I left. Just 10 minutes on the treadmill (half running and half walking) and some weights. Simple.
Back in my room, I sat up writing for quite a while. I didn’t mean to, but once I started, I just couldn’t stop! I wrote for easily a few hours, until it was just painful for me to keep my eyes open any longer. I still had more to write and say, but my body was telling me that tomorrow would be a better time to continue my work. So I obeyed myself, and finally after all the times I fell asleep in random chairs and places that day; this time, I fell asleep while snuggled up in a big, comfy bed.
I rolled over into consciousness around 9am, but I quickly realized that there was no reason for me to get up that early, and I was smart enough to know I needed the sleep more than anything else. I turned back over and was back asleep within a minute. Next time I woke up it was around 11:30am, and I figured this was a much more reasonable hour to wake up considering! (And I knew my alarm was going to go off in about 30 minutes anyway.) I let myself sit for a minute and gather my thoughts. I then put my gym clothes back on, and headed that way. Again, I only spent about 30 minutes at the gym, but I figured it would be good to get my body going a little bit. Always good to get the blood moving!
Then it was shower time! I got dressed and ready to go down to sound check. It is always best to be ready for the show (showered, hair and makeup done, etc…) when I go down for sound check- because the times you aren’t, are the times you don’t have time to get ready after sound check. Been there, done that, bought the t’shirt; and I’m trying to not buy another one!
3:15pm, a lady from the entertainment department at the theater came to pick up my dad and I. My room was just across the hall, so that was handy. She led us to the theater, taking the back route through the employee only areas. It is always cool to see what is behind closed doors in places like that. We got to the theater, and went out on the stage. No surprise, they were running behind… The only surprise will ever be if a sound check does run on time! So I walked around the theater taking pictures. It was a huge venue! And I heard we had already sold around 3,500 seats. Which was awesome news.
As I walked around, there were big pictures of all the other artists who have played that room before; and the list was incredible! You name them, and they have probably worked that place! It was amazing! I was walking the halls in the entry of the theater, and there were pictures of the artists, and a piece of paper next to each picture that was signed by them. I even found a picture and signature from my dad and Uncle Bobby when they had worked there a few years back. Of course I snapped a picture of that.
By then it was about time to start sound checking. This was our first show with this whole new set up. We are working in an unplugged like layout, except Gabe has a full set of drums, and Larry has a B3 organ- along with all of his other instruments down there. Also, it was our first time working this new show with one less musician. So we definitely had some stuff to work on at sound check! But it all went really smoothly.
We finished up by around 5:30pm, Dad went up stairs to start getting ready, while the band and I raided the food backstage and made ourselves some sandwiches. Some sandwich things did seem to be a little different in Canada. Gabe and I had a debate/taste testing of two sauces we could not identify. The tray had a cup of mayonnaise, a cup of yellow mustard, and a cup of something thick and green, and a cup of something that was red/berry colored. They all tasted like mustard though. It was strange. But some pretty good stuff!
After which, we all went up stairs to get dressed for the show. The same lady met my dad and I at 7:15pm to walk us back down to the theater. I set my stuff down in my dressing room, “Dressing Room 1”. (Dad was “Dressing Room 2” haha!) And I have to say the dressing rooms were really nice, and they treated us very well, and stocked them with all sorts of fruits and snacks. I soon walked down to the Green Room to chill with the boys for a bit. When I got there, they were trying to figure out the lyrics to “Rock’n’Roll Heaven”, it was Bob’s first time singing it that night. I had an idea of what they were, but I wasn’t overly confident about it. Gabe looked it up on his handy iPhone, but I knew the lyrics he found may have been technically correct, but weren’t what my dad sings every night. (It is amazing that all of us can hear a song every night, but still none of us know the lyrics when we are asked! Crazy how that works!)
There was a TV in the Green Room with a live feed to a camera that was filming the audience. So after our debate of lyrics, we watched the crowd roll in. My dad came in there after a bit and noticed the TV, and sharply pointed at one of the little people on the screen and joked, “I don’t like this guy, he bugs me, get him out of here!” There were plenty of funny comments being made. As there always is backstage…
Soon it was show time. The band made their way to the stage. I had my last few minutes with my dad to chat before he went on stage- like we always do. Then I walked to the stage with him, and made sure the beginning of the show went perfect. After that, I ran back to my dressing room to do a few last minute finishing touches. Then back to the side of the stage. I took my microphone and asked Jeff if he had already turned it on. He said, “No, you totally gained my trust last year. “ (I’m known for being in charge of turning my own microphone on, but I usually wait until the last minute- which completely stresses out most sound guys!) So I stood there as my dad was doing his bit about friends and family; then he finally got to talking about me. I switched my microphone on, and when he gave me the cue, I walked on stage.
It was a huge crowd, and they were all yelling and screaming. It was quite a different reaction compared to the sleepy Branson audiences we had been having for months now. It was sort of overwhelming, but it was awesome! I can’t explain that feeling to you. It is something that you truly have to feel for yourself. But it was an incredible boost and got me fired up! I walked to the center of the stage to meet my dad, and then we were off. But the show didn’t go totally smoothly….
Dad started “Time of My Life” wrong, and then I got distracted during the song because I turned around to walk to the other side of the stage quickly, and got paranoid about where the front of the stage was, and if I might accidentally walk off it; so I ended up forgetting the lyrics to the beginning of the second verse. My mind was so blank that I couldn’t even make up words; I just had to announce that I totally forgot them. Then dad couldn’t come up with the next line, and I couldn’t come up with the line after that. Thankfully Tim came to the rescue and helped us realize where to go into the chorus- then we were back on track. But once you mess up on one thing, you are bound to make more mistakes! I hit a wrong chord when I was playing piano on “Try A Little Tenderness”, and also used a tag line from the wrong verse on “Give Me One Reason”. But aside from that… The show went pretty smoothly! Trust me, it could have been a lot worse! The weird thing was that I didn’t even worry when I messed up. I usually will feel a second of an “uh-oh!” feeling. But this time, I was just fine; I knew it was happening, and there was no way around it. (The bummer part is that the show was filmed, and now there is a video of me messing up for the blooper reel! Oh well! Thank God I can laugh at myself!)
After the show, the crowd’s roar was impressive. They wouldn’t stop cheering! And were yelling out, “Encore!” It was amazing. It was just so incredible to be able to feel that. I have had many a conversation with someone close to me about validation, and being in Branson with small, often quiet crowds- it is hard to remember why you are doing this. But to have a huge audience like that, and get a response like that, it is complete validation. Self validation, and also validation of purpose. It was just what I needed; as well as just what everyone else in the band, and my dad needed. A truly perfect way to start off the New Year!
We all sat in the Green Room for a bit, and then dad and I had a Meet and Greet to do in the room next door. So we shook some hands and took some pictures, but that was done really quickly. Then back to the Green Room where my dad’s biggest Canadian fan was waiting for us. His name is Mark, and the fact that he knows all my dad and The Righteous Brothers music wouldn’t be that amazing, but the fact that he knows all that, and is only a few years older than me- and is from Canada, makes it pretty impressive! My dad and Uncle Bobby first met him at a gig in Canada when he was just 16 I think, and my dad and Bobby were so impressed and amazed by all the stuff he knew, and how interested he was, that Mark became a friend quickly. He brought his new bride backstage with him- they were just married about 4 months ago. (My dad filmed a little video and sent it to them for their wedding.) So it was really great to see him and catch up. The whole band, and Jeff (monitors) and Bill (sound) all hung out with us; and we had a great time- all sharing stories, most being really funny stories about pranks that occurred while out on the road over the years.
Finally, we were ready to leave, and dad wanted to bring a glass of wine up to his room. However, the hotel/casino had a strict no alcohol policy- at least for walking around with a glass of wine. They do serve alcohol, but they had some weird rules. But dad decided to be cavalier and bring his glass of wine with him anyway. We did get a few looks from some hotel staff people… But we didn’t end up getting in any trouble.
I went up to my room for a minute to drop off my stuff. I road on the elevator with Dad, Gabe, and another gentleman we didn’t know. The man saw we were getting off on floor 7. He asked a question in Gabe’s direction, “You don’t happen to be staying in room 702 are you?” Gabe stopped cold for a minute. Indeed that was the room Gabe was staying in. The man continued as Gabe stood there like a deer in the headlights, “That’s my favorite room!” the guy said. Gabe finally gathered himself and said, “No, I’m in 703 man.” (Which was Larry’s room. I guess Gabe figured it was better for the guy to go visit Larry in the middle of the night than for the guy to visit him!) We all got off the elevator finding that to be a strangely funny and creepy ride.
Then I quickly went back downstairs to the Lobby bar to meet Larry, Bob, Bill and Gabe. I had a few sips of a drink and a couple bites of a Caesar salad. Soon I was starting to fade. Actually, we all were starting to, so we all headed towards the elevators, back up to floor 7, and to our rooms. I packed as much as I could, and as quickly as I could- so I didn’t have too much to do in the morning. And then I hit the bed.
January 3, 2011 -
Yet another painful wakeup call! 6am. I got out of bed, and started to get ready. I managed to make pretty good time; just throwing on some makeup and the clothes I had laid out the night before. I swiftly tossed everything else into my bag that I needed to. Then I gathered my belongings and walked downstairs to meet everyone by 6:45am.
Just about a minute after I met up with the boys, the first car got there. A big stretch limo. They put my bag in the trunk, and then ushered me inside of it. Then dad jumped in. Just a few minutes later Gabe came crawling in as well. After which someone shut the door. We waited for a few minutes and then Bob came and joined us. After that the limo left for our hour and a half ride back to the Toronto airport. I made it about an hour, then I finally gave in and laid down to take a little nap. My body was still just exhausted!
I woke up as we pulled into the airport. We got our bags out, and we walked inside as quickly as possible because it was really cold out there! We got to American Airlines and got our boarding passes. At which point we all had to stop and fill out a declaration of goods paper. Then we joined the masses- waiting, following the line with all of our luggage, eventually ending up in the customs room- a big room filled with a gigantic line that zigzagged back and forth the length of the room 11 times. We actually entered the room at the same time as Bill who had been in the van with Tim and Larry; but Bill checked in at Delta, and that was a lot quicker of a process. So Bill, Bob, dad, Gabe and I ended up standing in the epic zigzagging line together. We were all completely delusional because of the lack of sleep. If you had seen us, you would have sworn we were drunk by how much we were laughing and joking around. Also, the room had heat pumping into it, which made it even more surreal! (And not in a good way!)
About halfway through the room, we finally saw Larry and Tim, they were just entering the gigantic room! They were quite a bit behind us. But we were entertaining ourselves, and cracking jokes left and right. Most of which would not even be sort of funny now, but at the moment they were a life altering kind of funny… Yes, that is how sleep deprived we were!
One thing worth mentioning is that there was a big family traveling together- about 3 generations worth. They got escorted into the customs room because they had so many bags that they had to all get carried in on a special cart. But somehow they ended up in the line right in front of us. One of the family members was on the side of the line playing with a few of the kids. As we got to about halfway through the room, the whole group of people were stopped on the side of the line, and playing and talking with the rest of the family. They had pretty much stepped completely out of the line, and so we decided to keep the line moving, and move in front of them. Because I have to say, there were other people that were letting people go around them. But moments after we did that, they saw us, and started grumbling. Saying, “What is this about? What is going on? Who do they think they are?” etc… Bob mentioned to the man that we were just trying to keep the line flowing. They had their panties in a bunch though, and so we let them go back in front of us. Right after they passed in front of us, I noticed that the older male leader of their group was wearing a tiny cap. Dad said, “That is the smallest cowboy hat I’ve ever seen!” We all started busting up laughing, dad continued, “What town in Texas are you from?” We found it to be the funniest thing ever. All of us lost it, and we couldn’t get it together after that. Probably doesn’t sound that funny, but at the moment, and with very little sleep, it was flippin’ hilarious! However, the walk through the rest of the room was a little tense with that group in front of us!
But we finally made it to the customs agent. I was up to bat first. He had some strange questions for me... He asked why I was in Canada, I said to sing, and he asked with who, and I said Bill Medley. All pretty normal so far. But then he asked what kind of music I liked to sing, or preferred to sing, and it started turning into an interview. Eventually he let me go, and I moved forward. He continued with strange interview like questions for the rest of the guys as well- asking Gabe how long he had been a musician, and asking my dad how many records he had made, etc… But we all made it through, and got to the area where we put our suitcases on the conveyer belt. Then off to security- which actually went very quickly! The line was really short, a very welcomed surprise!
After that, we went and sat down at “Fridays American Bar” so we could grab some breakfast. I got a breakfast wrapper, their potatoes were great! We noticed their sugar packet was called “Men”. Well, actually I believe it was called “Menu”, but the “u” looked like a fork, and not related to the rest of the word. So we all wanted to enjoy some “Men” sugar. However, soon after I finished eating, I couldn’t help myself. I started leaning over my bag and passing out intermittently. I vaguely remember Bob and Gabe leaving, and then Tim and Larry arriving. It was sort of a rotating breakfast. I missed most of it, just woke up to find different people sitting around me, and began to figure out what was happening.
Finally it was about time to head to the gate. Tim, dad and I walked together and found Gabe, Bob and Larry waiting for us there. We all sat down together and started talking. Time passed by- waiting and waiting. It was finally time for our flight to take off, and the plane had just arrived. They unloaded the other passengers as Tim, Gabe, Larry and I were just figuring out that we had a rather short layover in Chicago- only 30 minutes! We were starting to get concerned, but they started boarding pretty quickly.
As we were in line to walk out side and climb up the stairs to the plane, dad asked how cold it was, and if he should put a jacket on. Gabe responded, “I don’t think it is too bad.” Bob quickly chimed in, “Yeah. Why don’t you ask the Eskimo standing out there.” We all giggled a little and looked up and out side. Sure enough, there was an Eskimo standing out there! A little lady dressed in a big, long gray coat, with a big furry hood on over her head. She was standing out there smiling and freezing. We all lost it and started laughing hysterically! We walked out onto the tarmac one at a time. Dad went first, and as soon as he passed the Eskimo he started laughing like crazy. I went next and as soon as I got past her I started loosing it too. Then Gabe, then Bob, then Tim, then Larry. All of us started laughing like crazy as soon as we passed her.
We all got on the small plane, and were still unable to stop laughing for a long time! We were all sitting together, and chatting about how we needed to check the next flight to Springfield from Chicago incase we don’t make our connection. But since we were in Canada, our internet wasn’t working on our phones. So we just sat in the plane, and on the tarmac for a while. Then we spent some time driving around the runway before we took off. I had a pretty good feeling that Tim, Larry, Gabe and I were not going to make our connection. Bob was on a flight to Vegas from Chicago, and dad was on a flight to Orange Country from Chicago. Both of which had a much longer layover. But there wasn’t anything we could do in the mean time. So right after the flight took off, I fell asleep.
I woke up just in time to watch the beautiful view of Chicago on the way in. We landed at 12:45pm- which was the time our next flight was supposed to start boarding. Then we drove over to our gate, G12. But we stopped in front of it. The gate was empty, but they were not ready for us yet. So we sat there, and we sat there. By the time they let us off the plane it was 1:15pm- the time our flight was supposed to depart. We had a plan, Gabe and I were going to try to run to the gate and stop the plane, while Tim and Larry would be behind us as quickly as possible because they had to wait and get their bags that they had checked plane side.
Gabe got off the plane first, and I was a few people behind him. Luckily, our departing gate was only a few away, at G7. I sprinted full speed to the gate. I got there just as Gabe was walking out of the gate with his head hanging low. I knew this was a bad sign. He said the plane was already gone. We checked with the counter at the next gate, and they confirmed it was gone- along with our hope. So Gabe and I walked back to find Tim and Larry so we could share the bad news.
We caught them as they were just getting off the plane and starting to run to the other gate. We told them no such luck! We went to the closest agent to reschedule our flight. The next flight wasn’t until 6pm. So that left us with a 5 hour lay over in O’Hare Airport. Not something that any of us were extremely excited about! We made a decision to find a nice place to sit and have a very long lunch- and a drink or two! We decided on Macaroni Grill, it was only a short walk from where we were.
We got there and got ourselves a nice table. We all ordered a drink and looked over the menu. I went with a Margherita pizza. The bread that was on the table was amazing. It was so fresh and tasted so awesome! The pizza was really tasty too! It was a yummy meal. And the company was great as well! I was very glad that I wasn’t stranded at O’Hare all alone, at least there was a fun group to hang with! We stretched the food out for as long as we could. Didn’t leave there until about 3:30pm. But that still left us with about 2 hours before it was even boarding time.
Tim and I headed back to the gate, Gabe and Larry went to do some shopping. When Tim and I got back to the gate, it was rather packed because of the other flights that were flying out of there before us, but we found a few seats. A few minutes later, Gabe arrived. Tim started reading his book. Larry and Tim seem to be in their own little book club- they were both reading the same book this trip (“The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo” saga).
As Gabe and I sat there, he asked if I checked my email. I said not in the last hour. He insisted that I check it, with a grin that said he was up to something. So I did. I had updated my Facebook status a bit ago, and he commented on it, “How is your pizza?” He said he had added that comment while we were still in the restaurant, and had been waiting for me to get the message for a while now. So I typed back a response, “My pizza was awesome! In pain now though! How was yours?” He got the message about 15 minutes later as we were just sitting there. We were waiting for a corner to clear out so we could take it over as our own little nap area. Finally, a plane started to board and the row by the window started to clear out, so we hustled to the area we had been eagerly waiting for. Gabe and I both laid down on the ground and got comfortable. Well, as comfortable as you can get on the ground at O’Hare airport… We both quickly realized that the floor was actually rather cold. (Presumably because it was so cold outside.) But we rested there anyway. I fell asleep after a little bit. I ended up more comfortable than I thought I would.
I woke up to realize that Gabe had taken a picture of me while I was sleeping on the ground. (This is a trademark Gabe move. He takes pictures of everybody while they are sleeping…) I thought it was funny though, so I posted it to my Facebook page. However, by this time I was really starting to not feel so good. My stomach was feeling pretty bad. I got some frozen yogurt at TCBY, because I know that can often help my tummy.
After that, it was time to board the plane, finally! And if I remember correctly, the plane was running a bit late, but we were just so excited to be getting on our way that it seemed rather unimportant if we were a few minutes behind. We were all seated in the same area on the small plane, and I had a row to myself. So after the plane took off, I laid down and fell asleep on the two chairs. I was asleep pretty quickly. But I kept waking up because my ears kept getting clogged with pressure and then releasing. But on a few occasions, I woke up and both my ears were completely clogged with pressure, and as I lifted my head a little bit, I got really dizzy because of how my ears were. It was crazy. It felt like Vertigo or something. So I just closed my eyes and went back to sleep.
We finally landed in Springfield, and I felt worse than ever. I even felt a bit nauseous. I just wanted to get home as quickly as possible, because I felt so bad. I actually can’t remember when the last time I felt that bad was. We made our way to baggage claim. I shuffled all the way down the terminal to get there. We were relieved to find that our bags had made it. We had been a bit concerned that the bags would get lost with all the confusion and long layover. But we were happy to see them circling carousel 3!
Tim and Larry went to get the cars while Gabe and I babysat the luggage. Larry got his car before Tim made it there in mine- which we thought was strange because Tim left for the car before Larry did. We loaded up Larry’s car, and we were pausing for just a minute to see if Tim was on the way before they just left me there; and sure enough the over zealous security guard came up to tell us we needed to circle around or leave, but we couldn’t wait there for one more person. Bare in mind it is 8pm, and the Springfield, Missouri airport is empty. But the security guard can’t allow us to wait 2 minutes to make sure our other car gets there. Luckily we dilly-dallied for a minute, and Tim arrived before they had to circle around. We got my car packed up and Tim drove it home. (I just wasn’t feeling good enough to be driving.)
And so the drive began. I noticed that a car in front of us- that looked like Larry’s, didn’t turn onto the 65 South, so I text Gabe just in case it was their car. Sure enough it was. They missed their turn! I guess they wanted to make their travel day just a little bit longer… Tim and I had a rather peaceful drive back to Branson. We stopped at his house and unloaded his stuff. Then I drove back to my house and first thing I did was wash my makeup off and get into some comfy cozy sweats. I realized that I just had a grueling 16 hour travel day! I can’t even believe it was a full 16 hours- that seems impossible, but it was! And I felt like crap. I laid down and curled up by myself. I was in a lot of pain. But I had made it through a very rough day, and I was alive. Actually, I made it through a very rough few days, and I was still alive. But I have to say, I felt like I was holding on for dear life!
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