The Tale of The Tiny Rental Car to Cow Creek and Lights Out On The Runway...

At The King Tut Exhibit

As a disclaimer, I must mention that this blog has so far really just proved that touring isn’t as glamorous as most people think. We aren’t out on the road living a party. We are traveling and working- with the occasional stop for a taste after a show or something. We make it fun and entertaining for ourselves, because if we didn’t we would go crazy! But most of the time we are on tour, our lives consist of getting on a plane, eating, sound check, eating, show, sleep, plane, repeat. So this blog really has the truth of the matter in it… But sometimes we will end up having a little fun out there on the road too, and I’ll be sure to fill you in on that as well!

The Brown Palace Lobby

My journey started out in Branson I guess. I began my trip towards California on January 9, 2011 when I ended up flying from Springfield, Missouri to Denver, Colorado. I stayed there for two nights, which was so much fun! I got to see the last night of the King Tut exhibit at the Art Museum the night I flew in (it was great), and then the next day I did some killer shopping and got to catch up with a very special friend of mine. I stayed at the Brown Palace which was incredible! Truly a magical place. I really fell in love with Denver and everything it had to offer. Then I continued on to Newport Beach, California on January 11, 2011- which did include being felt up by the burly lady at the Denver airport security check point. But I made it to California anyway!

11am shopping in Denver!

On my day off in California, I got to go up to Los Angeles with my dad and meet up with our friend Michael Grimm. He was at his producer’s house- Don Was. (A truly incredible producer!) They were going through songs, trying to pick what would be right for the new CD. It was great to be able to hang out and watch the process for a while. We all love Michael to death, and trust me- his new album is going to be amazing! I’m so glad I got the chance to catch up with him while I was there. However, dad and I knew we had a daunting travel day starting the next morning, so we tried to get home by a reasonable hour!

January 13, 2011

Starting out a four night, five day tour adventure, and so far luck was not on our side… The good news being that we didn’t have an early morning. I actually woke up at 8:30am before my alarm went off. So I lazily got showered and dressed. I finished packing up the last of my bag, and went downstairs (at my parents house in Newport Beach, California) to find my mom sitting there making dad’s coffee. No less than a minute after I sat down and said I was ready to go, the phone rang. It was Tim- an ominous sign indeed. Mom had answered the phone, and then yelled to Dad to pick it up; he had just walked back up the stairs. Mom joked that she hoped Tim wasn’t calling to say there was a problem with the flight. I kept my hopes up and said surely not. But I was surely wrong.

Gabe and I had a little morning chat on Facebook...

Dad yelled down minutes later saying we weren’t going to the airport. Apparently our first flight got delayed, and so we would not have been able to make our connection. Tim was already at the airport, and going through what our possible options were with the airlines. We were rebooked on a 2:45pm flight from Orange County to Portland, had a 4-hour layover there, then on to Medford. Getting into Medford at 9:50pm. (Plus, there was a 75-minute drive from Medford to Canyonville where we were to end up at the Seven Feathers Resort.) So I already knew it was going to be quite a day. I called Gabe to fill him in before he left for the airport, while Tim got the last of everything finalized with the airlines.

Sakae Sushi, Newport Pier

Having this new found few hours in Newport Beach, I decided to go get some food. I really wanted to get True Foods Kitchen- one of my very favorites! But I knew it was going to take a bit too long to get all the way there, eat, and then back to my parents house. So I chose another one of my favorite options- especially while in California, and I got some sushi. There is a small hidden sushi bar by Newport Pier, on 23^rd Street called Sakae- Dusty Hatfield (Bobby Hatfield’s son) took me there for the first time this past summer, and it is amazing! They are so incredibly nice too. I got two rolls, and they also gave me a sample of a “lion’s eye” which was awesome! There are a couple of sushi places I recommend in Orange County, and that is definitely one of them!

After I was stuffed on a Red Dragon roll, a Caterpillar roll, and some Lion’s Eyes, I went back to my parent’s house to wait. Soon it was 12:50pm, and it was finally time to leave for good ole’ John Wayne Airport. Mom dropped Dad and I off at Alaska Airlines and we went up to the counter to check in. As we were trying to check in Gabe arrived. Our fearless leader Timmy was already through security- and had been for a few hours, so we were on our own. Something that usually would not be an issue, but since we were transferred over to that airline from another one, it was a bit more confusing than usual! Or at least it was for the airline people. They also kept referring to Gabe as Gabrielle instead of Gabriel- that made the process a lot more entertaining! But we got everything settled reasonably quickly and headed on our way to security.

We located Tim rather soon after we got into the gate area. We had a good hour and a half before our flight. We chatted and bought some snacks- dad got his “Rock Reading” which basically consists of rag magazines. (Dad can’t fly without some “Rock Reading”.) Before we knew it, the flight started boarding.

I ended up in an aisle seat, not my preferred seat- I like windows better. But to my surprise, the middle seat in my row was empty! Such a wonderful gift! That so rarely happens anymore, but I was definitely thankful! We had a two hour and fifteen minute flight. It went by pretty quickly; I wrote most of the time, and that always makes time fly for me.

We landed at 5:05pm. I turned on my phone, only to find out that everyone had tried to get a hold of me while I was on that flight. That never happens. But I started returning messages as I waited to get off the plane, I was toward the back, so it took a minute. As I walked into the airport from the jet bridge, low and behold, I had my own welcoming committee. I was the last person in our group to get off the plane, so it was nice to have a little gang to welcome me to the Portland airport- however they need to work on their presentation and enthusiasm. (They must have left their “Welcome McKenna, We Love You!” signs at home…)

Gabe had been informed- by a Portland airport regular, that there was a good restaurant in the terminal we were going to. Laurelwood Brewery. We walked in that direction, finally locating the small brewery in the middle of the bustling commuter flight terminal. The food actually turned out to be rather tasty- I got a great spinach salad and a veggie wrap.  The highlight was probably our waiter though. In his mid-thirties I would guess, nice looking young man. He was so positive, and had such awesome energy. (And not too much energy where it is just annoying, he was the perfect balance.) We all commented on how such a great waiter ended up working in the Portland airport instead of some great steakhouse somewhere. He used to live in Santa Barbara, and we agreed that he must have ended up working in the Portland Airport because of a girl. And dad, Tim and Gabe all came to the conclusion that his happy demeanor must be the result of him having an awesome girlfriend, or none at all!

We lingered at the Brewery for a bit, we were in no hurry. It was a four hour layover and we were trying to waste time. But we still ended up sitting at our gate two hours before it was time to leave at 8:55pm. No worries though, we kept ourselves entertained… While Gabe got up for a minute, Tim switched out Gabe’s killer MacBook Pro for his Sony laptop. Took Gabe a while to realize the switch! Gabe was entertained by his “Portland Moose Mints”, and I was entertained by purchasing some cinnamon apple chips that were so good (I must locate more ASAP!) and also some “Mt. St. Helen’s Cinnamon Taffy”. Taffy is just always entertaining. Gabe was taking some hilarious videos on his phone. We were all having a great time and joking around. Our hopes were high since we knew it was almost time to leave.

While we were sitting there, we got some bad news about Larry. He made it from Nashville to Los Angeles, but his flight to Medford had just gotten cancelled. His new flight to Medford wasn’t until the next day. Surely that was a major bummer for him. Shortly there after, my mom called on my cell phone; and as I was chatting with her, I heard them announce something about our flight, so I told her to hold on. I heard the heartbreaking announcement that our flight to Medford had just been cancelled.  The weather was too bad to fly in, and the airport had closed down.

We leaped into action. Tim ran to the desk to get in line as quick as possible. (There were a lot of people rushing the desk to get rebooked!) We all came to the conclusion of renting a car and driving. We were only three and a half hours away from where we needed to go- in fact if we flew to Medford, we would have to drive back towards Portland for 75 minutes. Gabe jumped on his handy iPhone to look up rental cars. We luckily found a company with a van or SUV, and we took it! We needed something semi big since there were four of us- and all of our luggage and some gear too. Never mind the fact that the weather was a bit of an issue, so we wanted something that would be safe.

Eventually we had things planned out, so we headed to baggage claim to get our stuff and start our drive. Thankfully all our bags were there. What a relief! We found our way to the car rental desks- taking a couple of wrong turns on the way… But eventually we located the Budget desk. Tim got us squared away with them while my dad raided the vending machine. He had been on a diet for the last week, and had made it all day at the airports being really good. But when we were about to get into a rental car for a three and a half our drive, he said, “screw the diet” and got a couple bags of peanut M&M’s. I admit, I stocked up too; got a bag of chips and some Jelly Belly’s.

Loading up the rental car.

Then we headed to the garage to find our vehicle. Looking for H14. I found the H aisle and we started walking down it. We saw what was sitting in H14, and I have to admit, considering our day- of course this was the car they gave us. They made it sound like they upgraded us, and it was a big SUV or something. It was a Ford Escape. We had four large sized bags to fit in the extremely small trunk/back area, and also at least five small/medium sized bags to fit in there too! It was quite the puzzle. We got everything to fit, but honestly, just barely. I even had to have my purse on my lap. Dad and I were in the small backseat with his big duffle bag between us, and my backpack too. It was a tight squeeze for sure! Tim drove, and Gabe rode shotgun. We were packed up and ready to leave in our clown car by about 9pm.

The rental car trunk almost didn't close!

We managed to get out of the airport and onto the freeway pretty easily- with the help of our two different navigation systems, one Tim got at the car rental desk, and the other one being Gabe’s phone. The car rental desk navigation system seemed to think we were going to arrive at our destination at 3:30am, while Gabe’s phone said we would get there by around 12:30am. Needless to say, we chose to believe Gabe’s phone.

It was just a hilarious situation, quite the scene! I can’t even describe it, you would have had to be there to understand the true hilarity! I was down right giddy! Surely I was just starting to become delirious, but I was totally entertained by my surroundings. The bummer part was that if we had just gotten in the car when we first got to the Portland airport- instead of waiting for our flight to Medford, we would have already been at the hotel by the time we ended up leaving the Portland airport. That was a rather sad fact, but no use crying over spilled milk I guess!

In the rental car.

The drive wasn’t too painful. It seemed beautiful- I wish it had been light outside so I could really see the area. But I loved all the old, crazy tall trees. Amazing. We took the 5 Freeway South all the way to Canyoneville. We discussed everything from ideas for where we should work, to the best places to go in Denver, and the best places to eat in Orange County. We also learned the fate of our sound guy- Bill was stuck in Salt Lake City for the night. So we were the only people who were going to end up getting into the hotel. Larry, Bill and Bob were all going to have to hope to make it into Medford in the early afternoon of the next day, then drive the 75 minutes to the hotel. All of which would wreak havoc on our sound check schedule, but that is something we would have to deal with and figure out the next day. Dad was asleep most of the drive, but Tim, Gabe and I kept chatting. And we also chatted with our navigation lady Simone or Synthia (we were working on finding a proper name for her), nice lady- most of the time…

Gabe and Dad- just arrived at Seven Feathers Resort.

Sure enough, we got to our hotel- the Seven Feathers Hotel and Casino, right at the time Gabe’s phone suggested. We found the hotel check in- after first going to the wrong area. Tim ran inside to start getting us checked in, and dad went inside to go to the bathroom. So Gabe and I were left outside- where it was a bit chilly (not bad, only 45 degrees or something, but we were in light jackets) to watch the luggage. We filmed a quick video on Gabe’s phone, and then him and I started dancing to the song playing on the loudspeaker- “My Girl”. I must say, we have our Temptations moves down- don’t you worry about that!

After a few minutes, Dad came back and helped us get our bags inside the hotel. Tim was just about finished checking in, and we were excited to be able to see our rooms finally. Very nice rooms, and very nice hotel! I love a hotel that leaves chocolate on your pillow at night. I was finally in my hotel room by 1am. If you count when I was ready to leave for the airport the first time this morning, that makes today a 15 hour day- with a lot of twists and turns.  For some reason, I was a bit wired though- I think it was the Jelly Belly’s I was munching on throughout our drive. But my body was exhausted. I was very happy to see a plush bed waiting for me. However, I was also excited to be there, and couldn’t wait to get up in the morning and get to rockin’!

January 14, 2011

I woke up at 9am to find a beautiful view out my hotel window. Realizing it truly was a shame to drive from Portland to Cayonville while it was dark outside. That drive must have been amazing. The trees were so big and gorgeous there, and the grass was so green and lush. I love that. I believe we were on the Cow Creek Band of Umpqua Tribe of Indians reservation, and I will say they have an awesome home.

Canyonville, Oregon - View from my room.

I started my computer up, and glanced on Facebook. My news feed informed me of some activity from Gabe- so I realized he must be up. I thought I was going to be the only crazy one awake that early after such a long trip the day before. I text him to see if he wanted to go grab some breakfast. We decided to meet down at the Cow Creek Restaurant. It was quite yummy. Both of us ended up getting wraps though instead of breakfast food. But it was good! Gabe played a pick 10 Keno game while we were there. He was hoping for the big money prize. He ended up with a “No money, but thanks for playing” prize.

Cow Creek Menu

After the much needed food, Gabe wandered into the casino for a bit, while I wondered into the gift shop… I think we both spent money, but at least I got something for the money I spent!  Then I headed back up to the room to get some things done and organized. I really wanted to get to the gym, but I had too much stuff to do. Before I knew it, I had to jump in the shower and get ready. I left for sound check a few minutes early because I needed to drop off some mail at the front desk, and then I wanted to send a picture of something in the gift shop to a friend. I accomplished all of that, and still made it to sound check long before my dad did.

Sound Check

My call for sound check was 4pm- which was late anyway since everyone’s travel plans had gotten disrupted; but they still weren’t quite ready for me when I got there. I hung around and snapped some pictures. We were working in a ballroom, and they had the seats set up and ready. I believe we sold about 1200 seats. So we were doing great already! I sat down at the piano and we ran “Try A Little Tenderness”. All was good. We were having some confusion with the monitors, but basically things went smoothly. Gabe had a new toy, a melodica- which is basically a tiny piano you blow into. (It sounds sort of similar to an accordion, but is a lot smaller and easier to travel with.) Dad got down there soon and we finished running everything we needed to. We only had a few glitches during sound check- so that was nice. It could have been a lot worse!

Gabe and his Melodica.

By the time we were all done, it was about 6pm, and it was time to get some food! Larry, Gabe and I set out on a path for quality food. We made a beeline to the Fine Dining restaurant. However, our dreams were short lived. When we got there, they said they couldn’t seat us until 8pm, which was obviously not going to work- we had a show at 9pm. So we ended up at the buffet next door to the beautiful fine dinning room. The buffet was actually one of the nicer I have ever witnessed though. But I really should never be allowed to eat at buffets, I am not equipped to handle such situations. I ate so much food, I felt like I could barely move! Pain was radiating from my stomach, but all the food there was so good; I just couldn’t help myself. But believe me, when I got to my room and saw my protruding stomach in the mirror- that was just plain upsetting! It’s not good news when you eat so much food that you can actually see it in your stomach. But there I was, looking at the food I just ate, and wondering how I was going to get into that little black dress of mine in just over an hour!

I hung out in my room for a little bit, and then attempted to get myself into my stage clothes; as well as fix my hair and makeup. I knew they were coming to pick my dad and I up at 8:30pm so we could head back down to the venue. I walked out of my hotel room and into the hallway. I didn’t know what room my dad was in; I just knew that he was further down the hall than me. So I started walking in that direction. I found a room service cart in the hallway, which helped me narrow it down to a couple rooms. I stood in the middle of the hallway for about a minute, then I heard it. My dad warming up his voice. The noise took me directly to the correct room.

The theater in Canyonville, Oregon.

Just a couple minutes later a security escort arrived at his door. They took us downstairs and then they actually drove us to the other side of the complex. We arrived to find everyone waiting in the backstage area for us. We got there by 8:40pm, only 20 minutes to show time! My dad got his in-ears on while I chatted with the boys. Soon it was time to start the video and get the show rolling.

The show went off without many problems. In fact, I can’t think of anything that really went wrong- surely some little things did, but nothing major! Everyone seemed to love the concert!

After the show, dad and I went out front to sign autographs and sell CDs. It was incredible. It was the line that never ended! We were out there for about an hour and fifteen minutes. Everyone was so friendly and appreciative of the show; and a lot of the people were from Orange County, California too. I actually broke a personal record! I sold a lot of my CDs, by far the most ever in one night- 54 CDs! It was so exciting and rewarding to see that I really did move people- enough that they wanted to take my CD home with them. That is very touching to me.

By the time we were done signing, we ran to the backstage area to meet up with a friend of my dad’s who was waiting to chat. (We also raided the food cart- amazing food at that venue, great spread!) We chatted for a bit, but then we had to call it a night, we knew there was a crazy early morning in front of us.

I was actually up to my room by around midnight. I packed up most of my stuff and got comfy in bed. But I knew the alarm was going to go off so early that I couldn’t get comfortable and go to sleep, so sadly I probably only got about one or two hours of shuteye. But in that situation, every minute counted!

January 15, 2011

The sound of the alarm at 4am was truly painful. I was already awake, but the abrasive buzzing in my ear was a horrible reminder that it was actually time for me to get out of that comfortable bed. I threw on some makeup and packed up the rest of my things. I left my hotel room on time to meet everyone downstairs at 4:30am.

I found everyone waiting outside for the limo. Moments after I arrived there, we got word that our driver was going to be about 20 minutes late. Tim and Larry got into the rental car and started driving to the Medford airport so they could return the car before we all got there. Dad, Bob, Gabe and I waited for the limo. It was taking a while, so Gabe called the guy to check in and he said he would be there in about 12 minutes- apparently he had gotten confused and thought it was a 4pm pickup instead of 4am. We continued to wait…

All of a sudden a long white stretch limo came hauling around the corner, flying over the speed bumps. We packed our stuff in the trunk and crawled inside. It wasn’t until 5am that we actually left the Seven Feathers Resort. We were watching the clock as we drove; we heard it was a 75 minute drive, and our flight was at 7am. We knew we needed to be there by 6am. It was going to be very tight! At one point Gabe and I noticed a sign that said 46 miles to Medford, and it was already 5:35am- that seemed like a bad sign to us.

It was a long road with lots of turns around the beautiful mountains. There was a lot of fog too. Sometime during the drive I looked out the front of the car and I couldn’t see anything- and that definitely stresses you out a little bit! But we seemed to make up some time, because we arrived at the airport by only 6:05am, very lucky for us. We ran inside the tiny airport to find Larry and Tim waiting.

7am - Our plane from Medford to LAX.

We checked in at the kiosk and got our bags squared away eventually. Then we moved quickly through the security checkpoint and they were already boarding the plane by the time we got through. They led us outside to the small-ish prop plane. (I’m not usually a big fan of flying on planes with propellers. But I deal with it…) I got comfortable in my window seat, I was sitting next to a very nice young girl who had been in Oregon to check out some colleges that she could play softball at after she graduated from high school. Soon I let myself rest my head against the window and take a little nap. I knew it was about a two hour flight to Los Angeles, so I figured I could catch up on a few minutes of sleep at least.

It was still dark out when we took off, but I remember waking up a bit and watching the sun slowly rise outside. It was probably one of the most beautiful sunrises I have ever seen. So amazing to watch the sunrise thousands of miles above Oregon and Northern California. It was truly gorgeous. After a few short cat naps, we were soon on the ground safe and sound.

Once we were all together, we found the shuttle we needed to take; however, it had just left and it was going to be about 15 minutes until the next one came. We semi-patiently waited; Larry went to get his Cinnamon Dolce Latte that he had been eagerly waiting for. The bus did end up getting there within 15 minutes and a lady lead us all down some stairs that took us to the tarmac where the bus was waiting.

We rode around LAX and right by some really big and very cool planes; finally ending up at the terminal we were supposed to be at. There was about two hours before our next flight, so we decided to get some lunch. There was a place right were we got off the shuttle, so we figured that was a winner! They served California Pizza Kitchen’s food, I resisted the pizza and went with a Cobb salad instead. We all had a nice lunch and chat.

Once we were all done, we headed to our gate. Things were pretty busy around there, but we managed to find a few seats together. Before too long they began boarding. However, after they checked us in and we went onto the jet bridge, they wouldn’t actually let us on the plane. We were standing there just waiting for about 15 minutes. The line didn’t move at all! But finally they opened the floodgates and all of a sudden things started to move quickly. It was a big 767, two aisles. It was the biggest plane I’ve been on in the past few years. Rather comfortable though, each seat had a personal TV which was a big bonus, especially for a four hour flight!

The flight to Detroit was pretty smooth and time went by pretty quickly. I watched a movie on my TV and then did some writing. Perfect timing. By the time I was done, we were starting our decent. We made it to our gate just a few minutes behind schedule. However, I was informed by Tim that we were going to have a tight connection. We only had 30 minutes to get to our next plane. We got off the plane and started running- but we were in the back of the gigantic aircraft, so it took a while to even get off!

The psychedelic tunnel at Detroit Airport.

Good news, the tram was right next to our incoming gate. Bad news, the tram left right as we got up the escalator to meet it. The next one came a few minutes later though. As soon as we got off the tram, Gabe took the lead, I was a few steps behind him; and we began the sprint to the new plane. (The other fellas were a few extra steps behind me.) We had to go through a long psychedelically lit up tunnel, and then find our connecting gate in the commuter terminal. We saw a familiar face- our sound man Jeff waiting for us there, we made it right as they started boarding.

Gabe, Bob, Jeff, Larry, Dad and Tim all began boarding. I was next in line and they said that I wasn’t on the flight- even though I had my boarding pass, somehow I still wasn’t listed as a passenger. However everyone had to board after she checked them in, so I was stuck out there alone waiting for the agent to fix the situation. But she assured me there were plenty of seats available on the plane. Within a few minutes I was on my way down the jet bridge. It was a really tiny propeller plane, only a 30 seater. We took off on time and began our one hour and fifteen minute flight to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.

I actually had a row to myself, so I laid down on the two seats and took a nap. I woke up to the violent turbulence about an hour later as we were starting our decent. I’m not a fan of turbulence, especially on a small plane while it is snowing. (And knowing it is only 8 degrees where we were flying to.) It was a bit scary. But we got really close to the ground finally, then at the last minute our plane shot back up into the sky- just like we were taking off again. Without hesitation I said, “This isn’t good.” Gabe was sitting in the row in front of me, and he shared my feeling. At least a few minutes passed before the captain came over the loud speaker and informed us about what was going on. He announced that the runway lights were not working, and the airport couldn’t get them on, so we could not land. Apparently they were calling the maintenance people, and were trying to get it fixed, so we were going to circle for a while.

Gabe seems pretty happy for
circling an airport...

Fifteen minutes later, he came on the loud speaker to say it still wasn’t fixed, and that if they didn’t get it working we would have to land at another airport about an hour and a half drive from Sault Ste. Marie. Every fifteen minutes he came over the load speaker and announced we were going to wait a bit longer. The last time he started talking, he said we have enough fuel to wait about 15 more minutes, or we will have to go to the other airport. But only about 5 minutes after he made that announcement, he said that they did get the runway lights working and we would be able to land there after all. We were all extremely relieved! We had already had a very long day, and we didn’t want to think about what another airport would mean!

Bus to the Hotel & Casino.

We ended up circling for over an hour! It was rather nerve racking. I don’t like situations like that. Turbulence, small prop plane, and snow… Not a good combo for me! But I remained rather calm, just stressed on the inside. We finally got off the plane at 10:45pm. It was the smallest airport I have probably ever been in. Our bags came up reasonably quickly; I was rather shocked to see that they had made it. I knew since we had such a short layover in Detroit there was a chance they weren’t going to be making their debut on the Sault Ste. Marie baggage carousel that evening. But we were all extremely happy to be on the ground and have our bags in hand!

Bus Ride

Bus Ride

There was a big bus waiting for us outside to take us to the Kewadin resort. We walked out with our bags and nearly froze. It was crazy cold outside! We all hopped on the bus as quickly as possible. We were informed that the ride to the hotel might take a bit longer than usual because of all the snow, but still probably no more than 45 minutes. That news barely fazed us; it was just too exciting to know we were almost there! We had a great bus ride; it even included an “Almost Famous” moment- but we all started singing along to a James Taylor song when it came on the radio, instead of “Tiny Dancer” like in the movie. It was great.

The drive only ended up taking 25 minutes or so. We were so ecstatic to be there. Tim got us our room keys and we all headed up the elevator to the 6^th floor- all of our rooms were in a row. After we dropped our bags off, we gathered in the hall and went back downstairs to attack the only place that was still open and serving food- the Trail Deli. There was actually quite a line, but the food was really good. Or we were all just starving. But I know it was at least pretty decent! Then I went back up to my room and started to get comfortable; I even got some work done before I began to really crash.

It was at least a 15 hour travel day. Intense, and simply put- it was insanity. This weekend was really testing my endurance. When I got back to my room that night and I started to fade- I crashed hard and quick! I was exhausted- my body, and my mind! All of a sudden I was overwhelmed by a need to close my eyes. I just couldn’t fight it anymore. The bed wasn’t that comfortable, but I think I would have thought a bed of rocks was awesome at that point.

January 16, 2011

Can you think of a better way to be woken up than by the blood curdling screams of a baby? Yeah, I could think of a few better ways too. But that was the beautiful noise I woke up to that morning. I figured I might as well get out of bed. The walls were very thin at that hotel, and there was no use trying to sleep through it; and it didn’t sound like my young neighbor was going to be stopping anytime soon. I decided to relax and order a continental breakfast from room service. Probably one of the worse continental breakfasts I have ever had.

The view from my hotel room in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.

I didn’t want to just sit in my room though, I knew I wanted to get my blood moving a bit, so I went down to the gym. Neither of their treadmills worked correctly, one sort of functioned, but every time you stepped on it there was the sound of metal clanking on metal, which got annoying after running for about five minutes. The weight machine wasn’t in that much better condition, but I kicked my butt on the parts of it that were working. I tried out their elliptical for ten minutes too, but after about 40 minutes down there, I felt like I had experienced enough of that situation.

Sound Check
Michigan

Sound Check
Michigan

Once I got all showered up and ready to go, I went down to sound check. It was at 3:30pm, and it was on time! A big shout out to Jeff, thank you for that! (I know he had read my last blog post and was disappointed when I said “sound check was running late- as usual…” So he made sure to break the tradition this time! And he did a great job doing it!)

Afterwards, Larry, Bob, Gabe and I all decided to go to the restaurant. It was a half buffet, half coffee shop. I hit the salad bar hard- seemed like the best option, and I think I was right. (I am a sucker for a salad bar!) After that, I headed up to the room to get changed for the show; the boys stopped at the bar and were a few minutes behind me.

I got to the small, old elevators only to find that there were over sixty people in line for them. A bus had just arrived and they had all just got checked in. They were all waiting for the elevator with all of their luggage. I knew that if I waited for the elevator, I wouldn’t even make it to the show, so I asked where the stairs were. I ended up walking the 6 flights of stairs back up to my room. It got a little exhausting by the time I got to floor 5, but I made it back to my room- and I must say, in pretty good time! (I guess I can thank my personal trainer for that!)

I had just enough time to get changed and then my dad knocked on my door. I opened it to find my dad and the security guard waiting for me to walk downstairs with them. The security guard took us the back way down to the “Dream Makers” theater, through the innards of the hotel and casino. I sat down in my dad’s dressing room area, and as I sat there waiting, I was starting to fade. My energy just took a nosedive, and I hate it when that happens right before a show. Dad went to do a meet and greet, and I sat and chatted with some of the band on and off- the only bathroom was in my dad’s dressing room area, so everyone came through to visit me on their way to the head.

Theater in Michigan.

It was actually a 7pm show, a bit earlier than usual. Soon the familiar sound of the preshow video started. The band headed for the stage, my dad followed them a few minutes after. I sat backstage while the show got underway, but before I knew it, “Unchained Melody” was playing- which is my cue to start moving that way. I waited to hear my dad introduce me, then I entered the all too familiar world of stage.

Set List

The show went pretty good, only some technical issues. Tim’s monitors weren’t working, and neither was the bass for part of the show. But nobody knew about that except for us. After the show, dad and I went out to sign some autographs. Right when we sat down, one of the first ladies in line was 104 years old! Yes, one hundred and four years old- and at a rock and roll concert! She was amazing. She loved the show and she appeared to be in great health- no walker or anything; she was just running around digging on some good ole’ rock’n’roll! It was awesome to be able to meet her and be reminded that there are people who are older than baby boomers that do love this music! She was an inspiration. I hope that if I make it to her age, I’m in half as good of shape as she is. The signing went pretty quick, not as long as in Canyonville, Oregon. But we did sell pretty good and met a lot of great people.

Dad and I went backstage again and made ourselves a couple sandwiches; they even had pumpernickel bread and I don’t usually get that as an option, so I was excited about that. (I know it sounds weird that I was excited about a type of bread, but it is truly the small things in life that make me smile!) I took a couple waters from backstage and then dad and I ventured up to the rooms. I dropped off my water, and I got changed out of my stage clothes and back into my regular attire. I sat down for a minute to make a phone call or two. It was still so early, only 10pm or something, so once I was off the phone I decided to go meet the band downstairs for a bit.

The front of the Dream Makers Theater in Michigan.

I arrived at the bar to find Gabe, Bob, Larry and Jeff surrounded by new fans. I took a seat next to Gabe and he informed me that everyone had been buying them drinks for the last hour, and he just couldn’t turn down free drinks! Gabe and I chatted for a bit about the dilemmas in our worlds; it always makes you feel better to talk to someone! After a bit, we all decided to wander the casino for a while. Everyone was itching to gamble- except me. I rarely am itching to gamble, I would rather go shopping and know I am going to be coming home with something in my hand to show for the money I spent. Bob went off for a while to find one of the machines he likes (and he was gone for quite a long time, Gabe and I figured he was either doing really good or he had lost his house), and Larry found a “Let It Ride” table and called it home for a bit. Jeff and I watched Gabe gamble, and Gabe taught us how to play Craps. Eventually I decided I would give in and play $20 on the virtual blackjack game. It was a cool game, there was actually a dealer on a TV screen in front of the table, and then the cards were dealt on a TV screen on the table. I played for about an hour, and walked away with $20.50. So I didn’t win much, but even walking away with what you came with is considered winning at a casino!

Gabe, Bob and Jeff leaving the casino.

Bob, Jeff, Gabe and I decided to leave the casino and hit the Deli on our way up to our rooms. Perfect midnight snack. I was still up in my room by 12:20am. Not too bad for doing a show, signing, and going out for a few hours! I love it when we have early shows like that. I stayed up for a bit getting some things organized, but I eventually gave in and let myself fly off into a beautiful dream world.

January 17, 2011

At least I didn’t wake up to a crying baby that morning, but I did still manage to get up just in time to order my continental breakfast on room service. I knew it had not been good the day before, but I just wanted a little something in my stomach before we left. The breakfast was even worse that morning- which was a rather impressive feat.

Jeff standing outside the airport in 10 degrees
fahrenheit, still wearing his shorts!

I got dressed and ready; finished up packing the rest of my bag and headed down to the lobby at about 12:25pm. I left my bag with the boys to pack it into the van as I ran to the gift shop. They had Mackinaw Island Fudge in there- a favorite of my mom’s, so I wanted to be sure to get her some before we left. (My mom was born and raised outside of Detroit, and spent many a summer in Northern Michigan right by where we were working!)

We all piled into the van and were off to the airport. I have to say, we were all very happy about the late call time. It was so nice to be able to sleep in for a change. We got to the Sault Ste. Marie airport, and checked in. Soon we realized we were there way too early. I think that might be the smallest airport in the world! It was nice, just nothing for us to do to keep us entertained. Eventually it was time to go through security- which proved embarrassing as the guys started stripping down their jackets, belts and shoes while making the noises of the stripper song. But you could imagine it was pretty funny- these boys showed that they are definitely not professional strippers, those were some of the cheesiest moves I have ever seen! No wonder they are musicians!

We got back on the small 30 seater plane we had gotten to Sault Ste. Marie on. Yep, it is still a very tiny prop plane! This time the flight was full though. We did take off on time at 2:30pm, and that was a relief. I sat next to a wonderful lady who was going to Vegas for a convention about some skincare she sells. I chatted with her most of the flight. It was nice to have someone to talk to; it made the flight go by a lot faster!

Arriving at the Detroit airport, we had some issues with the jet bridge, so they ended up just letting us take some stairs. Once we all got off the plane, we said some goodbyes- Larry was off on a flight to Nashville, and Jeff was off on a flight to Milwaukee. It was just dad, Tim, Bob, Gabe and I left in my group. We found our way back to the other terminal with the bigger planes. Gabe was in rare form, and completely entertaining us. We took a long stroll instead of taking the tram, seemed like the healthier choice!

Dad, Bob, Tim and I decided to stop and get a taco at a place right by our gate. It was really good! Definitely the freshest tacos I have had in a while. By the time we were done, our plane was starting to board. We were lucky and it was a pretty quick layover. I stopped to pick up a thing or two in the shop, then waited for my zone to be called. I was the last zone of course, so everybody else got on the plane without me. Dog eat dog I guess!

As I was waiting, my mood changed a bit; but I soon was in my seat and semi-comfy cozy. We only took off a few minutes late, just before 6pm. I was disappointed to find that there were no individual TVs for each seat on this plane. I think we were all super disappointed about that. It was a four hour flight, and that would have made it go by a lot quicker. But oh well!

I ended up writing most of the time and it went by pretty quick. I would have been okay had it gone by a bit quicker though! But we got to Las Vegas at about 7:15pm, and that is where we said goodbye to Bob. It was down to the last of us- just dad, Tim, Gabe and I. I checked the departure screen to find out that our flight was already saying it was 15 minutes delayed- leaving at 8:40pm. This seemed like the beginning of the end, but we tried to think as positive as we could.

At the Las Vegas Airport - Dad, Tim and Gabe.

Dad wanted to walk down to the Ruby’s Diner, and I never turn down a Ruby’s stop! I absolutely love the chili there- among other tasty treats… We all had a little snack, and then preceded back to our outgoing gate. Not long after we sat down the plane arrived and people started flowing out of it. I have to say watching people in the Vegas airport is always amusing; when they are leaving, you can definitely tell who won and who didn’t! Also, it is just an eclectic group of people. I was watching a 30 something year old man- who was wearing jeans, do some crazy stretches and the splits and such. It is insane what you can see there.

All of a sudden they started boarding, and early no less! We all eagerly got in line and on the big plane. Now this plane ride was less than an hour long, but of course this plane was equipped with personal TVs for everyone. Gabe had row 11 all to himself, and I had the row behind him all to myself. It was wonderful!

Gabe and I chatted for a bit before and during take off; then I sprawled out- fully taking advantage of having a row to myself. There was an inflight trivia game on all the TVs- and it was certainly game time!  I started out on fire! I was ahead the whole game- until the last question… Gabe won at the last minute. We both weren’t doing so great on the second round, but by the time we were halfway through that one we were already on our decent into Orange County. It was one of the simplest, most comfortable, and quickest flights I’ve been apart of in recent history.

We landed by 9:30pm. We were rockin’! Ahead of schedule and everything! We walked down to baggage claim to wait for our luggage. Without too much delay, the bags started coming down to the carousel. One of my dad’s bags was the first one we saw- and we saw this as a great sign that all our bags had made it all the way to Orange County. Mine came up next, then both of Tim’s, shortly followed by Gabe’s. The next thing I saw after seeing Gabe’s bag on the carousel was a Gabe shaped streak running from the baggage claim to his parent’s car- he wasn’t wasting even a moment longer in that airport. I don’t blame him!

Gathering bags at Orange County Airport.

We waited a few minutes longer, all the bags from our flight seemed to have already come out, yet my dad was missing his other bag. We were so close to being out of there, and with so little problems! I went to find the Delta baggage claim desk. There was a sweet lady waiting there for me. I explained the situation and she said that there was a note for our flight that my dad’s bag was in Las Vegas still and would be coming into Orange County tomorrow. Wouldn’t be delivered until around 2:30pm, but at least they knew where it was and that it was on the way!

We bid Tim farewell, then dad and I walked across the busy road to the Taxi stand. We got in a cab and they took us back to my parent’s house in Newport Beach. The weather was so nice and refreshing there. Much better than the extreme cold in Michigan that we experienced earlier in the day! We got to the house by 10:15pm- not too shabby. I gave my mom her Mackinaw Island Fudge before she went to sleep, and then I went to my room to get everything situated.

I was exhausted, and I knew we were leaving again in two days- all a bit overwhelming. At least this was only a 13 hour travel day I think. But man, how sad is it when a 13 hour travel day is your short travel day! The good news was that I was alive and somewhat kicking. However, I was a bit of a wreck- emotionally, mentally, physically, and every other way possible! But that should heal. I was so excited to get comfy in my bed and have some wonderful dreams. I think after the past few days, I deserved some amazing and very peaceful dreams.

It was all and all quite a trip. I am just glad I made it; and I am proud of myself. I have a new found respect for myself, and my own endurance. However, within life in general, I always sort of figured that I was on a slow march toward a white strappy jacket. (If you know what I mean...) But after this weekend, I have realized it is more like I am galloping toward that point.