Concert Choir Day Two: The best thing to come out of Iowa all day

Aloha!

The boys are resting right now so I have a few minutes to update you all.  (Prefects don’t take naps – it’s a sign of weakness.  Prefects never show weakness.) 

 

The rain pushed through and left us with beautiful puffy clouds floating amongst the sun and blue sky.  The temperature is on the warmer side, about 86 degrees or so, but the bus AC is working okay so far.  From the looks of things, it’s going to get a good work-out on this tour.  Later in the week when we get to Evansville, it is supposed to be pushing 100 or so.  That will be a real test for us.

This morning went very well.  The host families in West Des Moines were very good to these boys and I think they really enjoyed having them in their homes.  Lots of hugs and email exchanges were going on before we boarded the bus.  Our Tour Jobs are starting to come along better as well.  Landon has his crew figuring things out with the suitcases and Jeffrey is handling the cooler crew efficiently as well.  As the tour goes along, we invent new jobs for the boys to do as well.  This morning, Camden added “GPS Setter-upper Guy” to his list of accomplishments.

Another new job is something we have been dreaming-up for a few years now.  You’d probably be surprised to know how little some of these boys retain when we go through the itinerary with them.  Generally, in the morning only a handful of the older boys actually could even tell us what direction we are traveling during the day.  To help combat this, (in theory), we are now tasking a boy to give a general run-down of the day ahead, including temperature, concerts, sight-seeing plans, and any other information that may be helpful to the boys.  This *should* help to alleviate some of the 14,298 questions we get in a typical day.  (Last year’s “Question King” was Joey…James is making a good, solid run at claiming that title through the first 29 hours.)  Jack was our first victim to give the spiel.  He did really well and set a good example for what we are looking for with this job.

So after some announcements and reflection on the previous 24 hours, we made our first stop at a Wal-Mart so we could replenish a few last minute items we weren’t able to get back home.  (One young lad bought a new toothbrush, toothpaste, and some deodorant with his spending money to replace the ones he left in his host home last night.  That is a $4.97 lesson that is sure to be remembered.  The LOLCB can buy a ticket for a boy at a cost of $20 and they won’t blink, but the second they have to “throw-away” money out of their personal account…that is when you really get their attention!)

Kenny handed-out the mail from the day before.  I must apologize about the email problem.  We are now receiving emails from parents to boys through mail@lolcb.org.  For some reason, that account stopped syncing to my phone, but it is fixed now.  The past day’s letters will be printed this evening and handed-out today for the boys.

A few miles down the road near the Iowa/Missouri border we stopped for lunch.  The boys had a chance to stretch their legs and relax.  It was an awesome rest area, complete with automatic doors!  (That’s a big deal in our world.)  After we finished lunch, we went through the state facts and Aaron gave the boys some local weird laws to know so they didn’t get arrested while in Missouri.  The last thing we need is some boy going to jail for putting a bathtub in his home that has four feet that resemble an animal – that will not be tolerated in the “Show-Me” State.

Well, the boys are probably ready to get-up now.  We are about an hour ahead of schedule, so chances are fairly high we are going to find a big old truck stop and do some souvenir shopping.  Before the boys wake-up though, I need to research “How many calories does typing burn”.

-          P.J.