Concert Choir Tour - Day 1

Aloha!

Probably going to be a short blog post tonight so I will apologize in advance.  We're all a bit tired, but things went very well today and the boys were all in pretty good spirits.  Thank you to everyone for helping to get us on the road on time and so far to our knowledge, with 99.9% of everything we needed.

So after the pictures and potty breaks at the building, we hugged our mamas and boarded the bus for the great state of Iowa.  This entire day went very smooth.  This is a great, fairly mellow, group of boys and I am expecting big things from them.  We changed them into their play clothes before we hit Rogers and let them chill-out with some free time all the way to Owatonna.  At the rest stop, we swung in and ate lunch then boarded the bus to continue our trip.  The boys had a rest period for a strong hour and then it was back to some free time.  I played the School House Rock video called "Earth" - quite disappointing.

We entered Iowa and Aaron explained the strange laws of Iowa while I sung a rendition of the Iowa state song for the boys, along with telling them many of the state facts about Iowa.  Before we knew it, we were in  Aaron's hometown of LeMars and preparing to sing in the beautiful St. Joseph's Catholic Church, which only opened this past October.  An amazing space and the boys were quite excited to sing in it.

The concert preparation went very smooth and the boys worked through their concert jobs for the first time. They also prepared very well with their focus and pre-concert routine.  The concert itself went very well and was well attended. We have a little work to do on the post-concert routine, but I am pleased with where we are at for Day One.  After a few cookies, the boys met their host families and made their way home for the night.


A very routine, smooth Day One.

P.J.

Concert Choir Tour - Day 1

This is where you will find the blog posts for the Concert Choir Tour.  Be sure to check back here later tonight for the latest updates.  Thank you!

Concert Choir Day Seventeen: Home

Aloha!

Since a number of you use this for your son's journals and other memory items, I will finish it out this year.  Makes no sense to have only 16 of the 17 days logged.

This morning was beautiful as the boys boarded the bus from Neillsville, Wisconsin.  Two of the ladies looked quite distraught as she was saying "goodbye" to the boys...she was afraid to give them hugs "because of how things are these days", but she wanted desperately to do so.  Before I could even get the permission out, the boys instinctively did it on their own to say their farewells.  I am more than a little certain that made her week.

The people of Neillsville were extremely kind to us.  It was one of the highlights of the tour, for sure.  Before we could leave the area completely, we had one more stop to make at "The Highgrounds", a veterans memorial on the outskirts of town.  The Highgrounds are the only 24-hour a day staffed veterans memorial in the country.  They are very much about healing and helping vets and they show it in everything they do.  Kirk, our volunteer tour guide, did a great job of showing the boys each of the exhibits and doing his best to instill the significance of the memorials to the youngsters.  The weather was already on the warmer side by 11, but the boys did a great job.  They also sang "America the Beautiful" for Kirk, who seemed very moved by the piece.

The boys ate their lunch on site and then boarded the bus for the ride home.  Honesty disclosure:  It wasn't the most pleasant day to be on the bus, with the temps again pushing our old bus's air conditioner to its limits.  With temperatures as high as they were in the bus, some of the anxiousness to get home and the fatigue of 17 incredible days began to wear on the boys.  They were tired and really wanted to just get home.  I wanted them to get home as well, as some of them were a bit on the cranky side.  As wonderful as they are, at the end of the day, they are still boys.  These days do happen.

The drive went fast, as we gave them a good long rest period to help prepare them for the concert.  At 3:35 or so, we pulled into the parking lot to a wall of family, friends, and other supporters who gathered to welcome us home.  Banners, flags, and balloons all waved around as we brought our 34 travelers to their final stop of the tour.  We were home!

The dinner was incredible.  There was so much food that I wasn't sure we'd be able to even put a dent in it.  After filling ourselves again, we warmed-up the boys and took the stage for what would be some of the boys final time.  The boys certainly saved their best for last, as well.  It was probably the best show of the year.

After unpacking the bus and saying our goodbyes, I have no idea what happened with the boys.  They are at their homes, and they are someone elses charge tonight - not this guys.

Thank you to everyone that watched this blog for the past 3 weeks.  Your comments and kinds words are inspiration for me to keep it going.  Thank you for your support of this organization and these great boys.  

P.J.

Concert Choir Day Sixteen: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Neillsville

Aloha!

If you are reading this, it means we are back in decent cell phone range.  The past 14 hours or so has been a nice disconnect from the constant barrage of emails and text messages.  For those of you waiting for an update – well, I’m sorry.

Yesterday morning was about as good as it can get.  It’s never easy mobilizing 40 people to get through the same breakfast line, cleaned-up, packed-up, and loaded-up on the bus.  On this particular morning, it went very well.  The boys were faster than their usual pokey selves and the motel we were at did an incredible job of getting all the boys fed well and on the road.  At one point during the breakfast, there were 5 different motel staff members helping to serve the food. 

…and about that food!  The line started with your usual oatmeals, cereals and toast.  Then it blossomed into a smorgasbord of pancakes, waffles, sausages, biscuits & gravy, four different kinds of juices, and the most popular stop:  the made-to-order omelets.  The boys ate like kings on this morning.  It was pretty great.

We were about to be leaving right now time, when the motel manager stopped us and had all the boys take one a beverage from his little lobby store.  He was so happy with the boys and their stay.  (They posted on our Facebook wall as well.)  3 minutes late, we boarded the bus and headed on our way. 

The first 99.9% of the drive was fairly normal.  The heat beat us pretty good, bringing the temperature in our old bus up to 87 at some points.  These buses just aren’t made for this kind of weather, especially when they are 22 years old.  Rodney did a great job of keeping it as cool as possible, but there was just little any of us could do.  The boys did very well.  They had games out for most of the ride, so that kept them calm, quiet, and in their seats.

Around 12:55, we stopped at McDonald’s for lunch.  The boys have gotten very good at ordering and getting situated in the store.  It’s never easy to get 40 people in and out of McDonald’s in 40 minutes, but we manage to make it happen pretty regularly.  We’ve learned a few tricks over the years that work well for us.  After several practice runs of it at other lunches along the way, the boys finally have it down.  Compliments about the boys came from everywhere – customers and employees alike.  It was a pretty proud moment for this guy.

After a nice long rest period, we stopped at a rest stop on 94 – the same 94 that runs right through our backyard.  We are starting to get close, and the signs along the way for St. Paul are a constant reminder.  The boys are going to be a handful tomorrow.  They always are down the home stretch, much like a horse running home to the barn.  From here on out it is just a lot of pulling-back on the reigns.  As we were boarding the bus, Rodney mentioned that we were getting low on fuel –just over 1/8 tank.  We weren’t too far from the church, so the plan was to drop the boys off so they could prepare, then run up to the store to top the tank-off for the last leg of the tour.  

As we came into Neillsville, we passed the gas station that had diesel for $3.59 – a pretty decent price.  Being less an a mile from the church (and one mile back to the station), the plan to drop the boys off was still feasible.  In a pinch, we have been lower in the tank.  

We went about 3 blocks north, then took a left up a small hill.  Three blocks from the church, the bus stopped.  We ran-out of fuel.  Although there was still fuel in the tank, it sloshed to the back of the tank on the hill and left us stranded.  (For those of you unfamiliar with diesel engines, they are NOT something you want to run out of fuel.  It is quite the process to get fuel back in the lines and get you running again.)

The boys didn’t panic at all.  Immediately, they got quiet and I could tell the understood the situation.  Without missing a beat, Aaron gathered them all and began the walk to the church to begin preparing for the concert.  Since we were in Neillsville, the hometown of Karen Heineck and Julie Strub, we immediately called in for some assistance and got things rolling.  Rick Strub loaded everything we needed for the concert in his vehicle and brought it the rest of the way to the church.  Rodney found some local guys that knew a thing or two about diesel engines.  A local man, Dale, was on his way to our concert when he saw the bus.  He sprang into action, calling around to find the right people we needed to get the bus going again.  

One of those people was his father, who knew more than a thing or two about priming the fuel lines so we could get moving.  While he worked on the necessary parts, his son Dale called the local tire shop to get an industrial sized air compressor to blow the fuel from the tank up front to the engine in the back.  While all of this was going on, I made 4 trips to the gas station with fuel cans to get as much volume and back pressure as possible in tank.  Within 2.5 hours, a few weird looks, and a handful of guys in need of a good shower (temps on the bus reached 103), we had the old girl back up and running in time to catch the second half of the concert.  A huge thank you to Dale, his father, Ned (the air compressor guy), Rick, and Rodney for all their help with this.  We promise not to let it happen again!

The concert was very well attended and the boys did a great job.  The audience seemed very impressed with the boys.  Many had heard them the last time we were in Neillsville and commented on how well they did.  After an ice cream social provided by Roger & Mary Heineck, we handed-out mail and sent the boys home with their host families.  At the end of the day and all things considered, it was a pretty good day.

Boys are home tomorrow, so there is still time to donate towards our goal of $4,000 to help these boys!  Please consider a gift today!  Click here!

P.J.

Concert Choir Day Fifteen: Wednesday, In the Park, I Think It Was The Fourth of July

Aloha!

Being we were in Chicagoland, I thought that was an appropriate title for today's post!  Let's get to it.

This morning we woke from our slumber in the First Presbyterian Church in Sandusky. We ate our breakfast in the Fellowship Hall and packed-up our things.  We had a little extra work as well to help clean-up the spaces we used.  Our mantra, "leave everything better than you found it" was in full effect this morning.  This was a good example of that.  After the cleaning was done, the boys loaded the bus and we headed-out for Chicago.

The theme of the day was staying cool.  With much of the US sizzling in the sun, we had little sympathy as we trudged on through the temps in the high 90's.  The bus air conditioning is good, but not that good.  The temps in the bus throughout the day hovered around a muggy 82 degrees.  By the time 3:00 in the afternoon came around, it never dipped below 85.  It was fairly uncomfortable, but I don't recall hearing a single complaint from the boys, now that I think about it.

With today being an "off" day - our second in a row, the boys were able to stay in comfortable clothing.  We put them in their play clothes right away this morning and we stayed in them all day.  Very rarely does that ever happen on a tour.  The red polos will be getting a good workout the next two days, so I hope we can get them washed while we are in Neillsville, WI.

When we arrived at the motel, neither Aaron nor I really wanted to fight traffic in this heat and on a hot bus for 3 of the next 6 hours.  In addition, we needed to find a place to eat the Chicago-Style stuffed pizza we had been promising the boys for 2 weeks now.  In order to simplify our evening plans, we needed to find a better plan, and fast.  Aaron found a great fireworks display in a park 1 mile from our hotel and I worked on getting the pizza we promised delivered to our motel.  Once the plan was set, we had to sell it to the boys.  I made my pitch, room by room, and not a single boy voted to go to Navy Pier.  I was expecting at least a handful of unhappy boys, but  the vote came down to 34-0.

The pizza came from Giordano's and it was incredible!  Many of the boys could only handle one piece since they were so large.  Rodney said it was probably the best pizza he has ever had in his life.  I probably concur with that.  After filling our gills to the gills, we spent a little time digesting the food while we waited for the darkness to get closer.  Around 7:00, we grabbed our hats and cameras for the short walk to the park.

Along the way, Adam and a pair of boys took a detour to get three cases of water for the boys.  With all the heat the past few days, we have been going through water like crazy. Counting the 3 cases this evening, we have gone through 13 cases of water in 3 days.  You don't have to worry too much if your boys are drinking enough!  (The bathroom breaks are at a high pace as well....)

The boys had a little more than and hour to kill until the show, so several of them checked-out the band playing at the park.  There were a few other attractions, but the boys were mostly content playing games in the field.  Around 9:32, the first shot fired up into the sky and illuminated the entire surrounding area.  It was a very good fireworks show.  (We figured it would be as thousands of people were staking-out their spots more than 2 hours beforehand.)  The whole show took about 35 minutes and ended with the Grand Finale, which I posted on our Facebook Page.  The boys had a great time at the fireworks and we walked the mile back to our motel.

All the boys showered and hopped into bed.  I just did another round of checks and they seem to be well on their way to dreamland.  I feel like a broken record, but it was another great day!

 There is still time to join our Tour Fundraiser.  Two more donations occurred today, bringing our total up to $2,562 towards our goal of $4,000.  Thank you to everyone that has helped to keep this program strong and available for all boys!  To contribute, please click here and help today!

P.J.

Concert Choir Day Fourteen: What Goes Up, Must Come Down!

Aloha!

Still a little worn-out from all the fun yesterday, but we’ll be resting just fine on Saturday!

Yesterday was another great day.  I feel like I am typing that line just about every post now.  The fact is, the things these boys are doing is pretty awesome.  I’m even having fun going to some of these places as a staff member.  

Tuesday was Cedar Point day, which was the most anticipated day of the year for many boys.  If it’s not the biggest and best amusement park in the world, it has to be on the short list at the top.  To put it in terms you may understand, Cedar Point makes Valley Fair look like the Sherburne County Fair on wristband night.  Tucked in the shadows of the enormous roller coasters and thrill rides are the rides that would still dwarf the best in Minnesota.   It was pretty sweet!

The day started with breakfast in our accommodations in Sandusky at First Presbyterian Church, where we performed the night before.  Since we were all together, it was a little quicker to get everyone on the same page and loaded in the bus.  We took it pretty easy since the park didn’t open until about 10:00 anyways.  We had the whole day to spend there, so time was on our side for sure. 

The park is located on a point out in Lake Erie.  After a scenic drive down Cedar Point Causeway, we arrived at the Taj Mahal of thrill parks.  The boys measured their height and divided themselves into two groups:  the crazy, extreme group, and the grounded, reserved, logical group.  Lisa, Kenny, and Adam took the extreme group while Aaron and I led the group of 10 boys who live a little further from the edge.  We let the boys find new partners for the day so everyone had the chance to do what they wanted.  It was a nice break for some of the partnerships.  

A very short, but wet line of storms played with us throughout the morning.  By the time the boys were on their second ride, every single one of them was soaked to the bone, but that wasn’t going to derail their plans of fun.  The rain was actually our friend on this day, as it helped keep the insane lines away for the entire day.  The boys were able to get in several more rides because of the shorter wait times and crowds to navigate.  It was a pretty good deal for us.

The boys spent the morning getting their fill for rides until we met for lunch in a pretty sweet picnic area around 1:00.  Then it was back to the park for more rides.  The extreme group was able to get on every big ride in the park during the course of the day.  The less extreme group went on several car rides, tilt-a-whirl, and bumper car trips. To get their money’s worth.  Everyone had a good time.

The only pictures we managed to take during the day at the park were on this incredible extreme ride by Lisa.  The ride shoots you straight-out and then straight-up at 120 MPH.   Many boys thought it was the best one.  Crazy boys.

While the boys were exhausting themselves, I ran up to Wal-Mart to find some dinner for the boys.  The picnic area had permanent grills on site that we could use, so I bought foot-long hotdogs, chips, and pop for all the boys to eat.  By 6:00, we had it all ready for them to eat as they came-out from the park.  The boys were pretty beat and the majority had feet so sore from walking that they just needed to sit for a few hours.  We made the decision to head back to the church for the night and get an early bedtime, given the late night we would be having in Chicago the next day. 

We did give the boys the option for a sunset walk just a few blocks away on the shores of Lake Erie.  A handful of boys took us up on the offer and had a neat time checking-out the beautiful shores of the Great Lake. 

 

Around 10:00, we gathered our freshly-showered boys and I told a couple of short stories to help calm them down before they hit the hay.  It was another good day.

P.J.

 

PS – There are only 3 more days left on our Tour Fundraiser.  We hope to raise $4,000, or about $1 per mile and memory we are making for these boys.  Please take a minute and check-out our page.  Every donation helps to make an impact on these boys!  We can’t do it without you!  Click here to go to the fundraisingpage.

Thanks!

Concert Choir Day Thirteen: We Have an Erie Feeling...

Aloha!

The boys are safe and sound, tucked into their air mattresses here at First Presbyterian Church in Sandusky, Ohio.  This is a much more pleasant town than I was expecting.  Nestled along the banks of the Lake Erie between Cleveland and Toledo, this city boasts many miles of shoreline and a very resort town feel to it.  I like it!

The day started in Tonawanda, New York with the boys all together in a motel where we stayed for the two previous nights.  Our schedule was pretty relaxed this morning, so we used the opportunity to hand-out the clothes from the day laundry trip the night before and also give the bus a thorough cleansing.  These boys had it pretty messy, so we used this as an opportunity to learn from our dirtiness.  Since we had everything unloaded from the bus, we also used this as a chance to switch seats for the last time on the tour. 

We had our first minor injury of the trip - an occurrence that is bound to happen when traveling for 17 days with 34 boys.  Young Mr. Joel was burned by a little hot water from a coffee pot at breakfast this morning.  It's got a nice little blister to it, but it wasn't bad enough that we needed to go to the doctor.  He's a trooper and says he is doing "just fine".

The trip to Sandusky wasn't real far, so we left about 10:30 am and headed West.  It wasn't long before we were in Pennsylvania.  Since fuel was a little cheaper there, we filled-up the tank ($513 worth - ick) and got the free cup of coffee you get with every 50 gallons of fuel purchased!  No joke - if you buy 50 gallons of fuel, you get a free coffee.  What a deal!

Our next stop was just down the road in Erie.  The Cracker Barrel was our choice for lunch today, and boy did they deliver a good meal!  We called ahead to give them an hour and a half warning that we were coming.  That gave them plenty of time to prepare enough table space and puzzle games for our arrival.  The boys ate pretty well and we had a few minutes to sit out in the rocking chairs on the front porch.  The manager commented on how great the boys were and one of the waitresses said this was the best bus group she had ever seen in all her years of working here!

The boys took a good, long rest period after lunch on the bus.  Our birthday boy, Alexander, got first choice of where to sleep today.  Finding a good spot to sleep during rest period is somewhat of an art.  There are special ways you can sit in the seats and special places on the bus that are better than others.  On cold days, when the AC is working very well, the nice place to sleep is on the back floor, just above the warm motor.  On hot days, like today, the ideal place is up front, just at the point where the floor starts sloping-downward and the vents for the AC begin.  You get great airflow there.

When the boys woke-up, they were in Ohio and at a rest stop about 30 minutes outside of Sandusky.  We changed on the way into town and could see the rising towers and coasters at Cedar Point in the distance.  It is a pretty formidable park!  After taking the Head Choristers and Assistant Head Chorister in to the church to look at the layout, the boys prepared for the concert and ate a wonderful sloppy-joes and corn on the cob dinner. 

The only downside to this beautiful old church is its lack of A/C.  With the temps well into the 90's, much like Minnesota is experiencing, along with the rest of the country, the old wooden building became very much like an enormous sauna.  With fans blowing everywhere, we dressed the boys in their concert uniforms on the air conditioned side of the building where our changing room was, and spent as much time over there in the cool air as possible.  I took the opportunity to try and be proactive with my pre-concert speech.  We went over all the protocols if you feel faint and what to do if someone next to you faints.  It's as basic as it sounds:  catch them.  Then I basically explained to them that they were performers, the audience was just as hot as they were, and it was their job to put on a good show.  I also threw in some "soldier sympathy" for them by showing them the temperature on my phone in Baghdad, Iraq and explaining what soldiers go through and how much worse it is than the little warmth we have here, not to mention all the equipment and clothes they have to wear.  If soldiers got to run around in the breathable tailored suits Wanda Mae made for us, our soldiers would be much cooler indeed!

One other thing I did was praise them for what I consider one of the most amazing things of the tour.  Usually, we have about one boy every other concert or so that feels ill and sits out a portion of a concert.  Sometimes these are legit, but often times they are an indicator of other issues.  This year, we haven't had a single note missed on stage because a boy wasn't feeling well.  To me, that is amazing!  (After tonight, the streak continued as well!)

Despite the heat, the boys performed one of their best shows of the year, earning yet another standing ovation and winning the hearts of another audience.  After the show, a special guest introduced herself to the boys from in the audience.  Jackie Mayer, Ms. America 1963 is from Sandusky and happened to be in the audience tonight.  Even though the boys were already half-changed when we discovered this, we made them go put their hot blue shirts on and come take a picture for this unique meeting.  She loved the boys and spent a bunch of time talking with them after the photo.  She was great to meet and a nice ending to another great day!  That is also when a few boys were "bombed" by passing birds as well.  Ethan got the worst of it, right on the side of the face.  It's not nice to laugh, but that was pretty funny! 

The boys are all together tonight in a wing of the church used to house mission trips.  There are about 40 air mattresses all ready for us, complete with a kitchen, shower facilities and some room to relax.  It's a pretty great deal for us and it works-out perfectly!  All the boys took a shower tonight and should be dreaming about roller coasters and long lines right about now.

This kid needs to get to bed so he can keep up with them in the morning,
P.J.