Monday: Arriving in Chicago

Monday began in Louisville, Kentucky, just where Sunday had ended. When I made rounds in the morning, all the tape was in place. Our hotel in Louisville actually had us all on one floor, which was a delight. In 20 tours, I'm not sure any hotel has had all our rooms on one floor. It made untaping a dream!

I went ahead and went downstairs to grab some breakfast, waiting in anxious anticipation for what I knew laid ahead.

(To the tune of Margaritaville):

Wastin' away again in Hampton waffle-ville.

Searchin' for my lost syrup and fork.

Some people claim that there's a youth choir to blame, but I think,

Heck it could be my fault.

Breakfast time on tour. I ate a waffle, as is my custom. But also breakfast time is for doing hair, as demonstrated by Morgan and Elizabeth.

Our first order of business (post waffles) was to sing a concert at Magnolia Springs. When I walked in, I suspected the concert would be good because the space where we sang was a 3 story atrium.

What that meant is that we had the audience in front of us, and then we also had some audience around us as our sound wafted around the whole facility. We weren't in optimal configuration because we had to condense to 4 rows instead of spreading out in 3. But the kids sounded so good. They were just...on. Several of them are claiming I was crying during one of the songs...but to be clear, I deny this. It doesn't count as crying if you don't have a tear actually fall.

Bishop (now going by his callsign, Bravo Cadet), enjoyed the concert.

Shout out to the work crew who brings in whatever equipment we need for our concerts. Today it was just a chair and a couple of music stands, but it can include our whole sound system (as it did on the first day). This well-oiled machine just gets what we need where we need it.

I mentioned the atrium had multiple levels with audience on all of them. If they're going to come to listen to us, we'll seek them out and visit them! I actually found this moving. They saw her up there, and she waved at them during the concert. So after the concert, they said, "We're going to go find her." It just showed me they had a real connection that started with the music but didn't confine itself to the music. And that's what we're here for.

Always nice to see family when we are singing! Hadley's grandma popped over to hear our concert.

We stopped to eat at a place that is a geographical anomaly. Google says there's a McDonald's, but the satellite view shows it's an open field. I was curious as to what we'd find. Fortunately for our appetites, maps was correct, and there were a number of restaurants. Including, as it happens, a Krispy Kreme. And the light was on. So these girls went on over there and picked up donuts for the chaperones. Nicely done.

Also, twinning, as they say, is winning!

After lunch we set our face to Chicago. The drive into Chicago was pretty cool! Here's a great shot of the skyline form a distance.

None of the kids have seen Married with Children.

For the second day in a row, a member of Gwyn's family magically appears with a sign for her. I wonder if she'll threepeat.

Our first stop was Giordano's for deep dish pizza. Photos here of some of the groups (not all) before the pizza arrived. I thought the salad was good.

This Georgian was disappointed right here, though. That dark cola is Pepsi. Gross.

The pizza did not disappoint. Honestly I didn't expect to like it, but it was delicious. Ginny is here modeling how to take a piece of pizza off the tray. Immediately after this picture was made, the cheese stretched long, and I put the phone down to help cut the cheese. Ha! The dad is strong with this one.

This is the aftermath. Everyone was full. The Loadout (Jackson Brown) started playing in my head.

After dinner we went to the Willis Tower, or as I prefer to call it, the Sears Tower. The observation deck is on the 103rd floor, and they have these ledges you can walk out on. Completely enclosed. Honestly to me it didn't actually feel high up, but to a lot of people it does. How does my scared face look?

We'll be going to that church on Wednesday! ("I can see my house from here!" -God)

When we got to our hotel we started writing our thank you notes. So many people contribute to making this trip possible, and we want them to know how much we appreciate them. So we talk about that, and we talk about how to write a good note.

These two are seasoned pros.

And that was the day! Not a terribly late night. Not a terribly early morning either. Sleeping on choir tour. This is a novel concept. Looking forward to a concert and Six Flags tomorrow!