Colorado Springs, CO

Yesterday we were in Rapid City, SD which I thought was a cool little town. Very frontier-like with pretty hills and trees. We left Columbus the day before and had to take three flights on two different airlines to get to Rapid City. It's annoying, but I'd rather do that than be on a plane for hours. We've been flying quite a bit recently, but that was the last time for a little over a month.

We stayed at a hotel that was pretty close to Mt. Rushmore, so yesterday we went to see it before we headed to the gig. The dive was beautiful, and so was the whole area around Mt. Rushmore. I had never been there before. We snapped some pictures, visited the gift shop and headed to the venue.

Robin the tour promoter isn't out with us for the next few days because he lives in Mexico and Jeff is a germ-a-phobe. He made Robin stay out in LA for a few days "just to be sure." I thought that was kinda funny. Jeff was actually a little sick last week. He told a story in his monologue one night about his most recent appearance on Letterman (that was a couple of weeks ago when we were staying in San Fransisco). Before he went through the rehearsal he accidently took nighttime cold medicine and it made him a bit incoherent. Then he said he slammed some Redbulls before the taping and things went okay. During the shows last week you couldn't even tell he was sick. Marnell brought out a couple of trash cans off stage for one show which we assumed was for if he needed to throw up. But that didn't happen so that's not a crazy story I could tell.

Last night was our 50th show! Steve said the rest of the tour in indefinite, and I think we're all okay with that. Jeff wants to keep on performing, and it sounds like we'll be sticking with it too.

Nampa, ID

The first day in San Fransisco I met up with three of the guys a little after noon and we walked down to Fisherman's Wharf (it was an all downhill walk). We did the typical shopping, getting something to eat and taking pictures. Then we took a cab back to the hotel to drop off some stuff, then took another cab to Haight-Ashbury and did some more shopping. After about an hour my cousin Natalie and her boyfriend met up with us there and we headed to a restaurant right on the coast called Beach Chalet. It was really nice, but pretty crowded. Half of the guys didn't want to wait so they took off for another place. It was an open air type restaurant with a lawn that had open seating, so that's where we sat. After that we dropped off the guys and Natalie and I went out for some drinks. That was fun. It was just the two of us talking for a while, then a couple of guys sat down by us and we talked to them which provided some good entertainment.

The next day I went to Union Square with some of the guys for some more shopping, then went back to the hotel for a bit. Grace Cathedral was one block from our hotel so I walked around that for a bit and took some pictures. Then I went back to get packed up and checked out of the hotel. Natalie and Trevor came to pick me up and we went to get some sushi. As we were finishing up our food, an employee came around and handed out bingo cards to everyone and said we were playing for a $20 gift card. After the first game they said not to clear our cards because we'll play again for some hot sake. Trevor and I both needed the same number to win, and they ended up calling it! They brought us two bottles and three little glasses. We were plannning on getting some gelato after our meal, but we decided we shouldn't let free sake go to waste. I had to be on the bus before 8pm, so that's why we didn't have time for anything else after that.

But it was a very nice couple of days. It's kinda weird having just a couple of days in big cities because you want to do as much as you can, but also get some rest because they are days off.

Now we have two shows in Idaho, then back home for three days, and back out again.

San Fransisco

Two days off in San Fransico! We're at a super nice hotel in the Nob Hill area called the Farimont. We got here a little after 2am. It took me quite a while to fall asleep. I don't know if I'm so used to the bus now or what, but I woke up a lot earlier than I expected too as well. But anyway, I'll probably meet up with some of the guys for lunch, explore a bit, then meet up with my cousin Natalie when she gets off work this evening. I'm excited! I've been here before and I love it.

Two days ago we were in San Jose and it was Jeff's birthday. At the end of the show Marnell and Robin surprised him by bringing up a cake while Brian played and everyone sang Happy Birthday. I head the cake cost about $1,500. It was Achmed, Walter and Peanut sitting on a suitcase.


When we got back on the bus after load out the remainder of the cake was on our table. Achmed was the only part that go eaten. I didn't eat any, but Chovie the merch guy said he had some and it almost make him sick.

Sacramento, CA

Back on the road after about 2 weeks away. I may have mentioned that even though it was time off of the tour it wasn't really time off. We still had some work to do back in Columbus including a big show for the annual YWCA Women of Achievement awards lunch and a Youth Evangelical Celebration in Dayton. The Dayton show I like doing because we're there for a couple of days for a fairly easy show, but Women of Achievement is a big pain. Three days of set up for a one hour show. We had lots of problems, too. But I won't go into all of that.

During some actual time off I was able to see some friends and family which I was happy about :) I always love seeing all of you!

Also, I found this press release on our company's website that you might enjoy.