Broken Record

Wow, this is terrible. I was just about to start this post by lamenting the fact that I'm still behind on posts, when I realized that I've basically done the same thing at the beginning of each of my last three posts. 

So...yeah...

We're back on the road through mid-December, so I'm in it for the long haul right now. Today is a day off, which has been much needed! It's definitely nice to be back in the routine, though.

One thing in which I have been extremely belated is thanking and acknowledging awesome friends who made long drives this summer to come see shows!

First, in July, my friends Jere and Lies'l drove out to Redlands, CA, from AZ (6 hours each way!) to see our performance at the Redlands Bowl. Not only did they make t-shirts and a poster for the concert, but they even stayed in the same hotel just to hang out for the night! It was an awesome way to start tour, having my friends in the same hotel just a handful of rooms away.

With Jere & Lies'l the following morning in the hotel.

For those of you who have followed my blog for a while, they were the ones responsible for this hilarious photo from our show in Gilbert in 2009.

We grabbed some food after the show and nearly stepped on this little guy as he crossed the sidewalk.

Then in Napa Valley, just two days later, Ben, with whom I was a groomsman in a wedding earlier this year, came to the show with his wife, Sam, and her brother who was in town visiting! 

L to R: Sharon, Sam, Ben, and me.

Even though this tour was only one week long with two shows, I made a pretty terrible mistake in my opening speech and said, "We're so excited to be here in Redlands!" Not until I heard the audible groaning from the audience did I realize that Redlands was two nights prior and we were actually in Napa Valley. Whoops. Funnily enough, Ben and Sam both thought I had misspoke on purpose...I must have covered better than I thought!

Last month in Rochester Hills, MI, my friend David brought his girlfriend Julia to the show. David and Julia, both of whom are PhD candidates at MSU in Zoology, had just spent the summer researching hyenas in Kenya. You read that correctly: they're hyena researchers. They're hyena researchers in the David-has-been-chased-by-a-lion-and-is-conversationally-fluent-in-Swahili kind of way. Ridiculous.

The MSU Hyena Research Lab keeps a blog, to which both David and Julia have contributed. To check it out, you can go here. [Warning: some of the photos on the blog are slightly more graphic than Disney's depiction of the circle of life.]

Thank you Jere & Lies'l, Ben & Sam, Sharon, and David & Julia for making trips to come see the show! I feel incredibly lucky to have such supportive friends.

Coincidentally enough, I'm heading out in just a little bit to go see The Lion King 3D (...for a second time) with some of the Barrage people!