Tour '02 Update #5
09/17/02Written by AHQ
Editor's note: This time we're trying something new. The text of this update is dialogue from the last several hours in the car on the final leg of the journey home. We were supposed to be chronicling the last few days of our trip.
We left off in Flanagan, IL.
Konrad: We started out that morning later than we wanted too because Tom was late again and needed to get online again before we left again.
Tom: What time did we leave? I did? I sure don't remember that.
Kon: You were sleeping, in a daze! It wasn't past noon yet. How could you remember anything?
Tom: Oh, ok. So anyway, we left a little before nine or something because we were invited to sing at Pathway Christian School in Kalona, IA for their chapel. We made a big sacrifice to do it because we had to get up so early.
Byran: Some of us made a big sacrifice, others of us just got up early.
Tom: Well me and Kon were up really late that night defragging our computers. So anyway we drove some more that day and got to Kalona at about 12:30.
Byran: We sat around and watched the kids play during lunch until it was time for chapel. Then we just went in and sang a bunch of songs. We don't know how to do school chapels, we just go in and sing.
Tom: We're a quartet, when they ask us to do a chapel they expect us to sing!
Byran: Yeah but kids might get bored with us just singing all the time, they need stories. Kids need stories! Stories that make points!
Tom: Why hasn't David been saying anything?
David: Because I was trying to sleep.
From the photo shoot for the cover of our next CD! I'm eating a Hershey's bar.
Byran: My cousin Heidi (Editor's note: The very same Heidi we had along on the first part of our trip!) was at the chapel and then afterwards she led us over to our friends the Graber's house for lunch.
Kon: Where Debbie and Shannon had prepared a fantabulous feast for finishing. . .uh, no no no, a fantabulous feast where we ferociously finished our fast!
Tom: And then I slept on the chair for a few hours.
Byran: You were snoring too. And I had this method of making you quit by jostling you which worked once. . . .
David: Oh, I saw a tenth anniversary Viper on the way to Kalona!
Byran: . . . .but Kon wouldn't let me do it again.
Tom: Thanks. So anyway, we sang again that night at Sunnyside Mennonite Church and had another good service. Oh yeah, and then we ate a whole bunch afterwards in the fellowship hall!
Byran: Speak for yourself dude.
Tom: Ok. But anyway, the Headings and Grabers fixed a bunch of good food for us. Oh yeah, Merry Yoder was very upset with me for not putting a picture of Heidi's family in one of those early updates. I told her I'd try to get one when we were there again, but we didn't get the whole family did we Kon? I hope Merry's not too disappointed. We got most of them though, didn't we Kon?
Back row: Solomon, Harmony, Heidi, Rejoice. Front: Jamison, Emily, Eleanor.
Kon: Did you take your pills yet Tom? Take your pills.
Tom: Oh yeah. But I don't feel like digging them out and I don't have any water. Anyway, where were we at?
Byran: We split up that night after we ate. David and I spent a, a, a, a, an, an, enjoyable evening with Heidi and her family. Oh yeah, we got locked out of the house. We come up to the door LATE at night and the door's locked. And all the sudden everybody's talking about how all the windows are locked and the doors just happened to be locked. Turns out they had to go to the second story to find a window that was unlocked.
Kon: Tom and I stayed at Lynn and Ruth Grabers.
Tom: We need to speed this thing up.
Everybody: Um. . . .
Kon: Tom and I headed over to the Heading's house for a joyous quartet reunion where Heidi had prepared a bountiful breakfast brunch brimming with bananas, bacon, and baked breakfast. . . .any more b's boys?
David: Bummer, I don't believe so.
Kon: All kidding aside, it was a very good breakfast and we were all well filled and happy as we left for the day's journey.
Tom: What did we do the next day, I don't remember.
Kon: Wait, I wasn't done with this story. Tom and I had gotten up real early that morning so we could make it over for the brunch.
By (yelling): Wait, the brunch was at 11 o'clock! That's early for Tom but not for you Kon.
Kon: That's right, I had gotten up early but Tom hadn't. Whoa, antelope! Ok, so we arrived at the Headings' at about 10:40, walked into the house and foolishly expected to see By and David.
David: Foolishly my foot!
By: Let me talk! It was 20 minutes till brunch! You don't think we can get up in 20 minutes?!
Kon: We went in the house and greeted Heidi and after discovering no sign of them, asked where the guys were. She grinned bemusedly and said "I haven't seen them yet." Quite expectedly, Tom and I threw a fit.
Byran: Now that's the truest thing in this whole story!
Kon: Whereupon it was decided that we should go upstairs and pound By.
Tom: I think this story has went on long enough.
Kon: Turns out we thought we probably spent more time with their happy helpful hostess Heidi Headings than they did!
David: I hardly think so!
Tom: Anyway, now where are we.
Byran: We stopped at a Krispy Kreme!
Kon: Oh yeah, I missed an exit, perhaps providentially, and we couldn't get turned around until a Krispy Kreme parking lot. Since we were stopped, we got a couple bountiful boxes boasting big beautiful bouffant donuts that bloated our bellies. We ate like bums.
David: The donuts were deliriously delectable in light of the derelict Dunkin' Donuts we dutifully downed days earlier.
Tom: So we resumed heading for Nebraska. We stopped in Lincoln and sang awhile for the Ron Oswald family.
David: We were there to encourage them, but we received as much encouragement as we gave.
Kon: They had a love of the Lord that was reflected in their positive outlook on life, joy, and the way they welcomed us into their home.
Byran: Milford wasn't too far beyond Lincoln. We bumbled around the cornfields for like ten minutes before Tom finally phoned his uncle Lauren who guided us to his doorstep. I still had Cheerio with me at this point, but I don't think I had the West Nile virus yet. I do now though, I got a big old welt to prove it.
Tom: We stayed at Lauren and Verba's for the next two nights. My Dad is from Milford and I have a lot of relatives there. We sang at the Milford Mennonite Church Sunday morning. Lewis Miller, the preacher there, is a cousin to Dorcas Smucker and Paul put in the word for us when we needed a place to sing for that morning. After the service, we went to the small reunion potluck some of my aunts had planned. We sang a few songs there too. Then we went back to Lauren's and rested.
My aunt Verba, the Editor, and my uncle Lauren.
David: We sang at East Fairview Mennonite Church that evening. Our service went really well and Tom was able to record it again. We're grateful to Jim for setting up his quartet's sound system for us that night.
Tom: I met a ton of people that knew my Dad. I'm sorry Dad, I don't think I can remember all their names.
David: We sold all but 4 of our remaining CD's that evening and most of our tapes.
Byran: After the evening's service we went to Tom's aunt Lela's house for pizza. There were a lot of stories and laughter in the household that evening. They made us feel really welcome and were a joy to be around.
David: Tom's uncle Gary makes some awesome beef jerky and we were privileged to stock up on that.
Kon: I noticed Sunday morning the brakes on the car felt funny and sounded strange. Curiously enough, the feeling and the noise were related. Anyhow to make an unnecessarily long story shorter, one set of brake pads wore uneven and one pad was no long even remotely a pad. It was worn well past the rivets. Thus we could not leave early Monday morning as planned and left Milford about quarter till 3 that afternoon having had both front rotors turned and the pads replaced. Due to this unforeseen circumstance, we were able to play golf!
Tom: My brother Galen told me we should play golf at Milford, but we didn't have time to do it until the wonderful breakdown occurred! My uncle Kenny works at the course and set us up with clubs, carts, plenty of balls, and everything we needed without reimbursement. Now we need Kenny to come out to Oregon so we can take him golfing!
David: I trounced the other guys on the course for the first time in real golf, with first place and last place separated by 14 strokes. We won't mention who was last. I will mention though that By got beaned by a shot from Tom! Fortunately, By was protecting his head with his hands and the ball bounced off his hand instead of his cranial cavity.
Tom: Byran, do you have anything you'd like to add at this point?
Kon: Tom whined endlessly about wanting to stop at the Archway tourist attraction in Kearney, NE.
Tom: It was cool. Thanks for stopping.
Kon: We stayed the night in Cheyenne and left early in the morning.
David: We stopped about 11:30 for lunch at a Golden Corral buffet in Rock Springs, Wyoming. From then until 7:30 the drive was pretty uneventful.
At the Archway, there was a real photographer slinking around taking pictures.
So me and Kon thought we could do the fancy stuff too!
Kon: It was long about 7 when the fuel gauge showed one quarter, I said don't let me miss the next gas station. My fuel gauge had been acting up, the low fuel light has not been coming on. Well, they didn't let me pass the next gas station because there wasn't one before we ran out. Turns out we ended up 3 miles short of an exit that actually had gas. Thanks to David's triple A card and cell phone, gasoline was soon on its way. During this time we continued conversation about how much access the devil has to one's mind. The tow truck driver arrived in about half an hour. Before leaving, he asked if we were in a band.
Tom: We said we were a quartet, and we gave him a CD. He asked us to sing something for him right there, so we did a snippet of "Keep in the Middle of the Road." He said he's never had anything like that happen to him before.
Touring the Archway.
Kon: Why hasn't By said anything for a while?
David: Good question.
Tom: Maybe because it is now 2:38 am and we are an hour and a half away from home. It's too bad we're not coherent enough to bring this update to a fittinger conclusion.
David: We have enjoyed this trip immensely and are sorry to see it come to an end.
Kon: Si senor.
David: Special thanks to the other guys for letting me go to my SMBI tour reunion.
Kon: Si senor.
David: Extra special thanks to Nathan Glick for letting me drive his 1996 Dodge Viper R/T-10, which has to be the most beautiful car in the world.
Tom: Can't drop the current theme, si senor. We need to go on another tour as soon as possible.
Everybody: Si senor!
