We are home

We had a blast! We enjoy life. We love being on the road meeting people but enjoy being home equally as well. The experiences that came along our way are special and will not be forgotten. I have found that there are good people all over this country. No one spot has a monopoly on high quality kind-hearted people. We look forward to touring the country once again in the fall of 2010.
We had a visitor to our yard while we were gone. A bear wandered to check out the place to see where we were. Some people have Watchdogs. We have Watchbears!
There is a lot of work to do now that we are home. When we don't perform, we enjoy to work in the yard. After not tending to the house for over 6 weeks and the fact that the winter has not been kind here in the Northwest (where is the global warmng anyway?). We had a dusting of snow here, this being April 3rd. Even though when we are away it is our livelihood to be performers, it is much like a vacation. There is no housework, cleaning or cooking.
Spring is around the corner. When you think if us, I will be chopping wood or Katherine will be getting the yard in shape. The pictures are the "before" picture. Check back in awhile to see the "after" picture.

Fort Benton and Highwood, MT

For personal reasons, Fort Benton was our highlight. We performed in Fort Denton specifically to see our friends from Sultan, Peter and Molly Wilson and there 4 month old son Tobias. Peter and Molly have performed with us at our Christmas concerts. Peter is part of our church family in Sultan. His parents are good friends of ours. For you country fans, Peter's mom is Gretchen Wilson. I must admit that she is not THEE Gretchen Wilson. But I am not THEE Journey (for you long haired rock fans).
Peter and Molly played with us at the concert in Fort Benton. They are both amazingly talented. This is Peter's first year of teaching music in Highwood, MT. We were delighted to bring the harps to Peter's school where his music students delighted us with our own personal concert. The school was presenting a concert for the parents in the evening we were in Highwood.
Here is a photo from our Christmas concert that Peter and Molly played with the other musicians as well.

A Blizzard en route to Montana

We didn't believe the weather man. There was a blizzard going on in Kansas, the direction we needed to go. So we headed north from Belleville/St Louis through Mark Twain's hometown of Hannibal, MO and into Iowa. We didn't have an opportunity to sightsee. It wasn't heaven (see blog post of two days ago). It was raining heavily all day. The skies cleared by the time we made it to Western Iowa. We spent the night in Sioux City, IO, a city that is in three states; South Dakota, Nebraska and Iowa.
It was a warm day when we started in the morning as we made our way through South Dakota on Interstate 90. We of course had to stop at the famous Wall Drugstore as we counted the miles down. There were weather reports of snow ahead of us. When we stopped for coffee in Gillette, WY we were told the local report was for snow to start falling at 6:00PM. It was 5:30 at the time and didn't believe the weather report as we walked back to the van, comfortably without wearing a coat, and with our latte in hand. When we left Gillette we hit the cold front and the snow. We stopped earlier than we wanted in Sheridan to spend the night. It was a fortunate thing for us we were able to follow a semi truck through the blinding and thickening snow.
It had snowed all night long. The snow was on the wetter side, as expected for March 30th. The good side of that is that the snow did not blow as much as it would have had it been colder. The down side is that the roads were icier than normal. The roads were closed heading east on Interstate 90 from Sheridan to Wall, SD. We were glad we made it to Sheridan. The roads became increasingly better the further west we drove to Billings. In Lewstown, MT the nice white van was a disaster!

Belleville, IL March 27th

The United Church of Christ in Belleville, IL has a fantastic music series organized by a group of music loving volunteers. A lot can be done with enthused volunteers. The church presents over 8 concerts durng the season of high quality.
Ron Steen is the group's leader. I am always curious as to how people stumble upon my name and music. Ron "met" me through a local tea shop that plays my music. He was having lunch with his wife Dawn at Rachel's Garden. Rachel's Garden carries my CD because of a former CD distributor of mine who is no longer in business.
The world is connected in so many ways. We do not live in a world of isolation. It's quite impossible to be isolated. Music connects us all in so many ways.
We were quite amused when we stumbed upon a buffet with my name on it. What kind of buffet would it be if it was an actual "journey" to get through it. Unfortunately we could not patronize the restaurant because there was a labor dispute occuring which closed the facility. There was a large banner on display saying unfair Journey is. It was odd seeing someone accusing me of being unfair.
We enjoyed our time in Belleville. The hotel room at the Drury Inn that the music committee furnished for us was one of the best. The weather was warm in the St Louis suburb, but snow was predicted the next evening. We didn't believe it.

On to Belleville, IL

We enjoy traveling when we can stop and see a sight or two along the way. I have had an interesting conversation with my mother-in-law. My idea of Heaven will be that no one will be wearing watches. We won't have to keep track of time. Katherine tends to lean the same direction. My mother-in-law's view is that is what going to "the other place" will be like. "Everyone will be late" is what she believes. That would not be her idea of Heaven. For me, traveling when there is no schedule is my idea of Heaven. We had a heavenly day driving. I think Katherine enjoyed the time as well, even though I wasn't paying too much attention to time. There is no more "heavenly" spot on earth than Hershey, PA where the famous chocolate is made. I don't think it would be too bad to wait around for someone at a chocolate factory.
The Hershey's were tremendously benevolent people. The Hershey's founded a boarding school for kids who came from disadvantaged circumstances. The Hersheys's were more focused towards the school than the chocolate. The Hershey's used their fortunes from their chocolate empire to fund the school. There is a tremendous lesson for me to learn from the Hershey's. They are an inspiration. It is a good place to visit.
We made a stop in Maryland in the Appalachian city of Cumberland. I was most impressed with the churches in the city as I was in many of the eastern towns. Cumberland is located at the western end of the canal that originated in Washington, DC in the Potomac River. The Cumberland Canal is the only canal remaining that one can walk along it's bank the entire way.
We drove through West Virginia spending the night on the Kentucky line.
Have I mentioned that Daniel Boone is a relative of mine? While driving through Kentucky we stopped at Daniel Boone's gravesite. I am royalty in Kentucky!
While driving through Indiana, we visited Abraham Lincoln's boyhood home. He too is an inspiration. I wonder if our elected leaders have visited these sights?
We arrived in Belleville, ready to present a concert the next day.