David and Claire. I'm pretty sure this is on the way to St. Louis

We are standing behind the van. The road we're on is actually a part of historic Route 66, in Chicago (hence the sign).

This is the sticker that we put on the side of the van. 

Us, behind the van. This is right after the performance at Jesse Brown VA.

Back of the van, with all the band equipment/suitcases in it

Jesse Brown VA Hospital. We are in the cafeteria after our performance. 

I'm really behind on pictures, so I'm going to start from the beginning with some pictures from Jesse Brown VA Hospital and the Sprinter Van. But first, I have one more from the recording studio. Couldn't resist - Ginny is so cute!

Driving to Phoenix

Hi everyone! Right now we are driving to Phoenix, AZ for our next performance. The performance this morning in Albuquerque, NM went well. It was smaller than some of the others, but it was worth it for the people that were there. We performed twice - once in a hospital wing (1 hour) and then once in the courtyard (1 hour). I really like playing outside, so the courtyard was nice. Plus, the hospital is near an Air Force Base, so we were able to see planes flying overhead while we were performing! After the gig, we started driving to Phoenix, and we're still driving as I'm writing this. I think we have some stops planned, though. We might stop in Gallup, NM for some sightseeing. Not sure. We'll see how it goes!

Nicole

Texas, New Mexico, and Mountain Time!

Another successful day! This morning, we performed at the VA hospital in Amarillo, TX. They were having a barbecue outside, so we performed for two hours. The performances keep getting better and better! The veterans really appreciated the music, and the staff of the hotel was very hospitable. After the performance, we drove to the hotel in Albuquerque, NM. Yes! I can spell it! But in between the VA Hospital in Texas and the hotel in New Mexico, we changed time zones - now we're on Mountain Time! Anyway, that's where we are now. We had dinner at a nice restaurant in Albuquerque, and now we are back at the hotel. I'm hoping to get some extra sleep, because we start early tomorrow! The performance at the VA Hospital in Albuquerque is earlier than the rest of the performances.

Nicole

At the End of the Day (Day 3)

Just got to the hotel in Amarillo. It's actually a reasonable hour, unlike last night where we got in at 12:30 AM. The show this morning in Oklahoma City went really well! We performed outside in a little courtyard at the VA hospital, which was awesome! It was good for the people watching, but also for the people in their rooms - our sound echoed all the way up to the top floors! The audience was really engaged and the performance was a lot of fun. After that, we visited the Oklahoma City Memorial. It was a reflective experience for all of us, and I'm really glad we were able to go see it. After the memorial, we drove all the way to the hotel. The trip was not nearly as long as the one from St. Louis to Oklahoma City, which is good news for everyone. Well, so long for now - I think we're going to the Big Texan Restaurant for dinner.

Nicole

Anna, uh, not drumming? Listening to someone else record vocals, probably. 

David and Claire, probably listening to James record vocals.

Me!! Sorry, it's a little blurry.

. . . not quite sure what to say . . . 

Anna with her drums. She probably should be paying more attention . . . 

More pictures! By the way, these are from the recording studio. Claire singing!

Day 2

We're on the road again. Today was great! We went from the hotel in St. Louis to the Jefferson Barracks VA Hospital, but not before doing some fun video work at the hotel. Mr. Cieremans, David's dad, is making a video of the trip and he wanted to get some footage of us walking around St. Louis. He filmed us with the St. Louis Arch in the background, which was really fun, despite almost getting run over by some angry drivers! Anyway, the gig was also great. The people were extremely responsive and they really appreciated the music. We even got to stay for the entire hour and a half, which we weren't sure we were going to be able to. After the performance, we packed up the van (while  Mr. Cieremans filmed). Then we went to Saint Louis Bread Company, which is actually Panera, for lunch. And now we're driving to Oklahoma City, OK. The drive is nine hours - that's a lot of FIFA!

Nicole

So we're about 10 minutes outside St. Louis. This van is awesome! Just spent 5 hours chilling and watching David and James play FIFA World Cup on Xbox. I played one match, Italy v. Turkmenistan. And I won! Go Italy! I'll probably put up some more pictures too, but I think I'll have to wait until we get to the hotel. They take forever to load!

Nicole

Claire setting up James's saxophone, because it takes James forever to set it up. 

So I figured out how to put up pictures, so here are a lot of them just for fun!

First Attempt at Pictures

Sprinter!

The House on Wheels!

Yes, it's been a while since I've posted. I haven't had three seconds to think about it since we drove to Cream Ridge the first day. Here goes: brief summary of the past few days. Cream Ridge was great! It was long, but the people really enjoyed it. Only problem was the major traffic the first day . . . we ended up starting an hour late! Anyone familiar with New Jersey knows about a little thing called shore traffic - which there was a lot of. Anyway, we performed until five, then stayed overnight in a hotel in Cream Ridge, then performed again the second day. Then, after about a half hour of intense car packing, we left for Streetsboro, Ohio. We got in really late (or really early) at about 1:00 AM, but got a well deserved rest. Then we got up and drove to South Bend, Ohio, for a college visit to Notre Dame. Everyone really liked it, despite the fact that it was really hot and humid. After that, we drove to my house in Chicago. We unpacked the car, spent the night, then repacked the car for our first gig of the official road trip, this morning. It was at the Jesse Brown VA Hospital in Chicago, IL. We started off the morning performing in their mental ward, which is always a favorite of ours. Funny story: the first time we played there, we didn't know it was a mental ward. But after 2 sets of locked doors and a reception desk behind glass, we began to figure it out. However, you wouldn't be able to tell it from the patients that were there - they were lively and active, and extremely appreciative of our music. It turned out to be one of our best gigs! So we went back there today and performed for them again, and some of the nurses even remembered us. After that, we went down to the cafeteria and performed again for a different set of people. That also went really well. After that, we packed up the van and started on our route. However, in between the packing of our car and leaving for the trip, we got our Sprinter Van. We rented this van for the tour so we wouldn't have to worry about running out of space for suitcases and band equipment. It's seriously like a house on wheels! It's huge! We made David (who is 6' 4'') stand next to it and it was at least 3 feet taller than him! It's as close as we're going to get to a tour bus, but it's pretty close! It's really really really really really awesome! I'm hoping to be able to put up some of the pictures I took of it, but I haven't been able to get them up yet. We'll see if it works out. Anyway, we packed up the Sprinter (complete with stickers with our band name on them), left Jesse Brown VA, and started the tour. We planned on going to a restaurant on Route 66 in Chicago for lunch, but it was closed. So we drove for a while, and stopped an a different restaurant called the Launching Pad along Route 66. It had really, really big milkshakes and sodas. Good though! We drove for a while longer and stopped at the Dixie Truck Stop for gas. Now we're back on the road headed for a Hampton Inn in St. Louis. 

There you have it: the past few days in a nutshell. That's why I haven't been able to post in such a long time! :)

Enjoying the trip, 

Nicole