THE NEST

All Blue Devils vehicles have a nickname. The members’ buses (charter buses of the Muskingun company from Ohio) are called The Hound, the ’04 and The Funliner.

Then there’s The Lone Star, the big blue and well equipped staff bus.
The motor home that’s on tour is called
The food truck is simply Devils Food.

And our support staff bus is The Nest. The Nest used to be a 45 passenger Greyhound like charter bus, transformed years ago into a very convenient tour bus. What’s left from the original situation on the bus is the driver’s seat and the first row of two sets of two seats in the front row. That’s where our cooler filled with ice is standing.

Then there’s a curtain to keep the light out of the rest of the bus. The rest of the bus consists of bunk beds only. All original furniture had been taken out and replaced by 16 beds, so we actually get to sleep well while on the road at night.

I just woke up (7:15 AM) and since I had hit the sack I have never noticed we were rolling. We must have got here at about 5:30 AM. Our driver Andres (a former BD tuba player who aged out in 2000 when the corps came to Europe) obviously has his own bunk as well.

My bunk on The Nest

My bunk is right in the middle of the bus, closest to the AC.
The bus has a generator so we can plug in whatever we want. Some bunks have their own little reading light, others have a fan and there are phone chargers lying on the ground everywhere.
I have my camera battery charger plugged in and when in use also my laptop.

Occasionally we have a few drinks when we start driving to the next location, not every night though. It’s usually beer, or mix drinks.
Sleeping on here is very comfortable, even though I do think I am catching a cold due to the AC.

On our way to San Antonio we found out that quite a few of us on The Nest have a passion for Big Band. I played some of the stuff I have on CD with me. The Nettai Tropical Jazz Big Band from Japan was a big hit. The water boy, a Japanese kid named Kotaro, is the first person I met who actually knows this Big Band. (and Paul, who gave me the CD of course…) Kotaro also has the CDs. He was singing along with some of the songs. Only the driver knew the Youngblood Brass Band, so Avalanche and Brooklyn were found pretty interesting as well.

I still have another 4 hours before the corps wakes up and has brunch. The weather outside is awful. A serious rain is coming down on us. I wonder what rehearsal is going to be like.

We’ve got to get cooking at 10 o’clock I guess to get everything ready before they line up. Might be a good idea to serve brunch inside today.
Yesterday in Little Elm (also Texas) right when the food delivery was there we got hit by a serious shower as well. The sky darkened on us, hit the stadium where the corps was rehearsing a little later. It cleared up after 45 minutes or so, so it wasn’t all that bad. It got pretty sticky afterwards.

Today is the San Antonio Regional show in the Alamo Dome, a beautiful venue! All 21 Division I corps will be there today. Will be an interesting competition! The scores among the top have been kept very close lately. There’s a good chance for both Blue Devils, the Cadets and the Cavaliers to walk away with first place tonight.

Enjoy,

HK