HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRO !!!!

Today is my brother Ton's birthday. Have a good one!!! he's only celebrating it this coming Saturday. Gave him a call a little while ago.

Day 4 – Hutchinson

The trip (about 250 miles) to Hutchinson went pretty smooth. In the morning I was told the others on the bus saw me on bed, asleep, but with my laptop still on my lap as if I was working on it. See,.. that happens more to me,.. I simply fall asleep. Well, it had been a long day after all.
I have absolutely no jet lag problems whatsoever. Have adapted easily to the new time-zones (8 or 7 hours earlier than in The Netherlands).

We were staying at the Hutchinson High School. Breakfast was at 10, but nobody had woken me up so I slept till close to 11. I almost missed breakfast,.. .everyone was up and running and ready to start rehearsal. They said it was too crowded in the kitchen anyway,.. so they let me sleep. That was nice! (probably the last time though…)

For lunch I grilled about 350 hamburgers. Nice and sweaty at the grill! You won’t believe how much the members enjoy hamburgers!
The corps rehearsed on the main field where the competition was held in the evening as well. That was about a 10-minute walk from the school.

After dinner warm-ups were held right at the school. I watched the drumline for little while, and then made my way over to the stadium. I had arranged to meet with Roman Blenski again, and the four members from South Africa that are marching with Pioneer this summer.
Took a few action shots of them and met with them after their show for some group shots. I told Roman I would send them to Retha Cilliers. He said,.. “Yes that would be nice,.. so she can see the kids are not just here, hanging around and sipping lemonade all day, but actually work!” I’m sure Retha will get a good laugh out of that!

I interviewed Roman about the relationship he and his corps have had with the Field Band Foundation for the last seven years, and about all the kids the corps has hosted.

Then I watched Blue Devils’ show. Another great performance. Scores went up again just a little bit. The color guard really plays a very eye-catching part in the show, and not just because of their fluorescent outfits.
DCI announcer and Field Pass host Dan Potter put a smile on my face again too tonight. When we met at the stadium he said. “Now I really know it’s summertime” referring to the fact he saw me back in the States again for this years’ drumcorps season.

Corn dogs (hot dogs in dough on a stick) for snack. We rolled out of the school parking lot at about 11:30 PM.
Going to Texas now,… some 415 miles to Little Elm. That’s absolutely one of the nicest and best equipped High Schools I have ever been at in the States. I will try to take some pictures there tomorrow and post them here.

Enjoy,

HK