Friday August 17th, Pitman, NJ.
Gig at the “Broadway Theatre”

Howdy! We had an awesome time at the “Broadway Theatre” in Pitman. We left Thursday night around 10pm and drove through the night. It was a long drive! It took roughly 15 hours to get there. Kudos to our bus driver for hanging tough with us. That’s one heck of a job to have and is an art in itself.
We pulled into the town of Pitman, NJ. Friday afternoon and what a cute town it was! I got to take a walk up and down the main street and it made me miss my hometown. There were cute coffee shops and antique stores up and down the street. They had a neat little park next to their library. I sat down for a while and took it in.
The Broadway Theatre had recently been reopened. It is an extremely historic place of performance. With it being strategically located not far from Philly, not too far from NYC., many acts would grace the stage on their way in and out of town. Legends like, George Burns, Gracie Allen, the Andrew Sisters, Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Loretta Lynn, Johnny Cash and Hank Williams had all performed on the same stage that we were about to perform on. We even heard that there were ghosts!
The theatre was built back in 1926 and last September was reopened for entertainment shows to grace that legendary stage again. Everyone was really nice to us and the show went really well. The sound of the theatre really got us. You can hear a pin drop and the acoustics were unbelievable. Thank you for having us!

Saturday, August 18th 2007
Gig in “New Martinsville, WV” at the “Town And Country Days”

Hello there! This was a very special day for me. Today’s show was in “New Martinsville, WV” about 24 miles south of where I was born and raised. So today was kind of a homecoming show for me. We were at the Wetzel County Fairgrounds, which I hadn’t been there since I was a kid when my brother and I would go to my dad’s yearly work picnics. All of the food and rides were free and we’d gorge on sugar and ride all of the rides 100 times. So many memories here! It felt really neat to have the girls so close to my old stomping grounds. It seemed like everything went by pretty fast.., well too fast!
I had my own cheering section of my aunts, uncles, cousins, brother, family friends and other relatives. It was really neat to see that my dad made it. He’d just gotten out of the hospital after falling off the roof of their house, breaking his hip and sustaining a head injury. He was moving a little slowly, but he made it! Mom has her hands full for quite a while since he’ll be off of work until December, hang in there momma! It was just so nice to see everyone! Thank you all so much for supporting us throughout the years.
The weather was perfect for the day and for a great show. The show went really well, and we had a huge line for autographs, merch and pictures. The band “Heartland” played after us. Like I’d said, it all went by way too fast! At least after this show I got to go home to stay with family for a few days and get some time with them. Thank you everyone at the “Town And Country Days” for having us! We hope to come back soon! Thanks to everyone for supporting your hometown girl! Love ya’!

Friday August 3rd 2007
Coeur D’ Alene Casino with Mark Chesnutt

Hi Again! We left the “Wildhorse Casino” in Pendleton, Oregon, around 11am and now we’re on our way to Worley, Idaho, to do another show with Mark Chesnutt at the Coeur D’Alene Casino. It’s been a pretty drive! A lot of land out here! Write to you again soon.

Saturday August 4th on our way home!

Howdy! It’s 7:10 am and we just left the Coeur D’Alene casino. We have about a 35 mile drive to Spokane, WA., where we’ll catch our flight out. We’ll have 1 stop in Vegas, then onto Nashville, we’ll go! It’ll be about 12 hours worth of travel altogether.
Last night’s show ROCKED! It was a 30 minute set (a quick 30 minutes), and we gave slammed it hard for our audience. It was a packed house, at least 1,500 people. The sound was awesome (thank you Eric!), and the room had a neat sound quality to it as well. When we went to sign autographs, we only had about 20 minutes to do so, but our table was immediately swamped with people wanting to buy merchandise and get autographs. Security was unable to get line in order due to the countless people that wanted to meet us! Wow, thank you everyone for your support! We signed and met with as many people as possible, but then had to conclude our signing due to Mark Chesnutt’s show starting. We were so blown away by everyone’s enthusiasm. We walked back into the dressing room with or mouths hanging wide open wondering “What the heck just happened?! Wow!” Thanks again everyone for hanging out with us. It was also neat to see Debbie’s Uncle Dave and Aunt Barbara. It was also nice to see Dave Sandford and friends!

We’re now on our way to the airport, almost there, it’s been fun trying to type in the bouncy van! Guess we’ll be catching up with you later. Our next run will be on the 17th, 18th and 19th. I’m especially excited because day two of our run we’ll be doing a gig really close to my hometown of Moundsville, Wva.
See ya’!

August 2nd 2007
Wildhorse Casino with Mark Chesnutt in Pendleton, Oregon.

Hello there! Today we got to share the stage with Mark Chesnutt at the “Wildhorse Casino and Resort” in Pendleton, Oregon.
We left Nashville yesterday around 5pm., our first flight going all the way to Seattle, Washington, and then hopping on another flight to Spokane. I’m not exactly sure what causes this, but by time we boarded the flight to Spokane, we were (especially me) feeling slap happy and ornery. I think that it has to do with being confined in such a small space for so long, such as an airplane, with very little legroom, your butt getting numb from the seats etc. I think your brain goes numb too. It started from the for me, as the Southwest flight steward for the Seattle to Spokane flight was demonstrating how to use the breathing apparatuses that are supposed to come down in case of an emergency. We’d actually gotten the exit row seats (Yay! More legroom! It figures that would happen on a flight that was only going to be 35 minutes long. Where was the legroom on the previous 4 hour and 45 minute flight??! But hey, we got lucky on this one!). Being in the exit rows, the steward had to go through extra “safety procedures” with us. I was cutting up from the start and in him noticing my humor and being easily amused, left the “mock breathing apparatus” with us. So the next 35 minutes consisted of 100 things that you “should not do” with a breathing apparatus to yourself and others. The flight attendants were so amused (especially the flight attendant guy), that they gave me a free drink! We were definitely the life of the party, and I’m sure that the surrounding passengers were extra concerned if there would have indeed been an actual emergency.
Anyhow, after that entertaining flight, we then loaded up into a van and drove on to Pendleton, Oregon. It was about a 200-mile trip.
We got to the venue around 4 am CST. And we all were pretty wiped out by then.

The next day, it was pretty relaxing. Most of us slept in and sound check didn’t happen until 4pm. We grabbed some food and some of us took a run around the resort grounds. It was so nice to see Mark Chesnutt and the rest of the guys. A bunch of sweeties they are!
We had a meet and greet at 6:30pm and then a 40 minute show. We had a blast, and the crowd was great!
Afterwards, some of us hung out with Mark and the guys. Trenna and Becky danced with Mark Chesnutt too! What a fun time!

Saturday July 28th
Nashville, Indiana “The Little Nashville Opry”

We left Nashville around 8am for “The Little Nashville Opry” in Nashville, Indiana. I’d just flown in from California in enough time to hop on the bus and roll out, so I slept the whole trip there! The Little Nashville Opry is a quaint place where many stars have graced their stage. Becky had actually played the venue previously with Patty Lovelace, Trisha Yearwood and Pam Tillis. So the staff remembered Becky from those previous shows. As we walked inside to the stage, we could just sense the history of those who’d been there before us. Many of those artists’ pictures hung in the lobby area. We were so honored to be there. The scenery surrounding the opry was beautiful and once I awoke, I couldn’t resist but to take a run out a small side road outside that went off into the trees, hills and followed along side a creek. Extremely lovely! The opry had a great home cooked meal for us, which made us feel cozy, and “down home.”
The show went really well and I believe that it was one of the most “capturing” of the band’s personality to our audience. The flood gates opened and no holds were barred after Trenna accidentally did something that has been a long standing joke amongst artists and performers who are constantly traveling, getting thrown about across the country relentlessly. The words “How’s everyone doing out here in Nashville, Illinois?!,” poured out of her mouth as she was talking to the audience. The crazy thing was that the venue had actually had “Nashville” written center stage by her mic stand, but no state. Seconds seemed like minutes, and we all had realized what had just happened. But she along with the rest of us handled it well and made a huge joke out of it, making the audience crack up in laughter. It’s amazing how easily that can happen, but no one took offense and throughout the show we would throw little jokes around about it. The show went well and we felt extremely welcome by everyone. Thank you little Nashville opry for having us!

Sunday, July 22nd 2007
Gig in Valpariso, Indiana at the Porter County Fair

Hello! We’re getting ready to roll home! Today was a lot of fun. We got to open for Dierks Bentley tonight. What a wonderful crowd and a nice bunch of staff at this festival. This gig was extra special to Debbie because a bunch of her best friends of family grew up here. Debbie had actually taught double bass for the Great Lakes Community Camp at Valpariso University. It’s also where her mom and dad first lived right after getting married.
We woke up parked out front of the venue, and hung out for a while until we knew the game plan for today’s show. I tend to be “the scavenger” of the group and after having a cup of old Folgers coffee made the night before, I realized that this just wasn’t going to cut it. So I was off, to find water so I could make a “decent” pot of coffee for when everyone else awoke. I went into a 4H building that had just opened it’s doors. No one seemed to care that I walked in. I found a kitchen inside and a sink. There was nothing to carry water in though. I did find manage to find an almost empty two-liter bottle of soda. With roughly one swig left, I dumped it, rinsed it out and filled it with our soon to be coffee water! Yay! These little things tend to be huge victories when out on the road. Ha ha! We’re so easily amused, scary.
Our bus driver awoke and we drove the bus to the stage. The runners took us to our hotels where some of us used the opportunity to work out, and get showers. The catering kept us full all day with outdoor grilling of burgers, veggies, pasta salad ect.
For dinner, they treated us to Tilapia, mushrooms, asparagus ect.
Our soundcheck was around 4pm and the sound was awesome! Great job, Eric!
We pretty much just hung out until our show at 8pm and we did a 50-minute set. All rocked! We signed for a good while afterwards and met a lot of really nice fans. Thank you Porter County Fair for having us!