Road Trip Redux

We had a terrific time. TobyMac is always a really great show. Third Day was actually the headline act, but let's just say that I'm not a big Third Day fan. The show was at the Family Arena in St. Charles, Missouri, which is just west of St. Louis. Yes, that's quite a drive from Des Moines, but since when has a little driving gotten in our way when we want to do something? Shoot, six hours to St. Louis is nothing -- we drove ten hours to Nashville all night last spring to see Kevin Max at 12th & Porter, and then turned around and drove all night back home. WITH all six of our kids. We did briefly visit my cousin in Murfreesboro, which was nice -- my cuz is a very cool person. She let all eight of us crash at her apartment and get a little sleep... now THAT was an adventure in itself because she has a husband and four little kids, herself. It was a merry crowd, for sure. heh

Anyway, all that to say, when there's a show that Cindy & I want to see, we will stop at almost nothing to see it.

I wore an old black dcTalk shirt and some jeans and a black jacket. We had purchased tickets for the floor, and weren't sorry that we'd done that. I do have to interject here, however, that the floor at Family Arena was WEIRD. I'm guessing it's one of those removable kinds of things, but it was wiggly and made it difficult to do the usual jumping around and dancing that we "floor people" do at concerts.

The first act was a band I'd never heard of -- Hyper Static Union -- but we dutifully listened and they weren't too bad. The lead singer wasn't much to look at, but he could sing rather nicely and distantly reminded me of Kevin Max, though not quite as flexible and exotic. Anyway, they weren't bad at all, and very talented. Their final song was a decent cover of Stevie Wonder's Superstition, which was fun. Soon after they wrapped it up, TMac came bouncing out and the party started. His peeps are a rather energetic bunch, doing backflips and body slams and all kinds of hijinks during the music. I'm sure all the grannies out in the seats who'd come to see Third Day were a bit blown away, but that's okay. Heh.

When he got done, we squirmed our way off the floor and out the door. We bought some merch and stood in line to have TMac himself sign it... then we took off. The exit we left through was guarded by a kindly-looking gentleman who looked at us quizzically and said, "Are you leaving?", in a sort-of "The show's not over" kind of voice. We grinned and said, "Yep." For us, the show WAS over and we were very happy.

We didn't have a lot of $$ to drop for supper, but we were both starved, so we landed at an IHOP in hopes of something decent. It wasn't. Oh, the food wasn't too bad, but the atmosphere and the service were rather dismal. Our server was unremarkable, but there was another server who was downright obnoxious. If looks could kill, this woman was spitting ninja-stars out her eyeballs. For our evening entertainment, the older couple who sat on the other side of our booth were seated a couple of minutes after us and promptly began to discuss the pros and cons of corn vs. California blend veggies. All the while the woman was dutifully tucking her napkin into her collar. They carefully arranged who would trade what, while the obnoxious server stood there beside them, looking obnoxious. Finally they ordered, and Ms. Obnoxious headed for the kitchen, bellowing, "DROP A CHICKEN BREAST!!" and I thought I would fall out of my seat laughing. I guess that was waitress lingo? At least it's better than the lingo we heard from a guy at a Taco Bell somewhere in Kentucky a few weeks ago, who loudly declared that he was "humping" when he was hurrying to get someone's order out. That place freaked us out, because not only was it jammed to the gills with people sporting NASCAR clothing, there was a horrid abstract painting on the wall next to us that looked like nothing so much as an enormous stylized vagina. No, we won't be stopping anywhere in that town anymore -- too many icky memories.

The drive home was uneventful, thankfully... or rather, I suppose it was, since I slept most of the way. I wasn't the one who really needed to sleep, since I didn't have to work all day Saturday, but Cindy doesn't sleep well in a moving vehicle, so she kept on driving. I stirred every so often and offered to drive, but she declined. I haven't talked to her at all today; I hope she's surviving. When we got to my house at 3:30 AM, I asked her again if it was worth it, and she grinned hugely and nodded.

I'm happy. : ) Maybe it's a little weird for a couple of thirty-something moms to chase bands all over the country, but we both have to carve out our "fun" times and use the little free time we have wisely. Plus, it gives me lots of blog fodder.