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FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 17TH, 2021 – NASHVILLE TO FAIRBANKS, ALASKA WITH RUNAWAY JUNE:
Two nights in one week of never getting to go to bed is a bit much! Our flight today departed at 6 am, so I had to be up at 2:00 am for a 3:30 am departure to the airport. Zac and Zoe had their “Homecoming Game” last night. Zoe was part of the Homecoming Court representing the 7th grade and Zac was her escort. They looked so beautiful – her in a long red gown and him (reluctantly) in a black suit. But, they also looked so grown up!!!
So, I had to work until time to leave for the airport and never went to bed. Everyone was on time for the flight and it departed on time. I was “shocked” by the meal they served us in First Class! It was a box of packaged items like beef jerky, protein bars, etc. This was a 4 hour flight to Seattle. Last week I flew United for 1 ½ hours to Chicago and was served a good, hot breakfast of an omelet, sausage, yogurt, and fruit! Not sure why Delta is still sticking with the pre-packaged items. And Delta fares are much more expensive than any other airline.
We landed Seattle on time and had about 2 hours to spend in the Delta Lounge. Our flight to Fairbanks departed on time. When I checked the weather last night, the temperatures were dropping to the low 30’s and there was a chance of snow. They have since moved the snow forecast to Monday. The Oktoberfest tomorrow is outside, so hoping the snow forecast stays away until after that event.
Rebecca, Angela and Sean were all there to meet us when we arrived. All the luggage and equipment made it which was a relief. We stopped at Frank Meyers on the way to the base. It is their version of Kroger and our Kroger cards even worked there. We picked up any items we wanted in our rooms for the 3 days we are here.
Got everyone checked into their rooms at lodging. Really nice rooms with a small kitchen area with a refrigerator, microwave and “stove top”. I went over to the venue with Mitch to drop the equipment and check out the facilities. The Green Room and Dressing Room will be in the Bowling Alley which is closed for the Oktoberfest tomorrow. The actual show and festival takes place in the Bowling Center Parking Lot. It’s a really nice setup.
Had a couple of hours to work before meeting in the Lobby at 6:10 pm to go to a local restaurant – Geraldo’s Italian. We arrived at 6:30 pm and even though we had a reservation, did not leave there until 9:00 pm. It full and the restaurant – like all the others in the area is short staffed. We had a really nice waitress who was running like crazy. I’m sure she appreciated that we were patient with the situation. And the food was worth the wait. Also the portions were large and most of the group took home to go boxes.
I was about to get into bed with I got a text message from Rebecca saying I might be able to see the Northern Lights if I hurried outside. I threw my clothes back on and rushed out…but nothing! She said there might be another chance tonight.
Got in bed at 10:30 – a record for me.
Jude
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SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 18TH – OKTOBERFEST AT FT. WAINWRIGHT, ALAKSA:
Had a great night’s sleep and woke up to beautiful, cold weather – but no snow. Did all my stretching exercises and dressed for a jog. I definitely did not bring the right clothes to jog in and stay warm. But after the first mile, I definitely warmed up. I found a “straight line” route that I could run and not get lost. On the way back, I saw a path around a small pond and jogged over to investigate. It is a Memorial Park and so beautiful. I took lots of photos and wish I had the time to stop and read every marker. I later learned that there was a Gold Star Family Reunion there a few minutes after I finished jogging my 3 miles.
The breakfast room downstairs at lodging was awesome. This is actually a Holiday Inn located inside the base. They had omelets, sausage, bacon, yoghurt, cereal, bagels muffins, fruits, beverages, and so much more.
Had about an hour to work before walking over to the venue for load in with the guys. Everything was set up and ready for them to set up their equipment. While they were doing that, Angela walked me over to the Warrior Zone where our comedy tour will take place in November.
Runaway June’s tour manager had a family wedding to attend yesterday and could not travel with us. She flying in from Boston today and all her flights have been on time. Should be arriving Fairbanks by 2 pm.
Walked the girls to the venue at 2 pm and they did a quick sound check. It was even colder than it was this morning when I jogged. Angela had someone go shopping for them and purchased black gloves that the fingers could be cut out of for them. They had sold over 1,000 tickets and expected a big walk up crowd as well. But the wind kicked up and a lot of people with small children left because it was just too cold!!
Chelsae made it to the hotel at around 4 pm. She looked and felt like we did last night. She had not been to bed the night before either.
We met in the lobby at 5:30 pm and the CSM for all the bases I Alaska was also there at the same time. We introduced him and his wife to everyone and took some photos. Then we all walked over to the venue for a DV Meet and Greet. We held it outside so that masks would not have to be worn. I met the Base Commander – Colonel Nate Surrey. Turns out he flew me around in his Blackhawk helicopter in Iraq in 2005 with Charlie Daniels. He had so many sweet things to say about Charlie. What a small world….sometimes!
The show started at 6:40 pm and it was really, really cold since the sun had gone down. This is the first full show I’ve seen of Runaway June because all the others were just short virtual events. They are definitely “entertainers” and the crowd loved them. We did a meet and greet with the attendees after the concert – again outside so we wouldn’t have to wear masks.
We had pre-ordered dinner from Bobby’s Restaurant and it was excellent. We ate at the bowling alley and the manager had opened up two of the lanes for us. We left Naomi and the guys bowling and walked back to lodging at 9:30 pm.
We happen to be here during the transition of the heating and cooling systems from air conditioning to heat. That means we have NOTHING and it was freezing in my room. I was able to get a little space heater from the front desk and my feet seem to be thawing out….
Going to bed soon and I will NOT be jogging tomorrow morning no matter how great it felt today. It’s supposed to be 31 degrees at 8 am and snow is predicted for tomorrow night.
We leave at 11 am with our hosts from Eielson AFB to go “sightseeing”. Santa Claus house … here we come!!
Jude
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 19TH – PERFORMANCE AT EIELSON AIR FORCE BASE, NORTH POLE, ALASKA:
A trip to the North Pole today!
It was definitely too cold to jog since I didn’t bring the right cold weather workout clothes. But, I have my “bands” and got a decent workout with those.
Snow is still in the forecast for tonight and tomorrow morning but the temperatures are going to be too warm for it to stick according to two different weather apps.
Edison – one of our hosts at Eielson AFB – picked us up at lodging at 11:00 and we departed to the Santa Claus House in North Pole, Alaska. It is definitely designed for “tourists” and is a bit overwhelming with all the Christmas items for sale. But the items are really good quality and most of the group made a purchase. I found two sweatshirts that I wanted to buy for my grandkids but they didn’t have their sizes.
The highlight of that visit was having our photo taken with Santa by Mrs. Claus. He made really special video personalized to Zac and Zoe and I sent it to them via text. The group took a photo with him and then had him do some specialized videos for their family member. I paid for the personalized letter from Santa to be mailed to Zac and Zoe in December. The reindeer were not “out” but we drove by their pen and took photos of them. Such beautiful animals.
I found a health food café with a 5 star rating where we stopped for lunch. It was really good food. I think most of us had the salmon melt. It was too late to go to the scenic overlook and still get back to the hotel in time to leave for our performance at Eielson. I rode up with the guys and the girls were going to be picked up an hour later.
The performance tonight was in the base theater. Load in and sound check went really smoothly because we are using the same production company on all 3 shows and they are great. Everything was set up backstage as we requested. We were forewarned that the Air Force Ball had taken place the night before and the attendance might be light since most people would be “hung over”. We were expecting a DV Meet and Greet but were advised that was not going to happen. However, the Commander came by before the show and spent a long time talking to the group. He is another one who saw some of my shows in Iraq and turns out he knows a lot of the Air Force Generals who are still my friends. He introduced the group and the show kicked off on time.
The crowd was definitely light but the ones in attendance were big fans. The girls put on a special show and I’m sure it is one those who did attend will be talking about tomorrow to those who didn’t make it. The Meet and Greet after the show was inside so had to be socially distanced so we set up chair 6 feet in front of the AFE backdrop. The fans sat in the chairs and the girls stood behind them in front of the backdrop. Everyone had on masks until the photo was taken and then they dropped the mask, smiled and put the masks back on.
We stopped by Pagoda Chinese Restaurant and picked up the meals that we had pre-ordered. There were too many clouds for us to “chase” the Northern Lights which was a disappointment.
When we arrived at the Base Gate, security would not let us in. Didn’t make any sense because we had entered several times since we arrived on Friday. Supposedly, if we are in a Government Vehicle with Government Plates and the driver has his pass, we are supposed to be “waved” through. That’s what happened every other time. The security directed us to a different gate that was a long drive from their gate. Our driver is not familiar with Ft. Wainwright as he is from Eielson so I had to google the directions. We finally arrived at the gate and as before, the guards looked at the driver’s pass and waived us on. Only the driver decided to mention that we had been turned away at the other gate. That raised a red flag and they sent us all to be processed for a gate pass….one that we will never use again since we depart tomorrow morning. I think everyone’s patience had worn thin by then so I called Rebecca (our host at Ft. Wainwright) and asked for her assistance. By the time she arrived, security had finished processing our passes but she was going to check with them to see where the procedure failed so it doesn’t happen with groups in the future.
We arrived back at lodging and started passing out the meals we had picked up at Pagoda. Unfortunately, the restaurant only labeled a couple of the “to go” boxes. We finally got everything figured out and honestly, it was so late, I don’t think anyone ate their meals. I opened mine and realized it was just the entrée and no rice. The restaurant forgot to give us the rice that should have been provided with each meal!
I showered and was in bed by midnight. Tomorrow is a travel day and then one final show on Tuesday night. Light snow is still in the forecast for this area but only showers are forecast for Anchorage where we will be for the next 2 days.
Jude
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 20TH – TRAVEL FROM FAIRBANKS TO ANCHORAGE:
Got up early for a quick “band” workout and finished packing. We all met in the lobby at 9 am and departed to the airport. It’s a tiny airport with very “unfriendly” Alaska Airlines Ticket Agents. We finally got everyone checked in and only had to pay excess on the one 60 pound case. Going through security was also an unpleasant experience. Most of us were TSA pre-check but we were still required to remove any “food” from our carryon bags for inspection.
The flight departed on time and our host – Karl – was waiting for us at baggage claim. All our bags arrived and Karl advised that instead of a passenger van with a trailer, he had brought a 41 pax bus. I thought that was great until I saw it was a school bus with no bus bays. I knew there was no way we could carry all our huge suitcases onto the bus. Everyone went to the back of the bus and “shoved” our luggage through the back door. Karl then had to place it between the seats or on the seats and trust me, it was HEAVY pieces. Hopefully that is all the encouragement he needed to bring different vehicles for our departure on Wednesday morning.
We stopped enroute at a great health food store to purchase food and beverages for our room. It was a great store. The office for lodging is at least a half mile from our lodging. I picked up all the room keys and wondered what we would do if someone lost their key since we don’t have any transportation.
Most of the group were heading into town but I planned to work until I was hopefully going to be able to have dinner with my friend Vanessa. I met her when she was handling events in Misawa, Japan and she and her husband now live in Anchorage. He is career Air Force and she works as a civilian on JBER.
Just as I was getting ready to meet her, I got a text message that Jennifer was not being allowed to enter the base. Karl had told us that all we had to do was show our driver’s license and say we are on the Event List. Didn’t work for her. She was in an Uber and was sent to another gate where she tried for 45 minutes to get in. I was calling Karl and asking him to call the gate and get this straightened out. Turns out the form he filled out for base access had the wrong “times” on it.
While all that drama was taking place, Karl was texting me a photo showing that the movie projector screen at the venue was stuck halfway up from the ceiling! It couldn’t be rolled the rest of the way up for the show tomorrow night. I contacted Mitch and Jon and tomorrow Jon is going to see if he can repair it. If not, Mitch suggested rolling it the rest of the way down and projecting the AFE logo on it. That will have to be dealt with tomorrow!
Vanessa and I went to a popular restaurant in Anchorage…so popular there was a 1 ½ hour wait unless we wanted to sit in open seating in the bar hour. That’s what we opted to do and sat with a really nice couple from Anchorage. We both ordered Crab Cakes and they were outstanding. The surprising part was our order was taken as soon as we sat down and we received our food a few minute later! I left a generous tip! As we were talking after the meal, I looked across the room and noticed our group sitting at a table nearby. What a surprise. Seems they had been there even before we arrived.
Vanessa drove me back to the base and fortunately the gate had received the revised gate access orders for me and there was no problem entering. Shortly after I arrived back in my room, got a text that one of the members of the group had lost their room key. I called the front desk and they confirmed that someone would have to come to the office to get another one as they were the only person there and could not leave the desk. So, the tour manager had to take an Uber to the front office and get another key. We were all given 2 keys upon checking in so hopefully everyone will put these in two separate places.
Almost midnight so going to say “good night”. Last performance tomorrow. What a whirlwind tour this has been!!!
Jude
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22ND – FINAL PERFORMANCE IN ALASKA AT JBER, ANCHORAGE:
Woke up to snow on the mountains and the surrounding areas got 2 inches. Also woke up to a freezing cold room! I called the front desk and asked if this was the period where they turned off the air conditioning and would not turn on the heat until next month. She confirmed that it was. I asked if they had 9 portable heaters we could use in the rooms but she was only able to locate one!
I called Karl because the temperature is supposed to continue to drop and be 28 degrees tomorrow morning. He purchased small space heaters for each room. Thank you, Karl!!
I was able to work for most of the morning and got everyone checked in for the flights tomorrow. The bus will pick me up at 5:00 am and take me to the building where the front desk is located so I can pay and check everyone out. Driver will go back to lodging and pick everyone up while I’m handling that then swing back by and pick me up around 5:30 am.
The production company is so good for this tour, everyone went together to the venue for soundcheck today. One of the girls went to the gym instead of sound check she was so comfortable with the sound from previous shows.
We had several hours between sound check and show time for me to work some more. We pre-ordered food for dinner from Olive Garden and had it delivered to lodging at 5:00 pm. Chelsae, Karl and I delivered to the rooms along with the personal heaters. Everyone ate dinner in their rooms and then met in the lobby at 6:15 to depart to the show. Definitely a much larger crowd tonight!!!
Had a short DV meet and greet with the Deputy Base Commander. He is Army so I assume that the Base Commander is Air Force since JBER (Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson) is Army and Air Force combined.
It was another fantastic performance. There were so many young children in the audience and they danced the entire concert. Made for a really fun show. They have school tomorrow and they are going to sleep good tonight. The attendees will be talking about this entertainment for a long time!
We did a short meet and greet based on the fact that the Health Department would only allow 10 families to attend! Back in lodging by 9:30 pm and hoping to get at least 3 hours sleep before I have to get up and start the day.
Jude
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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22ND, 2021 – TRAVELING HOME:
Was up at 3:00 am and in the lobby at 5:00 am. The “school bus” that was our transportation once again (against my wishes) was already there. Every time we were transported, we had a different driver. I asked him to open the back door so I could put my luggage inside and was informed that the bus didn’t have a back door. I checked for myself and he was definitely right. I told him there was no way I was going to ask this group to carry their 50 pound suitcases up the steps into the bus and get them down the aisle to the back of the bus. They are on a month long tour with Luke Bryan starting tomorrow, so they have multiple bags. Thankfully Karl had kept the 60 pound equipment case and other heavy cases with him and was transporting in the truck.
The driver informed me that he could go switch out the bus. I asked him how far the lot was and he said it was very close. I told him I would put my bag on this bus and have him drop me off at the Lodging Office. Then he could go switch out the bus and my suitcase and come back to lodging, pick up the group and then come back and pick me up. I was standing in the doorway with my suitcase on the ground and he never moved a muscle to help me get it into the bus. The military these days are much different than years ago. I struggled and finally got it up the steps and then wedged it between some seats.
I thought he understood my instructions but instead he went straight to the bus lot! He left the bus I was in and walked over to another bus. Again, I managed to get the suitcase out of the bus and took it to the back of the new bus. He at least opened the door for me but I had to lift it up and shove it into the back of the bus. He took it and rolled it standing upright onto one side of the small space. I explained to him that he needed to lay it on it’s side or it would be rolling around.
He dropped me at the office and went to lodging to pick up the rest of the group. Checking everyone out was a quick process and the bus came back and picked me up for the trip to the airport. When we unloaded the bus, the driver again never got out of his seat – which was fine because our guys were fine with unloading everything themselves. I am thankful I raised my children and Lindsey has taught her children to be helpful to others in all situations.
Our flight to Seattle departed on time and I tried to sleep but wasn’t very successful. We landed on time and I said “good-bye” to the group. I had 5 hours to sit in the lounge and work and the time went by much quicker than I would have liked. Again, I tried to sleep on the flight from Seattle to Nashville but didn’t succeed. The guy sitting in the window seat next to me was drinking coffee and wine and he never once got up to go to the toilet! When we got off the plane, he didn’t even stop at the restrooms in the terminal. I was very impressed!!!
My bags arrived and I was home by 12:30 am and on my way to Lindsey’s house by 1 am. I’m babysitting Zac and Zoe and my son’s dog and Lindsey’s dog which is why this road report is so late being posted/sent!
All the bases we visited and the staff we worked with in Alaska were wonderful. I know they loved Runaway June’s shows. I’m looking forward to getting the remainder of the Runaway June World Tour re-scheduled and working with the amazing group again.
Jude
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