Day 53

Date: July 6, 2011

Time: 9:50pm (MST)

Playing on iTunes: "Etude Op. 10 No. 8 in F" by Frédéric Chopin

Location: Salt Lake City, UT

Recent Trip: 360 miles

So when we take long trips every night such as the one we just took, we usually stop at one, maybe two rest stops. If it's a 6 hour drive, we'll take one stop, if anything more, we'll take two stops. For most of our stops we have found a "Loves" convenience store that's in the same place as the gas station for the trucks. Love's is like a Cumberland Farms back home for all you north easterners! Haha, but needless to say rest stops are essential for longs hauls such as this most recent one and the upcoming drives. All of them around the 8 hour range.

Can I just say that I thought the west coast was pretty...what about the mountain ranges in the west!! HOLY COW!! Unbelievable!! I cannot describe how I feel when I see these mountain ranges in person. You have seen them on TV or in pictures online/in magazines, but when you see the rocky mountains in person it is a surreal experience.

As you can see below, the pit found a great area to rehearse all day. Looking directly at the mountains all day. It was, to an extent, comforting for me at times because if I got frustrated I would just look at the mountains and realize what God has made us and how beautiful nature is in general.

Today the pit was far enough away from the food truck that we had to do what we call "pit watch". Pit watch is when the pit is far from our food truck that someone needs to stay back and watch the pit to make sure no strangers come near it and vandalize/steal anything. So how does that person get lunch, you ask? They have a partner. Each day needed for "pit watch", there are groups of two designated 1-8. Today was group 2, which I am a part of. This was the first pit watch since...I think spring training. A long time! So one person decides to stay and the other goes and gets that other person their meal as well as their own meal. Today we had grilled cheese (pictured left) along with beans and a fruit bowl.

The battery section came over to work on some of the
percussion feature with the pit.

Here are some beautiful photos of the amazing Utah. I cannot wait to come here in the winter to go snowboarding...

The show we had tonight was going to be a big one since we were meeting up with Blue Devils and Phantom Regiment again. And it is our last show before the Mid-West regionals which are going to be huge. Got to get perfect before regionals. Even if we are making changes to the show, we still have to perform this show perfectly! Also, it was in a huge stadium. A very special stadium to be exact. The Univsersity of Utah football stadium. This stadium was used for the 2002 Winter Olympics. It was a very cool place to perform. Let alone we had a very large crowd that was very generous and cheered every chance they got. 

BIG SURPRISE!!! My girlfriend Bonnie, who came to see The Cadets in Idaho last night, was at the Utah show today!! Somehow, she made it to her friend's apartment (who is a student at Univ of Utah) and came to the show to see us perform. I was so ecstatic when I saw her. I could not believe that she flew out to see her friend and then came see the show. She really enjoyed it much more in the large stadium than the small one that we played in Nampa last night. It was a great improvement for the corps overall. We finally bounced back. As you can see underneath.

Corps Encore
1) The Cadets - 82.9
2) Blue Devils - 82.4
3) Phantom Regiment - 80.7

4) Blue Knights - 78.9

5) The Academy - 72.7

6) Cascades - 65.7

Now off to Denver, CO for three days in Mile High Stadium!! Bring on the beautiful view.

Thought of the Day: "Life has no limitations except the ones you make."