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FRIDAY, AUGUST 8TH:
Up for breakfast and to check email. Walked across the street and took
photos of the fjords – so beautiful. All loaded up the bus for our 5 hour trip
to Kvinesdal. We went through at least 20 tunnels to get here and took a ferry.
The ferry was really cool. I had no idea how “deep” it would be, that is where
all of the cars parked. Because we are in a huge bus, we drove straight on.
Walked up on the top deck as we cruised across, weather was nice and warm with a
slight breeze. After the ferry, then we had to go through a really LONG
tunnel. It actually went under the ocean, kinda freaky. I know it took all of
drive 5 minutes driving….a couple of miles.
Got to the hotel at 4:30, a little earlier than we had expected. It really did
take 5 hours. J Got everyone
checked in and we all have wireless internet.
J Had a really nice dinner and off
to work on emails.
This hotel just opened 2 months ago, really nice. The hotel is Utsikten,
meaning “The view”. It over looks the river which leads out to the ocean, by
the venue. The town, Kvinesdal, means “women’s village”.
SATURDAY, AUGUST 9TH:
Up to check emails, have breakfast and back to emails. The production
company was not ready for sound check, but we all opted to go down and check out
the venue and wait. Several hours later, they were finally ready. Was supposed
to get back at 4 PM, ended up being almost 6:30 PM. Checked emails and went
down for dinner. Howard and Jenny were just going down, too, so we ended up
having dinner together.
It’s now almost 10:30 PM and almost time to leave for the show. It doesn’t
begin until 11:20 PM. They had about 40 kegs of beer earlier; that means there
is going to be a huge party at the show and lots of drinking. We have such a
late night, the guys will not sign autographs. It’s probably just as well since
there is only a few cd’s left to sell anyway. Won’t get back until about 1:30
AM and we leave for 8 AM for the airport. I am keeping my fingers crossed
everything goes smoothly for our check-in tomorrow morning.
SUNDAY, AUGUST 10TH:
Ended up getting back at 2:15 AM last night. Up at 6 AM to get
ready to leave. Everyone was on time, which I was surprised as a few
people were parting a little bit. Took over 1 1/2 hours to get to the
airport. I started to get a little worried, thinking that what if we
didn't make it for our check-in 1 1/2 hours prior to the flight; would it
be another incident like the Bellamys' experience in NY when they were leaving
for Europe. Just as I thought that, we arrived at the airport. :)
As the luggage was being unloaded from the trailer, I ran inside the
airport to locate the NW counter. It was directly inside in front of the
doors. I think there was one other set of airline counters. VERY
small airport. Got everyone checked in and went through security, one
lane, one scanning machine....again, VERY small airport.
Had a short flight to Amsterdam. I sat next to a young lady from Norway,
but was living in Japan doing missionary work. I told her all about
Country Gold and invited her to come.
Said my good-byes to the Bellamys when we landed in Amsterdam. I only had
2 hours there, but they had 5. :( Did a little quick shopping, grad
a sandwich and went to my gate. As I was checking in at the gate, the
young lady said, "OH, I believe we have an upgrade for you".....I said "COOL"!!!
Thank goodness for my Platinum status with NW, got me in Business class for the
return flight. I went back to see Becky Hobbs and Stonewall Jackson, just
wanted to make sure they were on the flight. Introduced myself to Eric,
Hal's road manager. Landed on time, Becky & I waited for Stonewall at
Passport Control. We got a skycap to help us with our luggage and
Stonewall with a wheelchair. He was kind enough to walk us all the way to
the gate.
Short flight home and everything arrived. :)
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