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MONDAY,
MARCH 23rd – EDELWEISS RESORT, GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, GERMANY:
Went to bed
at 1:30 am and at 2:00 am my cell phone started ringing. I was so
disoriented, I didn’t get to it before the caller hung up. I waited and
played the voice mail and it was Bo Bice. He said someone found his trunk
that he lost in Iraq which is absolutely amazing. I decided to wait and call
him back in the morning.
Got up and
made coffee in my coffee maker in my room.
J
Then went to the gym. It’s called “The Pointe” which is the same gym they
have in Korea at the Dragon Hill Lodge. It’s a great facility. Worked legs
but was missing several machines I usually make use of, so did about 30
minutes on the bike as well. Bought some cereal and a Starbucks Latte at the
café in the Health club and purchased some yogurt for lunch. Ran into Frank –
Bellamy’s keyboard player found a Laundromat right next to The Pointe so I’ll
visit there later today.
Howard said he got up and threw open his drapes and thought Spring had arrived
overnight. His window faced the huge mural that is painted on the building
behind us. It’s a beautiful scene showing the Alps in the Springtime. Took
him a few minutes to realize it was a painting!
Showered and answered some emails and then went down to Zuggys (nightclub
where we will be performing). It’s small – 200 capacity – but all the
ballrooms were rented so this was our only option. Public Address is our
sound company and we’ve worked with them for years, so I KNEW they would make
everything fit…and they did. I met Brad (Marketing Director) for the hotel
and he gave me the “tour”. Explained the murals on the walls outside and the
legend behind the “Edelweiss”. All very fascinating and I took lots of
photos. This resort is only for the Military. They can bring their spouses
and families here at a huge discount. As I said, the facility is beautiful
but so is the surrounding area. We are completely surrounded by the Bavarian
Alps. Since the snow is still on the ground, it is breath-taking.
Have been going between Laundromat, show room, and my computer all afternoon.
I talked to Bo and here’s the story on his bag. He lost it the first of
November when we were in Iraq on tour. I still can’t believe someone
actually has it and is getting it to him. He had all the gifts he had
purchased in there, but even more important to him because they are
irreplaceable, the certificates, patches and coins from the military were also
in it.
Bo’s recently saw his pastor from Alabama. In the course of the conversation,
he mentioned that some lady called the church and said she has Bo's duffle
bag. Bo's ears picked up on that and he said told the pastor he was missing a
trunk and he needed for him to call the lady right away.
The lady lives in Alabama only a few miles from Bo's home town. She was with
a Unit in Iraq. As they were pulling bags off the aircraft, there was a trunk
left over with no "label" and no "lock" on it. They opened it and the first
thing someone saw was a certificate to Bo Bice. The person opening the trunk
yelled out to the 5-6 people pulling bags and asked if anyone knew Bo Bice.
The lady spoke up and he asked her which branch of the military Bo was with.
She informed him that it was Bo Bice from American Idol. The guy asked her if
she could get the trunk to him and she agreed.
Evidently, she reached out to Fox News, Rick and Bubba Radio Show, and
finally Bo's church.
WHAT are the
chances? Bo definitely has an angel on his shoulder!
Met David, Susan, Howard, and Jennifer for dinner. The nice restaurant is
closed on Monday so we ate at the “buffet”. They had “bar-be-que” in our
honor.
J
George DeGrella – he is the AFE/MWR Circuit Coordinator for Europe and the
Balkans – arrived and joined us for a chat. Brad from the hotel also came in
right before we left. I was quizzing him a little more on the hotel and he
said that a loan was secured to finance the building of the hotel and it has
already been repaid. They have 5 properties total like this – The DragonHill
Lodge in Korea (where I always stay), one at Disney, one in Colorado, one in
Virginia, and this one. Great hotels at reasonable prices for our military.
Really happy George is with us on the tour. He’s worked so hard to make sure
everything runs smoothly and this is the first time I’ve gotten to work with
him with one of my tours. Also happy that it’s the Bellamy Brothers because
they are such a pleasure to tour with. This is just the perfect tour –
Switzerland shows were great and saw some many dear friends there. Now I have
4 days with some of my dearest friends ever – Michael Tietze, George DeGrella,
John Howe, and the Bellamys! What a fun few days this will be.
The little club was packed with people but they wouldn’t get up and dance.
Brad finally offered a couple a free drink to go out on the dance floor.
That’s all it took to get the others going. There were even moms and dads
dancing with their little kids. It was awesome. Some of the people in the
audience were too young to remember who the Bellamys are but once they heard
the music, they remembered the songs. I tried to get Michael to dance but he
said he only knows how to break dance. One more drink and I think he would
have hit the dance floor.
J
Bellamys took photos with everyone and signed autographs. It’s almost
midnight now…early for us to be finished for the evening. We leave at 9:15 am
tomorrow so I don’t want to stay up too late.
Jude
TUESDAY, MARCH 24TH – GRAFENWOEHR, GERMANY:
Well, I’m the
one who had the shock when I opened the drapes at 6 am this morning! It was
snowing and there was at least a foot of new snow that had fallen overnight.
It is so beautiful. I’ll put photos on the website next week.
Had another migraine at 2 am this morning. Something is obviously going on
again and will get this checked when I’m back in Nashville for more than a few
days.
Departing for about a 4 hour bus ride from Edelweiss to Grafenwoehr today.
One of my dearest friends that I met in the Balkans in the early 90’s will be
meeting me there. We’ve managed to stay in contact throughout the years and
see each other when I’m in Europe or she’s in the States. Her name is Silvia
and among other things, she handles the B.O.S.S. program at Schweinfurt
Military Base. Awesome lady.
Susan is definitely feeling better. We’re both disappointed that we didn’t
know about the “Castle Tour” that departed the hotel at 8:30 am yesterday.
Would definitely have loved to gone on that one. My friend “Diggs” in
Stuttgart is supposed to take me sightseeing in that area and I’m hoping Susan
feels good enough to join us.
The bus ride was long but very comfortable. I thought I’d sleep all the way
because of staying awake with the migraine last night. But, that didn’t
happen. We made one stop for “lunch” at a truck stop. I couldn’t find
anything “healthy” but just as I was leaving, found a fresh pasta bar. I had
this spiral shaped pasta with fresh pesto sauce. It was awesome. Gave Howard
some of it because he didn’t see it when he ordered.
It snowed really hard and then would stop, then start up again on the drive
over. When we arrived, Silvia had just arrived and was waiting for us. It
was so great to see her! The hotel is really “on base” lodging but the rooms
are nice. They had our keys ready for us but when David and Susan got to
their room, there was a “Do Not Disturb” sign on the door. The maid was on
the floor and opened the door. She said someone was still in the room.
Silvia, George and I walked back up to lodging to get it straightened out.
Evidently, a soldier was supposed to move to a different room but left his
stuff in that room. The front desk clerk came down to the room and when he
went it, it was just “trash” that was left in there. Plus all the windows
were open with snow blowing it. It took the maid a good hour to clean the
room and she had two huge trash bags full of “junk” when she finished.
There is wired internet but when I plugged mine in, it blew out the phone.
Turns out it has to be plugged in by the TV which is all the way across the
room from the desk. So I’ve been sitting on the bed with my computer on my
lap most of the afternoon.
Silvia took Susan to the food court to get some lunch for her and David
because they didn’t eat at the truck stop. Silvia’s boyfriend who is a
physician in the Army and who I met numerous times in Iraq came by to say
hello. I knew he looked “younger” but figured it was because he was out of
the “stressful situation” in Iraq. Actually, he had shaved his mustache! He
and Silvia are so cute together – the perfect couple! He’s at this base and
she is at a base about 2 hours away. But that’s a lot better than him being
in Iraq!
We had a “hosted” dinner at Tumbleweed” restaurant on base. Food was not very
good but pretty typical of a base restaurant. Went to the show and the
Bellamys did several interviews with AFN, local radio and the newspaper before
performing. The show was in a gym tonight and I was pleasantly surprised by
how many people attended because of the weather. Lots of families attending
with little kids who stood right in front and clapped and danced the entire
show. Still strange for me to see families and soldiers in civilian clothes
at the performances after spending so much time in Iraq. It was really a
great show.
During the last song, Tietze (bus driver) started doing some kind of “dance”
similar to a line dance. The ladies started lining up behind him trying to
mimic his steps. Of course, he had no clue what he was doing. It was
hilarious. Bellamys signed autographs and took photos with everyone for over
an hour. Lots of children in that line, too.
Silvia mentioned how great it was to get to see me, George, Tietze, John Howe
and the Bellamys all on one trip. I told her she “completed” the circle.
What a great tour this has been.
Going to bed soon as we depart at 8 am tomorrow. Another very long drive to
Ramstein. Huge Air base that I have visited many times.
Jude
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 25TH – RAMSTEIN AFB:
No workout
today because the gym was too far from lodging. We were on the second floor
of the lodging and there was no elevator. David and I were dragging bags
down the stairs and Howard and Jenny followed behind us. As I was going
back up to get my last bag, I heard Susan say she fell. Her ankle
immediately swelled up exactly like mine did in Iraq. I’m sure it’s
sprained but we will definitely get her to the doctor once we arrive
Ramstein. She’s in a lot of pain and has ice on it (Boy, do I remember
that!).
Decided to wait until we got to a truck stop to eat breakfast since the
breakfast at lodging was just a “continental” style. We didn’t realize the
first truck stop would be about 1 ½ hours drive away.
Had a nice “truckstop” breakfast – omelet and yogurt for me then back to our
long drive. We departed 8 am and plan to arrive by 3 pm. Susan needs to
get there before the Clinic closes at 4 pm. Our bus driver had to stop
driving at 1:30 pm because of the rules regulating how many hours/miles they
can drive without resting. He had to “rest” for 1 hour and stopped at this
terrific truck stop with the best food I’ve seen the entire trip. Only
problem is, no one was hungry because we had such a large breakfast! We only
had 30 more minutes to drive to get to the base but he had to stop because
of the strict regulations.
Arrived at Ramstein and the Bellamys and I are in “General’s Quarters” which
are extremely nice “suites”. I am in the “Stuttgart Suite”…fitting since
that’s where we perform next! Susan went to the clinic and they had to x-ray
her ankle. It is not broken but is sprained and will take about 6 weeks to
heal. They gave her a strange “blow-up cast” and crutches. She is not
going to the show tonight.
I went over with the Bellamy Brothers for dinner at the club connected to
the E-Club where the show will be held. Basically, it was a “sandwich”
style restaurant. Got Susan a cheeseburger “to go” and then went by the
Exchange and found one of those Velcro wraps that holds ice for her. I
loved mine because I could just strap it around my ankle and not have to
hold it in place. David had given me the key to their room so I knocked and
when she didn’t answer, went on it. She was out cold. I left everything
for her and just as I was leaving, she woke up. I can’t believe how good
her ankle looks. Hardly any swelling and almost no bruising yet. She took
some kind of herbal pill that is the preservative that is put in food. Said
it works miracles with swelling and must be true from the looks of her foot.
Went back to the show and took some photos of the guys on stage. This is
the largest base we played this trip and we had the smallest crowd. But, it
was a great show and the guys signed autographs for about an hour
afterwards. Came back to the hotel and have been answering emails for a
couple of hours. While the guys were on-stage, Jenny, Michael, Jake (USO
Rep in this area that I met years ago in Germany) and I talked about
"spirits". I have one that follows me wherever I live. Spooked ourselves
pretty good. I have a feeling I may sleep in the lobby tonight!
My best friend, Colonel Kyle McClelland sent me a message that he is on
Skype. He is in Baghdad and not only was I able to talk to him and it
sounded like he was in the next room, but he had his videocam hooked up, so
I could see him. The miracles of modern technology. It was 1:30 am for him
and he had to get up at 5 am….keeping Judy Seale hours.
Going to bed soon so I can get up and work out tomorrow morning. There is a
“gym” in the basement of this building which is really nice. Plus internet
connection right in the suite and a “kitchen” that serves breakfast tomorrow
morning. Getting spoiled. J
Jude
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