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THURSDAY, SEPT. 25:
Today I leave for Schupfart, Switzerland with
Highway 101. Nikki and Justin arrived first, got them checked in and waited on
the other 2 to arrive. Andy arrived next. I thought that his name was
familiar, but couldn’t remember how I knew his name. Once I saw him, I
remembered. We took him to Japan a few years ago with Blue County, one of my
favorite bands. I love Aaron and Scott and will never forget how much fun they
were and how much fun they had in Japan. Of all of my trips to Japan, I don’t
recall any group having as much fun and enjoying themselves as much as they
did. Andy told me that Cactus is always “last minute” so I decided to go on to
the date with Andy. As we started through security, they shut down 2 lanes and
this only left 1 lane open. The line started backing up quickly. Cactus made
it to the gate just as we were starting to board. We all got and were notified
that one of the seats kept reclining and we had to have it fixed before we could
leave. It took about 45 minutes to get this taken care of. Landed in Atlanta
about an hour late and we headed for our gate. They all made a detour to the
food court as I went on to the gate. Got the gate only to find out the flight
was delayed about 20 minutes, then once we all got on, the flight was delayed
more because the “entertainment” system was not working. They switched out the
board from another plane and got it working in the main cabin, but not in
Business. It didn’t affect any of us, and it would have been just as well if we
hadn’t waited for them to fix it. The movie was very lame. Luckily the flight
was about half full so we all had our own rows to stretch out. I read magazines,
ate and napped.
FRIDAY, SEPT. 26:
Landed about an hour late, not too bad. We gathered up our luggage and
gear and met Jurg just outside of the baggage area. This is my first time
actually working with Jurg. We have talked and emailed LOTS over the years, but
I have never been to one of his festivals. Jurg tells us that the Scorpions are
headlining tonight, so we decided that we want to go and check them out. Got
checked in at the hotel and had breakfast. They all went into town and I
checked email and napped. We all met for dinner about 7:30 PM and then went to
the festival to see the Scorpions. They flat out ROCKED the place. It was very
cool. Got back to the hotel about 1 AM, checked email and off to bed. ROCK YOU
LIKE A HURRICANE!!! J
SATURDAY, SEPT. 27:
Got to sleep in this morning, we don’t leave for soundcheck until 1 PM.
I still feel kind of turned around. I swear I think traveling to Europe is
harder than Asia.
Soundcheck was quick and easy. I didn’t realize how many great songs Hwy 101
have until soundcheck to day. Nikki has a great voice and I love her sound. I
really think they would do well at several of our festivals. I am definitely
going to be pitching them a lot more for our events. They are all so nice and a
lot of fun to be around, too. Went back to the hotel for a while, had dinner
and back to the show. We got about ˝ to the show and I asked Nikki if she had
the cd’s….”no”. So we turned around and went back to the hotel to get them.
Made it to the show, they did a short televised interview. Truck Stop, a huge
European band, was performing before them. They are “retiring” so this is their
last show. They played an extra 30 minutes, they have been touring for 35
years.
Highway 101 went on and they killed the place. They are so good. They did this
rockin’ solo segment, and I swear you would have thought that the Scorpions were
back. It was awesome!!! J Jurg
was very happy, too.
We go back to the hotel and try wind down from the show. We are all going to
take a train into Zurich tomorrow and do some sightseeing. I was here in
February with Lucy Angle (and my family), so at least I will know a little bit
about where things are.
SUNDAY, SEPT. 28:
We all had a lunch breakfast, checked the train schedule and departed
for the train station at 11:30 AM. The train we wanted was set to leave at
11:43 AM, plus we have to figure out the kiosk and purchase train tickets. Of
course we missed the train. Cactus befriends a little Swiss guy and he helps us
to figure out another train route that will get us into Zurich, but it will be a
little longer ride. Once we got on the train, the ticket guy came around to
check our tickets and he told us of another way to go…..we get off at Baden and
change trains, and that will take us to the main station in Zurich. Within 30
minutes we were in Zurich. J
We left the train station and headed down by the river that leads to the
large lake. There was a huge festival going on. There were kids everywhere
playing games, doing different activities, big green balloons, vendors with all
kinds of food. We could smell “cheese” and it smelled SO good. Didn’t take
long and that was the most nauseating smell ever. We walked around downtown
Zurich, had coffee, took photos, visited the Fraumunster Church – it was founded
in 853 by King Louis of Germany and ownership was passed on the Zurich during
the 13th Century. We saw these really cool little "cars" called
TWIKES. They are electric and seem to be becoming very popular in Europe.
They run about $3000, would be ideal for running around our secondary streets!!
We walked down Bahnhofstrasse, which is like the Rodeo Drive of Beverly Hills,
only WAY MORE!!! The most expensive item I was “window shopping” was a diamond
ring for $30k. It was beautiful!!! We did a little shopping, souvenir and
chocolate, caught our train and headed back to Fricke.
The hotel restaurant was closed today, but they opened just for us and served us
the most wonderful dinner. All of the meals have been wonderful at this hotel,
and everyone has take just great care of us. Lars and his wife own the hotel,
and he is also the chef. Denise runs the front desk and works in the kitchen,
too.
Jurg and a couple of his friends joined us for dinner. We all had a really
great time and great conversation. I got everyone checked in for our flights on
line, packed and went to bed.
MONDAY, SEPT. 29:
I woke up every hour last night. I was so afraid that I would
oversleep, that I finally just got up. Went down for a quick breakfast, loaded
up the van and we all headed to the airport. I have really enjoyed working with
Jurg. He is a great guy and has taken such wonderful care of us.
Got the airport, got checked in, luggage checked and headed to the gate. Justin
said when he went through security that they “REALLY” checked him over, even
took him in a special room. J
Justin is Cactus’ son-in-law, but you would never know it to be around them, he
and his wife are expecting their 2nd child in January. January is
going to be a busy time….I know several people due in Jan. Wonder what was
going on last April that had everyone so “busy”.
J
I wish that I could say that we all had an uneventful flight home, but that
wasn’t exactly the case. The flight was pretty full, but did have several open
seats. I moved up to a row with Justin, we had an empty seat between us; Nikki
moved so she had an empty seat; Cactus moved way in the back so he had a whole
row. This left me, Justin, Nikki and Andy all within a few rows of each other.
Just in front of me and Justin was a family with 2 young children, one about 4
and the other about 2. I have a 6 year old, so I have sympathy for those
traveling with children. I know things happen and flights aren’t always
pleasant, BUT……this 2 year old screams and cries almost the entire flight. Mom
is doing her best to tend to him, dad is in his own world, and the other child
playing. This is going to be a long flight……a few hours in to the flight, the
mom changes a “nasty” diaper right there in the seats. I thought I was going to
gag. I could not believe that she did not take him to the restroom and change
him. I take my blanket to cover my nose, look over at the lady in the row
beside me and she does the same thing. Not long before landing mom gets all
radical on the 4 year old who had been wonderful the entire trip, other than
spilling his water in the floor. I wanted to bad to tell her to just chill,
things happen. It was so embarrassing to see her act that way with her child.
We did land in Atlanta, finally, got all of the luggage/gear, went through
custms, and headed to the gate for our flight to Nashville. Flight to Nashville
was short and sweet.
I have to say, of all of my trips overseas over the last 10 years, I have never
enjoyed myself as much as I did with Highway 101. They are a great group,
professionally, but personally as well. They are always doing something to keep
you laughing. I definitely hope that we can do more festivals with them in the
future.
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