Kansas City, MO:
We arrived in Kansas City pretty early in the day and all of us were awakened to the frigid Midwest air that we hadn’t felt yet on this tour. It was much colder than we had expected but we went to our rooms and changed to get ready for a run around the city. A large group of us went to the World War I memorial just a short jog from our hotel and got to see some amazing views of the city from afar. This was the first city of many that we thought was cooler than any of us had previously imagined. Seeing as we had the day off and some time to kill we took on a challenge from the Studio One high school boys that wanted to show us up in football. We went to the park and ended up playing for close to 3 hours.
That night we took a short walk for what we had heard was the best bbq in America, known as Jack’s Stack Barbecue. It certainly lived up to the hype with some amazing burnt tips, which I haven’t seen on the East Coast, as well as some delicious ribs. Once we got to the venue we realized how nice the places were that we had performed in previously. The stage and dressing rooms were much more cramped than many acts were used to and Fighting Gravity was kept in the basement down a flight of stairs. The show went well as usual and we moved back onto the buses for our trip to Minneapolis.
Minneapolis, MN:
The run into downtown the morning we got there was great to see much of the downtown area. Views of the Mississippi River, the locks, mills and the Vikings stadium were all along the edge of downtown. A small harvest festival was happening in the middle of one of the streets we passed. Once we got onto the buses for the theater we found out we were finally going to be on a college campus. One of the guys looked up Pike chapters and realized there was a house we could visit at University of Minnesota. We had the chance to meet some of the guys, tour the house and hear about the way their chapter works.
Milwaukee, WI:
On our 3rd day of running in a row Caleb and I were definitely feeling it. We had a slightly painful run down to the edge of Lake Michigan which gave us some exceptional pictures of the art museum, the marina as well as the buildings on the edge of the ridge. It was interesting to have such a large park against the water separating it from the city. On the way back we got to see the location of the performance we would have later that night. It was up against the river going through downtown which limited the space our crews had to work with. When we showed up to begin getting ready for the show we were told our holding room and catering were on the 8th floor and the only elevator was a rickety early 1900’s style that had a gate you closed for yourself and took 10 minutes to get to your floor. Many of the guys got a good workout for the day and at least we could burn off some of the calories from the catering. It was hard to see the Redskins lose this week but at least the Cowboys lost as well. Even with shows we still get plenty of time to watch the games before and after our performance.
Rosemont, IL:
Rosemont was probably one of the best locations we’ve stayed at for a rest day. The city was just a metro ride away, one thing the west coast didn’t seem to have at all, and Northwestern University was about 30 minutes north of the city. I got the chance to see a good friend from high school as we went to the Pike house at Northwestern for their normal Monday shenanigans. We spent awhile at the house as more of the guys begun to realize that we were the group from America’s Got Talent. It was cool getting the chance to see a ton more guys in Pike and there were a few brothers that had connections to friends and brothers of ours back home. The night ended with some crazy stories including one person ending up on the streets of Chicago till early hours without his shoes, shirt, phone or even a wallet. Luckily no one was harmed and everyone got home safely to the hotel.
On Tuesday night we went into the city for Giordano’s Pizza, one of the best known Chicago pizza parlors, which much like the Kansas City Barbecue fully lived up to its hype. After dinner a few of us met up with Aaron’s friend and took a small tour around Loyola’s campus before catching a cab back to the hotel. The show Wednesday night went great except for the hundreds of camera flashes that went off during our performance. A huge crowd was outside the busses to get autographs and pictures from each of the acts. It was cool getting to see so many fans and not just the ones who paid the extra price for the front row and autograph tickets.
St. Louis, MO:
Early this morning we got into St. Louis and unloaded to our hotel at Grand Central. The hotel was massive and a bit of a maze to navigate but was connected to a good sized mall for us to wander around. Rob, Ash, Caleb and I went for a run as we usually do to check out the city and stay in some sort of shape after the tons of food we are eating. It was one of the better runs we have gone on, getting to see the best parts of St. Louis. Heading straight down the road from our hotel we went to the Gateway arch which rests alongside the Mississippi river. Paddle boats could be seen on the banks of the river getting ready to take some tourists for a ride. We looped around downtown to
make it to the NFL’s Rams’ stadium, of which Rob is a huge fan. We took a few pictures of the outside before I noticed one of the doors appeared unlocked. The other three seemed hesitant as I opened the door and wanted to go exploring, but they finally understood my excitement. There was a path straight into the dome and onto the field where we got to go on without anyone seeing us. Rob was extremely happy to get some pictures on the turf before heading back to the hotel.
Neal E. Boyd, the winner of America’s Got Talent season 3, joined the show tonight to perform in place of Jackie Evancho since she has been going back for school. It was cool meeting him before going to the buses and heading out to Indianapolis. We will be there in a few hours so I’m getting some rest but hopefully I will keep up with the posts a little better over the next week.
Darn....No Kuma's in Chicago!
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