WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11TH – NASHVILLE TO MINOT, ND:
“HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN”? TOUGH DAY REMEMBERING THE EVENTS OF 9-11.
Today, “we” departed Nashville, LA, and NYC for three shows at military bases in North Dakota compliments of The Gary Sinise Foundation. Tom Cotter (comedian from “America’s Got Talent”) and Matt Scannell (lead singer with Vertical Horizon) will be performing at Minot AFB, Grand Forks AFB and Cavalier Space Station on Thursday through Saturday. This is my first time working with Tom and really looking forward to meeting him.
Surprisingly enough, all our flights departed our home cities on time and arrived Minneapolis on time. Matt landed first and then James and I arrived next. We went to the Lounge closest to our gate for a few minutes. Tom landed about 30 minutes after James and me.
James had seen a “Prince” store in the F gates when we got off the plane. He wanted to go back there and buy some souvenirs. We considered waiting until we come back through here on our return but if our flight is delayed at all, there won’t be time. Lindsey wanted a t-shirt so I walked back with him.
Our flight was departing out of the B gates and I didn’t realize how far it was from F gates. There was a Tram but we opted to walk instead. James also received a phone call from the rental car company. They said they did not have the Mini van we had booked and did not have a large SUV! We explained our situation and Lindsey called every rental car agency in Minot but no luck finding the size vehicle we needed.
Our flight to Minot was on time and for about the last 30 minutes, we experienced the worst turbulence I’ve been in for quite a while. Assuming it was wind since there were no storms in the area. We landed on time and picked up the full size SUV which was all they had. I couldn’t believe we were able to pack everything into the back. It was a miracle. We have a 3 ½ hour drive from Minot to Grand Forks on Friday but I think we will have enough space for a comfortable drive.
We arrived at the Hyatt House and got checked in. It’s a really nice hotel and about 20 minutes from the base. James and I had to go to the venue to meet Matt (our POC) and Amber (The production coordinator) to determine the stage setup and schedule for tomorrow. They are both really nice folks and very organized. I feel very good about the performance tomorrow.
The Gary Sinise Foundation has also paid for dinner for everyone attending all three events. What a guy!
James and I picked Tom up at the hotel to go to dinner. Matt was wiped out from his really, really early morning departure from LA so he opted out of going to dinner. Matt at the base had told us to try “The Iron Horse Restaurant” for dinner. It was a short drive from the hotel. Not only was the food excellent, but so was the staff! Had a nice dinner getting to know Tom and he’s awesome…and funny (which helps!).
We were back at the hotel relatively early but it’s 2 am now and I’m still working. Need to stop, take a shower, and grab a few hours of sleep!
It is an unbelievable blessing to be able to work with The Gary Sinise Foundation on producing these tours for the military bases. They have increased the number of tours we can do from 3 to 6 per year beginning in 2025! No one does more for our men and women serving and our first responders than Gary Sinise. I am so blessed to have him as my friend.
Jude
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 12TH, 2024 – FIRST PERFORMANCE AT MINOT AIR FORCE BASE, NORTH DAKOTA:
What an amazing day! We met in the lobby at 9:30 am to drive to the base. Breezed through the front gate (which is rare!) and met Matt at the Jimmy Doolittle Center where the dinner and show will take place tonight. He escorted us to the van where “Troy” was waiting to drive us around today. Troy is a very nice young man and Minot is his first duty station.
First stop today was the Helicopters…specifically the Huey. The airmen let us get inside the Huey and gave a great briefing on the chopper. They were very patient with the group and our guys loved learning about the aircraft. We took photos with everyone and headed to lunch. As Matt always does, he did not eat but spent the time walking around telling people about the show tonight.
Next stop was the B-52 bombers. Wow. Just Wow. What an awesome experience. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take photos of what we saw. We did get a group shot in front of the awesome bird but that’s about it. We were not allowed to go inside but did go underneath and had a great “briefing” on how everything works. I was particularly fascinated with the fact that an airman can crawl the length of the plane while inside the belly. There are doors between the compartments and I swear it would be tight for a 5 year old to fit through those! Also there is the fact that the wheels can be turned in one direction but the aircraft itself in a totally different direction for takeoff and landing! Such nice men who spent time with us answering our many questions about the aircraft.
From there we went to the EOD (Explosive Ordinance Disposal). We have visited those units many times around the world but they are very fascinating. And the EOD at each base always seems to have different “toys” for us to view. I shamed Tom into getting into the bomb suit…not as easy as you might think. The suit weighs A LOT! He tried to get down on his knees but fell and his helmet popped off. Fortunately it did not break! I videoed it and if he posts it on Tik Tok, it will go viral. Pretty funny. The “robots” are always a big hit, too.
The next visit was with the Missile Trainer Unit. Again – just WOW! We had to leave all our cell phones and “electronics” in a locker. I’m not allowed to write about what we saw so let’s just say it was amazing! There were some young students visiting through their STEM class. Some seemed very interested. I just kept thinking it would be so cool for Zac and Zoe to witness.
We ended the Unit Visits and went to the Center to prepare for the show. Matt and Tom did a quick sound check and afterwards Wing Leadership came by to meet everyone. Again, really nice folks. They spent quite a while with us and then sat right in the front row at the show. The female FSS Commander introduced the group and we showed an informational video about the Gary Sinise Foundation and then a personal message to the base from Gary.
A special “dinner” compliments of the Gary Sinise Foundation was served buffet-style at 5:00 pm. We had paid for 250 people and I think we had more than that attend. Have to check tomorrow. They served salad, 3 different styles of pasta, bread and little donuts. Really nice meal!
Tom kicked off the show and had a great show. I was amazed by how “quick” he is with his rapid fire jokes. Matt followed and got a great response to his songs. He ended the show for us with a short “tribute” to Mac Sinise – the son that Gary lost earlier this year. If you haven’t visited Mac’s YouTube channel, take a minute and do so. His music is amazing.
We had a “Meet and Greet” and they guys took photos with everyone. Matt and I didn’t eat before the show but had prepared “to go” boxes so we retrieved those from the refrigerator and headed for the hotel. Wonderful day and night – and the perfect way to start our three base tour. Everyone we met told us how much our visit meant and all were surprised that we chose Minot, North Dakota for the Gary Sinise Variety Tour Visit. It was the perfect location and I’m so thankful to Gary for allowing us to bring this base so much love in his name.
Jude
LUCKY” FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13TH – PERFORMANCE AT GRAND FORKS AIR FORCE BASE:
Learned that we had 275 people at the event at Minot yesterday. That is a great crowd for a Thursday night!
Lobby call was 9:30 am and we have to drive 3 ½ hours from Minot to Grand Forks Air Force Base. Or, I should say, James is driving us for 3 ½ hours! And he does a great job doing so!
Other than one very large Moose crossing the road in front of us (and everyone frantically trying to snap a photo of it!), the drive was very flat and very boring. It started raining pretty hard not too far out of Minot and continued to rain the entire trip. Our first activity at Grand Forks is supposed to be going by the base’s “Sports Day” and talking to everyone attending. I have a feeling the rain will negatively impact that event.
We made one stop for gas and arrived the hotel in Grand Forks at exactly 1:00 pm. Check in time wasn’t until 3 pm so I was prepared to store the luggage and check in after the event because we needed to be on the base by 2:20 pm today.
The desk clerk told me that all the rooms were available so James told everyone to unload the car. Then, the desk clerk said she made a mistake and only one room was available. I was able to convince her to give me “any” 4 rooms that were open even if they were not the rooms she had originally assigned to us. She was able to accommodate everyone.
We departed the hotel at 2:00 pm for the drive to the base and Paul (our POC) met us at the gate. Our names were on the EAL and all we had to do was show our ID’s to enter. Very easy compared to some of the other bases we have visited.
The show tonight is in their club and is for Adults Only. It’s a nice room and green room for the event. Paul has been awesome to work with and it was so nice to finally meet him. He immediately informed us that the Sports Day had ended early due to the rain. There really wasn’t anywhere else on base he could take us for a Unit Visit so we did a quick sound check and went back to the hotel for a couple of hours. We were really looking forward to attending their Sports Day because it meant we would get to meet families with children. Tonight’s performance is for Adults Only. Leadership wanted to keep it for Adult’s only because the majority of the events held on the base are for families. With the high suicide rate in this part of the country, it’s nice to give the “adults” a break and have entertainment specifically for them.
We arrived back at the venue at 5:30 pm and there was already a steady stream of people coming in for the buffet that was being provided by the Gary Sinise Foundation. Tonight’s menu was again pasta with a nice salad, steamed veggies and some amazing cheese/garlic bread. Matt, Tom and I got “to go” boxes so we could eat after we returned to the hotel.
Just prior to the beginning of the performance, Colonel Tim Monroe came into the Green Room to meet us. My dear friend Major General Shoemaker had “introduced” us via email prior to our arrival. Colonel Monroe and Matt had a lively conversation about their “watches”. Matt is a watch fanatic and evidently so is Colonel Matthews. I asked him if he had a call sign and he responded that it is “Tilt” and told us a really funny story about how he got that name.
The show started on time and Tom was “on fire” tonight. I’m sure it’s much easier for him to be funny when it’s strictly an “adult” audience. His jokes are so “rapid fire”, he amazes me. Tom performed for 45 minutes and then Matt came on for 45 minutes. Matt also had a really great show and again talked about Gary’s loss at the very end of the evening. Near the end of Matt’s show, Paul said that the 4 airmen standing in the back of the room in their camos were Security Forces and had to go back to work. He brought them backstage to have their photo taken with Tom while Matt finished up his performance. Tom and Matt took photos with everyone in line for another hour and then we said our “good-byes” and departed for the hotel.
The GPS doesn’t work “on-base” and James was struggling to figure out which way to go to get off base. He pulled out of the parking lot and onto the main road and almost immediately there were flashing lights behind us! We knew he could not have been speeding but evidently the police had noticed something suspicious or they would not have pulled us over. We sat patiently in the car for a very long time and no one came up to the window to ask to see James’s drivers license. I finally called Paul and told him what happened. Of course, as soon as I called him, the police came up to the window on the opposite side of James. James gave them all the paperwork and they asked if we were in a rental vehicle. I noticed that it was the same policemen that we had taken backstage to have a photo taken with Tom. They were standing right beside Matt and didn’t even recognize him! I poked Tom and told him to roll his window down. He did and reminded them who he was. Didn’t really make much of an impact on them. LOL. They did let James off with a “warning” based on the fact that he only came to a rolling stop instead of a full stop when exiting the parking lot onto the main street!
Even with the traffic incident, it was a great visit to Grand Forks Air Force Base. It is a much smaller base and I’ll know how many people attended tomorrow.
It is now 2:30 am and time to grab a few hours of sleep!
Jude
FINAL PERFORMANCE AT CAVALIER SPACE FORCE STATION IN CAVALIER, ND:
We had 145 people in attendance last night at Grand Forks Air Force Base. There would have been a lot more attending if we had opened the event up to “families”. But Grand Forks said the majority of their events are “family friendly” and they wanted to give the single airmen an event just for them. It was definitely the right decision as the attendees really needed the morale boost.
Today is our final show in North Dakota and Matt and Tom will be performing at Cavalier Space Force Station – a very remote location in North Dakota. I’m still surprised I was able to find it when I was “googling” for remote locations where we could provide entertainment for the Gary Sinise Foundation.
We met in the lobby at 9 am and it was about an hour and fifteen minute drive from our hotel in Grand Forks. I sent a text message to our contact – Sean – to let him know we were approaching the gate and he said we should not have any problem entering because we were on the EAL. There were two nice “very young” airmen working security at the gate. We explained that we were the “entertainment” for today but they informed us that we were not on the EAL. I called Sean again and he said he was on his way to the gate to escort us through.
Sean and another man showed up and told the gate guards that they were just going to escort us on base. One of the young guards began explaining to them that it would not be possible since they had to run a background check on us and that would take some time. At that point, the man with Sean said “I’m the Base Commander and I can escort them on now”. The young gate guard said, “You’re the Base Commander????!!!!”. It was priceless. The base commander is Lt. Colonel Michael Stobie and he is a super nice guy!
We went into the main building which is similar to Clear Space Force Center in Alaska. Pretty much everything you need is in one building – library, fitness center for adults connected to a play area for children, bowling center, movie theatre, bar, offices, “ballroom area” where the show will take place, etc. etc., etc. Their one “restaurant” in the building is under renovation but the Food Truck that they hired to provide the dinner compliments of the Gary Sinise Foundation will be able to utilize it to serve the food that they will cook in advance. We spent a few minutes checking out the production for the show and then headed over to a HUGE concrete building where all their radar technology is housed. In Clear, everything was in a huge “golf ball” shaped facility. As was the case in Clear, we had to give up our cell phones upon entering and I can’t write any of the information we learned in this report. I will say that the tour we took in Clear and the one today is usually reserved for important government dignitaries so we feel very blessed to have been approved for this. We spent well over an hour meeting the people working in the building and hearing exactly what they are doing to “Defend” the USA. Once again, I have a renewed admiration for the men and women serving in our Space Force. They play a crucial role in keeping our nation safe on a daily basis.
Back at the main building, I learned that this is the very first live celebrity entertainment they have had since the inception of this location – including when it started out as an Army Base then transitioned to an Air Force Base and now finally a Space Force Station. The only live entertainment they have had here previously has been a few military bands. We feel very honored to be here!
Sound check went quickly and the attendees started coming in for the show. The “bar” is on one end of the building opposite from the performance area. Everyone headed there first to get a drink. The company that provided the food arrived and I went down to pay them for their service. The name of the company is Billys Legendary BBQ and Sean had spent quite a while trying to located a “food truck” who could cater the event today. While I was talking to the owner, he said that he saw the Lt. Dan Band perform when he was in Diego Garcia 20 years ago. I think it is wonderful that Gary and the band made such an impression on him that he still remembers their visit. Matt and Vertical Horizon went to Diego Garcia for me twice in year’s past but I had to send my son Chris with them because I was in Iraq both times they visited.
Tom had a great show. There were lots of children in attendance but he did an outstanding job of entertaining the adults but keeping it “clean” for the kids. Matt had another fantastic performance as well, getting the attendees to sing along on “Purple Rain” and some of his other songs. After the show, we were invited to a special event called a “Spartain Hail”. Basically it consisted of people attending the event asking us questions. It was a really fun event. I videoed the entire event so check it out on my FB page if you have time.
After the “Hail”, everyone had dinner compliments of the Gary Sinise Foundation. It was BBQ and was absolutely delicious. We sat at the table with Lt. Colonel Stobie and his family. Such great folks. Everyone on the really tiny base is so nice. It’s awesome to be transported back to a time where everyone on the base knows each other and loves living in a small community. One of the Lt. Colonel’s children is in the 5th grade band. There are only 6 people in her class! It is a very special place and I’m so glad we were able to visit them.
James drove the hour plus drive back to our hotel in Grand Forks to spend the night. More convenient to stay there but also there’s nowhere to stay in Cavalier. LOL.
This was the perfect ending to our three base tour and I feel like we definitely visited the bases who needed the morale boosts the most. Feeling honored and blessed to be a part of the Gary Sinise Foundation family!
Jude
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 15TH – TRAVEL HOME:
Compliments of the Gary Sinise Foundation, we entertained/served 120 people at the tiny base of Cavalier Space Force Base in North Dakota! So awesome!!!
Everyone met in the lobby at 9:30 am to depart to the airport – which is only a few miles away. We made a quick stop for gas and James dropped us off while he returned the car. Since I am checking his bag, I was able check in at the one kiosk that was operable. We then had to wait for a check-in agent to arrive to get our bag tags. It’s a tiny airport and only staffed a couple of hours before a flight departs. We had to wait even longer for the Security line to open. But there was a nice waiting area although the one coffee shop was not open. There was a sign saying “Ring the bell and if no one answers, call this number to place your order”.
Once Security opened, there were 2 gates and a nice gift shop/restaurant. I had been looking for Huckleberry Jam or Jelly because Zoe fell in love with it when we went to Wyoming. No luck but I found a different brand of strange “berry” and got that for her. (Of course, James’s sister-in-law just returned from Yellowstone and she brought him back Huckleberry Jam! LOL)
We are all on the same flight to Minneapolis and then Matt goes to LA and Tom goes to NYC. James and I return to Nashville. Matt and Tom made a really sweet (and funny) video thanking Gary for allowing them this opportunity.
We were all seriously impacted by the people we met and the places we visited on this tour. It’s so important to remember our men and women serving in every location around the world. But when we can spend time in such a remote location in the USA, it fills our hearts. I got the sweetest notes from all the people we worked with at the bases and many of the people who attended the show and/or dinner. There is no doubt that North Dakota was the correct location for Gary to provide entertainment and a meal.
If you are reading this Road Report, take a minute to go to:
www.youtube.com/@macsinise7489
And listen to the incredible music Gary’s son Mac composed and recorded. “Like” or “Comment” on what you hear. You can also support Gary’s efforts by going to:
On the home page, click on “A Personal Message From Gary” and read the story of Mac’s incredible battle with cancer. You can purchase Mac’s music digitally or by ordering an LP. A second version will be available soon. Mac’s wish is that all proceeds from his music go to support The Gary Sinise Foundation. Let’s honor his wish and legacy and make that happen!
Jude