Thursday, September 3 and Friday, September 4
Today I leave for Leknes, Norway. I have been to Norway numerous times over the years, but this will be my first time in this area, much further north, above the arctic circle. This was Lindsey’s date, she worked all of the logistics so she and I met Radney Foster at the airport for check-in. They are flying United, and several months ago United decided to no longer offer flights into Oslo. Cindy, Radney’s wife, had to contact SAS and have their flights changed from United to SAS, and they prepaid baggage fees. Unfortunately United would not honor the baggage fees and charged them again this morning. frown emoticon I am traveling on Delta via Atlanta / Amsterdam and will meet them in Oslo. My flight out of Atlanta is delayed an hour due to weather, and I only had an hour to make my connection. Needless to say, I missed my flight in Amsterdam, but Delta already had me rebooked on the next flight to Oslo. This added delay also caused me to miss my connection in Oslo by minutes. I got rebooked on a flight to Bodo, but the earlier flight from Bodo to Leknes was full so I had to wait for 4 hours!! I did not sleep on the long flight because I watched a whole season of a Showtime series. Boy am I regretting that now….I did manage to doze on the flight to Oslo and some on the flight to Bodo. I had a 4 hour layover in Bodo because the earlier flight was full. Finally arrived in Leknes about 7 pm. Stig picked me up and took me to the hotel, got checked in, met with Gunnar for a few minutes, had dinner and now it’s time to crash!! Getting to bed early tonight!
Saturday, September 5
Woke up at 1:30 am to laughing outside. So I called home and talked to the boys since I was awake. Went back to sleep and woke up every little bit. I usually only do that except when I have to be up early, not sure why I did that this morning. Finally got up about 7, showered, checked emails, had breakfast with Eddie and Radney, then Cindy joined us. Left for sound check, it was too easy. Radney sang “Raining on Sunday”, a Keith Urban song, I had no idea Radney wrote it!
Back at the hotel and it’s been raining off and on. Gunnar called about going sightseeing while it was clear, but everyone had walked into town for lunch. Hopefully it will be better tomorrow so they can go.
Had dinner at the hotel with Eddie, Mike and Stephen, then Radney and Cindy joined us later. I had salmon lasagna. I am not crazy about salmon, but it was actually really good. We all left for the show. Had a great crowd. Radney and the band put on a fabulous show. He played a few covers, which were actually songs he wrote. They really rocked the house, even their “ballads” weren’t your typical ballads. Radney signed autographs and they sold all of the cd’s they brought except one. 😀 We stayed and listened to Gunnar’s band for a bit before we left, talk about REAL country. Was great to hear some legendary songs – Hank, Sr., Merle, Buck, etc. As we were leaving, we got to see a little bit of the Northern Lights show. It was pretty foggy out and was hard to see much, but was spectacular none the less.
Back to the room, everyone sat in the restaurant telling stories and having a drinks until after 2am. I went to my room finished watching a movie and asleep a little after 3.
Sunday, September 6
Up about 7:30, shower, finish packing, have breakfast, say my good-byes and I am off. Supposed to be a much nicer day today. Stig and Gunnar have set up some sightseeing excursions in the area, and everyone is excited to see Leknes.
I left for Oslo, where I will spend the night and head home early tomorrow morning.
penny