FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10TH – PERFORMANCE IN TROMSO, NORWAY:

Up at 7 am with my throat literally on fire. Not good to have a cold on this tour. Was dressed and ready for our 9:30 am lobby call. Weather has not improved at all and looks like we will have pretty high wind and a snow storm when we land in Tromso. Also means we probably won’t get to see the Northern Lights, darn it!

We left on time for the Oslo airport. Had a really nice young man check us in and didn’t charge us excess baggage fees. We timed our arrival at the airport perfectly this time. Had about 30 minutes before our flight boarded. Jim and I tried to find a money exchange but were told there wasn’t one in the Domestic terminal….except for an ATM machine!

Flight to Tromso was on time. We paid extra to sit in the front of the plane and be allowed to check 2 bags. Usually, the middle seat is blocked so everyone has more space. Not this time….and I am a “magnet” for having the largest person on the flight sit in the middle seat beside me. That’s exactly what happened. The only person who was just as large was the guy sitting between Howard and David. I was crushed against my armrest for the entire 2 hour flight. To make it worse, he SANG under his breath and bounced his leg up and down the entire flight. His leg rubbed mine during all that bouncing and it was so annoying.

A girl in front of Howard started coughing incessantly and it was a very deep cough. Sure hope we don’t get whatever she has. Although I probably already have it!

Landed on time in a snow storm. We did not see the ground until the plane touched down. Reminded me of the dust storms in Iraq! The guys meeting us to assist with the equipment were waiting for us. Super nice guys and extremely helpful. Had a little hiccup with the “size” of the taxi but everything worked out fine. Only a 10 minute drive to the hotel from the airport. Very nice “Thon” Hotel and our rooms were correct!

Randy Hiebert was outside helping with the gear when I passed out the room keys and I forgot to give him his when he came in. I remembered as soon as I was in my room and went back down to give to him. He showed me a small black carry on bag that someone in our group had left in the lobby. Stephanie was standing there with him and we all looked at it to see if we could tell who it belonged too. There was no bag tag on it though. So, I sent out a group text to everyone. Had responses from everyone that it was not theirs. I knew it was ours because it had a red luggage handle cover on it like I had everyone to put on all their bags. Finally, Randy Hall admitted that it was Stephanie’s bag and she had just “spaced” out. Happens to all of us a lot lately (especially me!) because this is such an intense tour as far as traveling every day!

Again, performing at another beautiful sold out theater. Someone told me that today is Friday. We don’t have a clue what day it is anymore. The guys were telling me how great the staff and the backline are at this venue. Much better than anywhere else we have been. They finished sound check by 5:30 – which was definitely a “record”. Everyone just stayed at the venue because there really wasn’t enough time to go back to the hotel. We sent a taxi to pick up Howard, David and Stephanie at 6:30 pm. Lindsey had asked me to put one person on the M&G list but I accidentally put her on the list for tomorrow night’s show. Lindsey called and we got her in to say hello and take a photo with them.

Another great show. Tomorrow is the hydrofoil boat. Have to say I am a little “apprehensive” given how hard it was snowing tonight. Of course, it was much too cloudy to see the Northern Lights. But we still have 2 more chances – tomorrow in Harstad and later in the week in Bodo.

After midnight so going to bed so I can get up at 5 am.

Jude