Back on Tour

I have to admit, this time it was extremely hard for me to come back on tour. Colin and I loved being home and I especially loved spending time with Steve, Brittany, and Morgan. We had to leave on the day of Morgan's first cheer competition for the year, so I was especially down having to miss that.
We headed for the airport at 5:30am and got on our flight to Atlanta where we had a layover. At the airport we met up with Stacie, Alaggio, Will, and Jeremiah who were on our flight to Houston. Once we all met up at the Houston airport the bus came to pick us up and bring us to Galveston. It was so sad seeing all of the damage that the hurricane caused in September. Homes and businesses were damaged and some totally destroyed. It was amazing to see all of the damage. We remember reading about this in the newspaper and seeing it on tv, but to be here and see the extent of the damage was unbelievable.
After checking in at the hotel we rested up a bit and then headed to the theatre for the show. We walked around a bit downtown and saw some places that were in business and looked like nothing happened and others that were completely boarded up or partially torn down. We went into a small grocery store and met the owner who told us about the hurricane and the damaged it caused to his store. He even showed us pictures of what it looked like after the hurricane. There was stuff everywhere, the streets were full of debris. He said that his store had 9 feet of water in it! He and his family had to get rid of everything and powerwash the whole building. Then they needed to order all new supplies. Miraculously it only took them 7 weeks to reopen although there still is a lot of work to be done. We were truly touched when we saw a woman come in to buy cleaning supplies for her apartment upstairs and Bob told her that there was no charge for the cleaning supplies. He had been through so much, but is still trying to help others get through their difficult times.
The shows went well but our time in our hotel was less than pleasant. The hotel was pretty run down. We have a nice view of the Gulf, but unfortunately so do the cockroaches and sketchy people who are staying in the hotel. Both nights we were treated to police cars combing the area. Tonight was especially exciting while we witnessed a footchase ending with the police coming up empty handed. Then they got back in their cars and headed to our hotel for a while! Sue and Stacie were fortunate enough to have some visitors in their rooms when they returned(not criminals but cockroaches!) There were several shady people walking around the hotel at night obviously doing some drug deals. So I'm sure you can understand why we are getting very little sleep and are really looking forward to bus call at 6:30am.
Things will get better from there. We're heading to Memphis again and staying in a very nice hotel. The best part is that Matt David is going to be in Memphis too with his tour (The Drowsy Chaperone)We're all so excited to see him!!