Tour 2009 Day 4 Chicago, IL; June 19

No pictures today, as we are ready for a longer night of sleep, but the day was another good one.

All went well leaving Indianapolis and we approached Chicago ahead of schedule.  However, we could see Chicago in the distance and there was obviously a bad storm going through.  Knowing we still were probably 30 min. away, we hoped that the storm would pass quickly, but we knew we had ponchos on the bus for the kids’ use should the storm persist.  What we did not know was that a bad storm in Chicago stops traffic!  Our last 25 miles took us close to an hour and a half.  That made us late to our guided tour of the Frank Lloyd Wright home and studio, but they graciously worked us in to their schedule anyway.  The guides did a great job and all enjoyed the tour.  While some knew nothing of Mr. Wright or at best that he was an architect, all came away with an understanding of the five things that influenced his work and how different his designs were from the Victorian architecture of the day.

After the tours we hurried to Grace Episcopal Church to unload the buses and rehearse.  This was our first experience of having to unload the buses quickly so the buses could leave, as they were not allowed to park at the church.  Everyone worked together quickly and the risers, concert gear, suitcases and garment bags were all in their places in a matter of moments.

Tonight’s concert must have set records for the number of family members at a tour concert.  As we greeted our audience, at least ten of our singers had large groups of extended family visiting the concert—it made for an even better audience!

We greeted our host families and headed out for the night.  These generous folks are keeping us for two nights. We’re looking forward to not having to pack suitcases in the morning!  We also sing a brief concert at a local retirement center and then we head to downtown Chicago for our boat tour and sightseeing.  It will be great to see the sights!

While there is no time for pictures, I’ll share the soloists so far this week.  The touring choirs sing three pieces that have solos at the beginning. Often the soloist is chosen immediately before the downbeat. Sometimes they are sung by one person and sometimes as a duet.  The following have done a great job to date:

Max Singleton, Grace Russell, Ethan Alexander, Josh Collins, Lindsay Ferkol, Nathan Fisher, Emily Mason, Celia Vitale, Don Albert, Sarah Moore, Eric Kennedy, Victor Williams, Donovan Patterson and Miranda Mahanes.