Our "official" Kansas show was the beautiful FOX Theatre in Hays, and was a blast! The audience was incredibly energetic and really got into the show. Dan's Grandpa Bill & Grandma Joann live in Hays, so it was the perfect excuse for a mini family reunion. His parents came to the show, as well as his Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Run (it was Ron's birthday)! After the show we had the honor of meeting the Quartermaster from the Hays VFW, as well as THREE WWII Veterans, all who had giant smiles and lots of energy! The Quilts of Valor was with us again, bringing the magic and quilting a very special Vietnam veteran. We'll never forget this night in Hays, Kansas. Thanks to the beautiful Fox Theatre and all of their staff, and the Hays community that came out to support this leg of the tour!
Today was incredible! Erinn, Myra and Dan got up to witness one of the world's largest animal migrations! Every year in late March, one million Sandhill Cranes migrate on the Platte River Valley in order to 'fuel up' before resuming their northward migration. Our hands and toes were frozen, but the experience was definitely one we'll never forget. The volume of all of the birds even before they took off was overwhelmingly loud, and when the blood red sun hit the horizon, they all flew in droves! You're going to LOVE the picture Dan captured- be sure to follow Dan Beckmann Photography for his official Nebraska picture from this morning! We then drove to Cawker City to see.... The World's Largest Ball of Twine! As we crossed into Kansas, the temperature rose and rose until it was 78 degrees! The twine ball was created by local farmer Frank Stoeber, who decided one day to not burn his extra twine, but to keep making a ball until it was as big as his barn door. It has grown to over 24,000 pounds, and over 1.6 Million feet of twine! Fun at the twine, a great meal at Hindquarter and a nice walk made for a great afternoon with the team. We then drove to Hays, Kansas where we checked into the beautiful Hilton Garden Inn. After our weekly team meeting, Erinn & Dan headed to say "hello" to Dan's grandparent's house, where his parents and aunt & uncle had also arrived, ready for the show tomorrow, while the rest of the team had dinner at Applebees. We're so excited to be in Kansas, and can't wait for the show at the Fox Theatre tomorrow!
We drove through the night to arrive in one of our favorite cities in the country, Kearney, Nebraska! We checked into The World Theatre and saw our awesome friends at Crane River Theater who were the presenters for our official Nebraska show! The show was sold out and so much fun! It was extra special because March 29th is Vietnam Veterans Day, and there were a great amount of Vietnam Veterans in the audience. After the show, the Quilt of Valor did their presentation for Nebraska, honoring community member Bryan Waugh. Coincidentally, Bryan was also a part of the show! It was a pleasure to meet him and the response from the community for all he has done was overwhelming. The best part about Crane River Theater is the family feel that we get every time we go back to this awesome city. That's largely in part to Steve Barth, the artistic director and founder of Crane River who pours his heart into all of the projects that Crane River Theater takes on. It was so good to hug so many great friends who feel like extended family. Afterwards, we caught up with some of the staff and friends at Cunninghams, and shared a Green Tea shot in celebration of a successful night, and great people in Nebraska.
What a wonderful 27th show we had in beautiful Holstein Iowa! We performed at the Rosemary Claussen Performing Arts Center, and the show's proceeds benefited the Honor Flight, an organization that we love that takes veterans to Washington DC, all expenses paid, on a trip to see their memorials. The audience was filled with energetic folks, young and old! Laughing, crying, singing along... the perfect crowd. After the show, the Quilt of Valor honored Leo, a 102-Year Old Veteran who was in both the Army and the Navy. Backstage, the walls were filled with bands and shows that have performed at the arts center previously, including John Denver, The Letterman, The Texas Tenors, The Association and the Glenn Miller Orchestra. An incredible artist who happened to be volunteering at the event, Kyra, was gracious enough to draw our block for us backstage, and we all had the opportunity to sign it and leave our name on the wall of Iowa fame. Overall, we had an amazing time, and can't thank Lisa and all the amazing people who helped bring us back to Holstein enough for a great experience!
Today we drove through South Dakota to get to our next stop in Iowa! Jack had a margarita at lunch at a restaurant called Jackey's in Sioux Falls, and then we went to check out the beautiful Falls Park. While lovely, there was a rank smell of sewage that made the trip short. Then, we crossed the border into Iowa which was.... just what you'd expect! Hay Bales and.... CORN! Dan took his new drone out to play and got some great shots of haybales. It was so fun to watch and play with! Thanks to the generous gift cards that the Good Samaritans left us at the hotel, we went to a great local restaurant that was firefighter themed, Backdraft Bar & Grill. There are flyers for the show all over town, so we hope tomorrow's show will have a great crowd!
Today's show was one of the most special on our entire tour. Instead of being in a big theatre, we decided to make our official North Dakota stop the North Dakota Veterans home. Since 1893, this home is a living tribute to North Dakota veterans and their spouses, priding themselves on treating our vets with the upmost respect and dignity. We had performed at this home years before, and it was so incredible to return. The smiles, hugs and warmth of the veterans touched our hearts and reminded us why we do this. The Quilts of Valor once again came through for the 26th time, giving the quilt for our North Dakota stop to Delvin Owen, a WWII veteran who met his wife on the dance floor of a USO Dance! We were so grateful to talk with all of the veterans after the show. Myra spent the evening playing pool with some of them, and we had the privilege of doing some interviews for our documentary at the veterans home.
The evening ended with pizza from Casey's gas station, the only place still open on a Sunday night in Lisbon (and VERY good, we might add)! Tonight, we rest with full hearts. Thanks, North Dakota. After a lovely homemade breakfast, we left Minnesota and waved goodbye to family on the way to our next stop.... North Dakota! There was TONS of snow after crossing state lines, and Dan took full advantage of that and grabed the essence of what we were seeing through his lens. (You're going to LOVE his North Dakota shot)! We had some rough roads on the way, but safely arrived in Lisbon where we stayed at the quaint Lisbon Inn. We all jumped in the car and drove to Fargo, where Dan made a stop at Best Buy for a new photography toy, and we got to see the Wood Chipper from the movie, Fargo! We then headed to the Space Aliens Grill & Bar, where earthlings were welcomed that night. Tyler and Erinn won some cash at pull tabs, and Dan played one of his favorite things in the world, crane games where he won a giant blue rubber ducky. Cosmic Cole Slaw, Mac & Cheese Pizza, UFO Icees and outer space fries all made an appearance at our table.
So far..... there's a lot of snow in North Dakota, but there's a lot more, too. We did it! The halfway point of the Letters From Home 50-States Tour.... Show #25 at the Park Square Theatre Andy Boss Thrust in St Paul, Minnesota! We had a great turnout of veterans, kids and friends at the show. The thrust stage had us adjusting the show to the sides, and was lots of fun! After the show, we had so many hugs with SO many friends! Our Minnesota "clan", Josh & Sam, Tom, Jolene and Mackey (his first show!), Mike and Molly, Kat and Adam (we missed them after the show!), Marina & Ian, Nancy, Mona, Paul, Colton and his entire family, plus SO many passengers and friends from the American Duchess including our riverlorian Kelli Rae Tubbs, AND Jack's entire family! There were also incredible Quilt of Valor volunteers who awarded the Minnesota quilt to Charles Burdette, a combat engineer from the United States Army who served in '68 & '69. The reenactors who came to the show were sharp and looked amazing! After we loaded out, the team took a frozen walk across the Stone Arch Bridge in Minneapolis, where Dan got an amazing shot (be sure to check it out on the Dan Beckmann Photography facebook page)! After that, we went back to Dan's parents house where we all had a fireball shot in honor of our halfway point on tour.
It feels surreal that we're at this point in our tour already. We're soaking it in and loving every minute. This morning we headed north and stopped at the Wisconsin Dells! We had brunch at BJ's, then Tyler and Grace went to the Mac and Cheese store, Dan, Erinn and Jack went to the Wisconsin Cheese store, and we all went to the Wild Fun Zone. We arrived in Minnesota where we stayed with Dan's parents! Jack is also from Minnesota, so he spent this stop in Minnesota with his family.
Our day off included a breakneck game of CodeNames, getting our hair done, pedicures, Red Robin bottomless fries, a trip to the Mall of America for Myra and catching up with great friends (and doggies) from Minnesota. Tonight we had an epic show at the amazing Schauer Arts Center in Wisconsin! There were an incredible amount of people at the show and the staff at the theatre was outstanding. One of the most amazing moments of the show was when the entire audience started singing along and the rumble from their voices was so powerful! Sometimes in big theatres it's difficult to connect as personally with the audience, but we didn't feel that way at all because of the way the theatre was arranged and the energy of everyone who was there. After the show we had several surprises! Erinn's voice teacher from when she was just 8 years old, Anne Richie was at the show! Also, Dan's great friend from Nebraska, fellow performer Alex Van Handel made it out with his family (his dad was also drug onto the stage during the show)! We had several friends that we met while they were passengers from American Queen Voyages as well. After the show, the Quilts of Valor presentation was so special, as always. They gave quilts to two veterans, one was Floyd who served in WWII, and the other was Franklyn, who served in Korea. After the show, we went back to the beautiful Audubon Inn where we all talked and laughed late into the evening. This was one of our favorite performances, and we're so grateful to everyone who came out to have a good time tonight.
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