Thanks Wichita

Well Wichita, I'll be honest, I thought you would be able to pull off the 57th NSDC, but not a big thing. I appologize, you did a fine job, I'm sure there were many "fires" that needed to be taken care of, but for the most part those fires were kept out of the sight of most dancers.

As far as next years 58th NSDC, we need to get alot of people to register, because we are still way low on numbers the last I saw we had only 2,355 registered. I believe that I saw that the bare bones break even point is 6,000. Wichita had 6,025 but had many more advantages than we do in Long Beach.

Tomorrow, or later today, we packup to go back to KC in order to come HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love traveling, but as anyone who travels knows, some of the best moments in traveling is coming home. :)

I will update pictures and more information once I get home and rest. That probably won't be until Thursday at the earliest as I'm planning on going to the Fair on Tuesday & Wednesday to see Sugarland (Tue) and Little Big Town (Wed).

Going down....

Well we went to the Kansas Underground Salt Museum. Located just outside of Hutchinson, Kansas which is only an hour away from Wichita. The gang (The Mays, The Davis, Phil Farmer's son, CJ, Pauline, Gary, Sherley and Thomas -- 14 total) made reservations and paid for our tickets. We then went about 6 miles back towards Wichita for breakfast at an Amish restaurant. Decent food if I do say so myself, large portions of hash browns and biscuits. We then went back for the tour, there were only 3 of us that took jackets along for the tour, we probably didn't really need them, but they were nice to have.

The tour was about an hour long, very interesting and if you are claustrophobic, be in the second group of 14 in the tour group, last in to the elevator, first out! They took us through the mines for about 30-40 minutes on a tram explaining some different things. Very interesting like I said. Then you can take a short walking tour of the different areas of the active mine that is about 2 miles away within the same tunnel system. At the end of the walking portion you are introduced to the Underground Vault area where all of the major motion picture houses send at least one copy of every film they make and many of the costumes and props. Check out the pictures over at myspace.

We came back, and dad was pissed at me because of the fact that I officially told him that his stupid jokes were starting to piss me off. He stayed in the hotel room the rest of the day while my mom & I went over to the convention and had fun. I need to get to bed, we have a 8am (CDT) wake up so that we can see the presentations from both OKC and Spokane to see who wins the NSDC for 2012.

And then it was summer

WOW, my fears of Wichita in June came true today.....HOT and kinda sticky.

I woke up today late (10:30) and took care of the standard morning things. We found a Denny's for breakfast and then came back to the hotel. I called the Mays and since we were all going to be going to the same places, we did it together. We went to the NSDC to get our badges, and while the Mays were taking care of some problems they were having with the badges, we shopped at the NSDC booth (since it was the only booth open, it was not a hard choice to see where we wanted to shop!). From there we migrated over to Sheplers here in Wichita. Sheplers is a big time western catalog business that has a few actual stores (LV & Wichita to name a couple). The Mays found some stuff, I found a really sweet looking Budweiser shirt, but they did not have it in my size (I found the only one and it was a small, there is no way a small is going to fit me!!!!). After that and the group seeing someone get pulled over by Wichita police we went to a local eatery (Town & Country) to have dinner. I had a mesquite grilled catfish plate, mom had Beef brisket, and dad had wait for it...... a salad!!!!!!!! During dinner (since I know Jesse will bring it up) I was eating mom's jello that had fruit inside of it. I made a few wrong turns and quite a bit of it ended up on either me or the floor (refer to the May's P.A.D. possibly for more information).

Finally dance time came around, neither mom nor I did a lot of dancing (Mom 0, Chris 1 -- Tip scoreboard) mainly because we were as tradition, getting all of our ducks in a row for the rest of the convention. We were trying to find where the L&F booth is (really hidden behind two different halls, ours will be more in your face) and finding out what time we are going to be working the 58th NSDC shop (it was never open tonight, so we still have no idea).

Anyways so now it is time to go to bed cause we need to be at the Mays RV around 8 so that we can go to the Salt Mines about 1 hr NNW of Wichita, and when we are up there, we are going to an Amish restaurant for breakfast (hope mom can find something to eat). Later!

P.S. If you care, Fresno State ended up winning the CWS tonight after defeating Georgia 6-1. Zach Stone (son of NBC 7/39 Sports reporter/Weekend Anchor Jim Stone) bothered me tonight during the dance to let me know that the Central Valley Bull Dogs ended up winning the game with the guy form RB closing the game out. Memo to Zach, who give a bleep. It was not Wichita State, Miami, or Rice in the finals. Both Bull Dog (Dawg for Georgia) teams got hot at the end of the season, Fresno State was only 4 games above .500 going into the conference tournament, they really should not have even been in Wichita. They got there the only way they could by winning the WAC tourney, and then getting luck in the CWS tourney.

Traveling in Nebraska and Kansas

Well today we crossed into Kansas as is deminstrated by this picture below. Yes I'm being a goof ball, but every once in a while aren't you allowed to be?

We left Council Bluffs around 9:30a and got into Omaha around 4, with a 30 minute stop at a truck stop in Salina, KS. So we finally got into the hotel, and they were nicer than any other hotel that I have been to. This would be a hotel that I would be proud to work at, as long as things work as smoothly as check in did.

So I met up with the May's and Mom and I took Amanda over to a trail dance for the NSDC, with the convention actually opening on Thursday. We spent at least an hour after the dance at the May's RV just talking about random stuff.

Rosenblatt Stadium

So today, we originally were supposed to go over to the Air & Space strategic museum, but after rearranging the itinarary for our trip down to Wichita. Dad doesn't want to go to the greyhound (dog) HOF, so we are going to stop over at the museum and then continue on the I-80 West to US-81 South, and it will take us straight into Wichita.

We went over to a Super Wally to grab a couple of things. After that we came back and got ready for the College World Series and for the travel for tomorrow. We left the the hotel around 4 for a 6pm game. I got us to the stadium around 4:20 after traffic and all. I got to my General Admission section right before Fresno State had BP. During the ballgame I struck up a small conversation with a couple of good looking girls that were sitting in front of me. I didn't find out until later that they "need some seasoning". Georgia ended up winning the game 7-6, they won when Brandon Burke (Rancho Bernardo) gave up a 2-run HR and the game tying RBI Double. If Georgia wins tomorrow (6/24) they will be the National Champions.

Tomorrow, Wichita. If you are going to Nationals, I'll see you there.

Sunday in Iowa/Nebraska

So we started out with a trip around Downtown Omaha to get a few day time pictures. We then went to the Military park on the riverfront and looked at a few displays that they had there. After that we went onto a river cruise. We went 15 minutes up river from the departure point, then flowed down the river with the tide to about 3/4 mile from the hotel. The cruise then turned around and went back to base. While on the cruise I struck up a conversation with a couple that lives in Omaha and they explained a few things about the riverfront. After the cruise, we traveled south down 10th Street. 10th Street ends at Rosenblatt Stadium and the Omaha Zoo. We eventually got on I-80 East and almost immediately transitioned to I-29 South, we got something to drink and eat and hopped back on I-29 South. 48 miles later we got off and turned right headed towards Nebraska City for the VF Outlet store. For those that know the Davis' well, you know that VF Outlet is our families favorite store. There are not many stories where you can save 66% over regular store prices. We returned from Nebraska City, and went to Harrah's Council Bluffs for their buffet. Now we are bracing for an adventuresome day tomorrow.

Tomorrow we are planning on going to the Air & Space Strategic museum in Nebraska. After that, we are Rosenblatt Bound!!!!!!

What a day

Wow, two states, many sights, and two capitols in the same state.

Now that I got your attention, lets review day 6 of "The Trip". We got a late start and didn't wake up until 10:30. I woke up with a small migrane headache as did Mom. We both took some pain reliever for the headaches. We started out for the Iowa Lincoln memorial on one of the many hill sides here in Council Bluffs (CB). The Picture below is the view of Omaha, NE from the Lincoln memorial.

From the Lincoln Memorial we went over to the Lewis & Clark Memorial. Lewis & Clark made thier first meeting with the Indians of the region here in CB. I have a video of the view from the memorial for your viewing pleasure on myspace.

From there, we went to the spot that the US Government will tell you that nothing happened, but in reality it is where the Golden Spike that really connects East and West Coast. This is were the Union Pacific began their trek to the West Coast.

From there we came back to the Hotel for me to change from sandals to shoes. We then made our way to the location in Nebraska that many many years ago where the Oregon and California trails converged. After that we went to the Teritorial Capitol of Nebraska in Omaha. From there we crossed town to see the birthplace of 38th President of the USA (Gerald Rudolph Ford, Jr.).

After a quick stop to get drinks, we headed off for the current capitol of the state of Nebraska, Lincoln. It was about an hour drive from Omaha. Everything went quietly today as far as Mom & Dad were concerned. Once in Lincoln we went to the Capitol (known in these parts as "The tower of the plains"). After that we traveled cross-town to see what on 8 times a year is the 3rd largest city in the state of Nebraska, Memorial Stadium. Which is home to the Nebraska Cornhuskers football team (again, I have pictures and a video over at myspace). We came back to the hotel to get directions to this steak house with a non-steak house name (Pizza King). Real old-school flavored steak house with an Italian twist, from what the front desk here at the hotel was saying pretty much all of the non-chain steak houses here in "the metro" (CB & Omaha) have an Italian twist who knew there was such an Italian base here? We went over to Pizza King and had dinner, Dad had Prime Rib (HUGE portion), Mom ordered Steak (she asked for it to be Well, it came back Medium, she wasn't happy) and shrimp and I ordered a Steak Tips and Rice. It was kinda on the expensive side, but it was overall good.

We came back to the hotel after dinner and watched the rest of the UNC/Fresno State game from 4.7 miles away (UNC won, final game on Sunday to decides who plays on Monday when we go). We got directions printed out and went over to see where the riverboat that we are going to be on in the morning is so that we know where to go. On the way over we found this really sweet looking Union Pacific Railroad memorial, unfortanatly the pictures really didn't come out. We asked a few people (include a cop) where the sign that says Omaha that ESPN always shows during the coverage of the CWS was and really no one knew where it was we got a couple of guesses, and one of them got it right, the picture is on myspace, but I'm going to go back and get another one during the day.

Tomorrow, we are supposed to go on a riverboat cruise, and then down to Nebraska City to checkout the outlet stores down there (50 or so miles South of Omaha), then for dinner we are going to the Buffet that I prommised my Dad that we would go to. As of now, it looks like on Monday we might go 30 Miles or so into Nebraska to see a Strategic Air Meuseum that we saw signs for on the way to Lincoln. Later.