Red Deer

We've been having a great time in Red Deer, Alberta, Canada. I'm in Southern Gospel heaven right now, listening to some of my favorite groups. Two groups that have been especially popular in Canada are the Perrys and the Booth Brothers. This is the first time I've been able to be around the BB and they are as great off the stage as on. Michael is just naturally funny and he has kept things exciting around here.

Speaking of exciting, Thursday was quite a day for Liberty Quartet. We had left Wednesday at about 8:00 AM and were planning on staying about 60 miles from the Canadian border. Well, when we got to where we were going to stay on Wednesday evening we looked over the map, looked at the time we would need to get through Canadian customs at the border, and decided that we probably should drive the bus on ahead.

A few weeks ago we purchased a van for our Alaska trip. We're hoping to sell it in Alaska, so Royce, along with his son Jeremiah, is driving it up following our Canadian stint. So, he was following the bus. We decided that there was no need for us to cancel the room. Royce and Jeremiah could use it and leave early Thursday morning.

Our sound check was 2:15 in the afternoon and so we figured out that if they left by 5:00 or 6:00 AM they could make it. Dan, Doran, and I (along with our good friend Paul Munson), took off and drove several hours, pulled over, and caught about 7 hours of sleep. We headed out about 7:30 in the morning and made great time. I called Royce about 9:30 to see where they were. He said that they were quite a ways behind us, but that they were making pretty good time. There was one thing that worried me, though. He said he was on Rt. 220 and when I looked at the map after hanging up I couldn't find 220 anywhere close to the route we were taking. We were about a half hour away when I called him again. This time there was a slight tinge of panic in his voice as he relayed that they had gone nearly 75 miles in the wrong direction. He told me to go ahead and go with the sound check and he would get there in time for the concert. What we didn't know was that they had ended up in Montana somewhere and had circled all the way back to where they had started that morning. The concert promoter told us to plan on doing a trio. Based on where he was, there was no way he was going to make the concert.

Now, you have to understand, Royce is the main man for Liberty. He does the emceeing, puts together the song list, not to mention the fact that he has one of the best bass voices in SG. So, we were pretty stressed. We put together a makeshift list of songs that might work as a trio and tried to get our minds and spirits ready for the evening concert. Royce asked me to lay out his suit, shirt, and tie just in case he made it. Jerry Goff, who is the emcee for the weekend, had a whole schtik based on the fact that Royce wasn't there and was getting ready to head for the stage when Royce comes bounding down the stairs towards the lower level. We were supposed to be on at 7:15 and he got to the platform at 7:13. Talk about relief! Close call!

For some reason, Royce doesn't want to talk much about what happened. Everything else has gone OK (save for the sound issues that mysteriously plague regional groups at these big conventions). We've had a great time, though! I'll update you guys later.