July 1-3, 2007

Well, guess the mail is a bit slow from Madison....sorry for the delay,
but am just getting my head above whatever bit me on the top of the
Arch! I'll spare you the details! That and trying to dig out from over
900 e-mails......

Our last day took us uneventfully from Collinsville to Madison, with a potty stop, a lunch break and a clean-up-the-bus stop once we entered Wisconsin.

What a fantastic tour! Check out the fun facts Chris T. has posted on the web site. You can see what we accomplished, states we traveled, movies we watched, miles we rode (or in Jim's case, drove). Quite a feat when you think about it.

All the performances went extremely well. The behavior was extraordinary for the most part. Responsibilities were learned and practiced. Teamwork was essential. And the kids lived up to it spectacularly.

I can't thank some people enough:

* Our wonderfully generous hosts in our eight homestays! We absolutely could not have accomplished this tour without them!
* Margaret and Aaron for their professionalism and love of music!
* Chris Thorn for his fantastic web postings that kept everyone on the trip with us!
* Chris Sarbacker for her marvelous attitude and packing and unpacking of concert attire at all of our venues!
* Jim, our bus driver, for a safe, pleasant journey, helpful in any way he could possibly be!
* You, families, for trusting us to take off with your kids for a 5000+ mile trek!

A few reminders:

* We will have a summer reunion; date to be announced
* Items that need to be returned - can either be taken to the top of the file cabinets in the closet at Bethany in the Choir Room/Chapel:
* Music folders and bags
* Cleaned red WCC sweatshirts
* For those choristers not returning: black dress and all WCC t-shirts; clearly mark the chorister's name and your security deposit will be returned
* Voice checks appointments will be made later this summer
* Deadline for notifying Margaret of intentions to not return:
AUGUST 1st. Please be considerate in that Margaret is making Chorale placements and needs to know of available openings.
* Remember, commitment to Chorale for 2007-2008 includes touring summer, 2008, the week immediately following Madison schools dismissal

Til next time,

Sue