Best and Worst of the Road

September 30, 2009

In the last 4 1/2 weeks of this cross-Canada radio tour, I have…
Been interviewed on air at 21 radio stations
Played 36 performances
Filmed 9 TV shows
Visited 8 provinces
Taken 15 flights
Ridden in 31 taxis/shuttles
Stayed in 12 hotels
Rented 6 cars
Visited 19 cities

Thank you to ALL of the radio stations that invited me for a visit - it was so nice to feel so welcomed - and to all of the fans who joined me for shows and meet & greets along the way.

It ain’t over yet – now that I’ve finally hit the east coast it’s time to fly back to Dawson Creek, BC to open for Lonestar and then back to Ontario to play a couple of shows with Johnny Reid!  But since this marks the unofficial end of the radio tour portion of this trip, I thought it might be fun to list a few of the high and low points along the way….

BEST DINNER:
Lobster in Halifax, Nova Scotia.  Tasted like heaven.  Although you do so much work cracking it open that you barely break even in calories.  (So I had to order mint chocolate chip ice cream cake for dessert.)

WORST DINNER:
A bag of Starbursts from Jason Aldean’s band’s dressing room in Calgary.  We were too exhausted to go and find food.  And the resulting sugar crash put us into a nice deep coma until our 4am wakeup call.

BEST HOTEL:
The Best Western in Chocolate Lake, Nova Scotia.  Because not only did it smell like chocolate (where on earth do you find chocolate flavoured air freshener?) but it also was decorated in chocolate leather furniture, had chocolate brown marble on the floor, had a chocolate finish on all of the wood, and had a resident chocolate Lab at the front desk named Cocoa.

WORST HOTEL:
I won’t name names here, but let’s just say there was one particular hotel where we wouldn’t take our shoes off and slept in our clothes. (And hey, I’ll lie down under my car and change the oil…so I’m not a squeamish girl.)

MOST INTERESTING HOTEL:
The Moose Jaw Temple Garden Mineral Spa which featured a giant mineral bath whirlpool tub in the hotel room - right next to the bed!  I ran myself a bubble bath and flipped channels on the TV like Scarface.

MOST INTERESTING LOCATION FOR A PERFORMANCE:
I did a meet and greet performance in a feed store in Prince George, BC, surrounded by saddles, bridles and bits, cowboy hats and boots.  It was pretty cool.

WORST SERVICE:
The valet at a hotel out west that delivered our car to us and then sat in his chair and read a book while the two of us girls – neither of whom weighs more than 115 pounds -  struggled to load three 50 pound bags, a guitar, and 4 heavy carry-on bags into our car.

COOLEST GIFTS:
A “Welcome, Victoria” cake baked from scratch for a meet & greet performance in Sydney, Nova Scotia.  A box of “Anne of Green Gables” chocolates in PEI.  And some more Starbursts from a fan in New Brunswick (who had been following our twitter feed).

FUNNIEST MOMENT:
Kate (my companion on the tour – she works for my management company) and I were on a red-eye flight from Edmonton to Calgary.  We boarded the plane and were immediately a little freaked out at the size of the plane (tiny) and the age of it (very old).  Then, the plane started up.  And the props began to roar.  And the plane began to shake and shimmy…and the wall panels began to flap in and out…and the acceleration began to bump us up and down in our seats…and the lights began to flash on and off…and the luggage began to shift and tumble around…and we were terrified!  We sat there for a while with our hands clenched in a deathgrip on the arms of our seats, eyes closed, holding our breath….and the engines got louder, and faster, and we bumped up and down even harder…and then after about 5 minutes we finally opened our eyes and looked out the window to see whether we were falling out of the sky or not.  And we both busted out laughing.  We hadn’t even left the gate.  We hadn’t moved an inch.

MOST HUMBLING MOMENT:
Not being let into my own show because security didn’t know who I was…and having to stand outside the locked doors of the stadium and play a complicated game of charades (involving an invisible microphone, air guitar, and a lot of pointing) to try and explain it to them.

BIGGEST “HUH?” MOMENT:
En route from PEI to Nova Scotia, following the GPS signal until it went straight off the coast and across the ocean.  Turned out we were supposed to take the ferry.

BIGGEST EGO BOOST:
On the plane one morning, hearing the woman in the seat in front of me telling a fellow passenger that she’d heard my show was “awesome” the night before – not knowing that I was sitting behind her.  (This could just as easily have been my most humbling moment, so I’m glad she gave me a good review!)

COOLEST VISUAL:
Seeing a freight train crossing the prairie in Saskatoon.  I’ve never seen an entire train all at once before!  

COOLEST LUMP-IN-THE-THROAT MOMENT:
Walking through Anne of Green Gables’ Haunted Woods and coming upon the remains of the foundation of Lucy Maud Montgomery’s house in a beautiful grove of birch and apple trees.  Such a beautiful, idyllic spot.  I could just imagine her sitting at the window and writing all of her novels.

HARDEST PART OF THE TOUR:
I thought I had hit this mark after doing 6 performances in 36 hours at the CCMA fest.  But 4 days later, I had traveled to 4 more cities, done 4 more nonstop days of evening shows and 4 more mornings of radio performances, with 4 hours of sleep per night.  I fell asleep standing in line at the hotel check-in desk in Winnipeg (now I know how horses do that – I probably could have slept all night standing right there).  Once I got to my room, I slept for 14 hours straight.

WORST THING ABOUT THE TOUR:
Being dragged like a water-skier down parking garage ramps behind runaway luggage carts weighing at least 3 times as much as I do.  (Close tie with pushing them UP the ramps again.)

BEST THING ABOUT THE TOUR:
Seeing my beautiful country from coast to coast, and finally getting to meet my fans face to face.  Singing my songs and watching them sing along.  It’s a beautiful thing.

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