Day 11 - Dacula GA to Huntsville AL

June 24th

Today we went to two different attractions in two different cities, then headed to Huntsville AL. 

We started the day by heading to downtown Atlanta to visit the World of Coca-Cola.  This is kind of a museum all about Coke.  It has a vault with the "secret formula", a mini bottling plant, a theater with Coke commercials from around the world, a tasting room for Coca-Cola soft drinks from around the world, and everyone's favorite (based on amount of Coke merchandise on the bus afterwards) - the gift store.

Atlanta is sometimes referred to as "Hot-lanta".  Well, today it was not Hot-lanta, it was "Down-right-pleasant-lanta". It rained a little bit and the temperature was in the low 70s.  Pretty darn good for the heart of the South at the end of June.

After we got everyone back on the bus (yeah, I was the last one, but honestly, I was waiting for the kids who went to the bathroom - really, I was...), we headed to Birmingham to visit the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute.

Birmingham was on the front line in the Civil Rights Movement.  The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute has an incredibly powerful exhibit about the struggle for civil rights in Birmingham and across the South.  The Institute may have been my favorite attraction on this tour. I think everyone was moved by this stop.  

Sixth Street Baptist Church, site of the1963 bombing that killed four little girls

Colton, Gabe, and Wes read the inscription on the statue of Martin Luther King, Jr.

We left Birmingham and took a very scenic route to Huntsville through hills of Northern Alabama. The weather continued to be very "un-South-like" in Huntsville with the temperatures in the low 70s again. 

The concert tonight was at Aldersgate United Methodist Church, which is a very nice church with a beautiful view of the mountains around Huntsville.  

The kids continued to play very well.  

Tomorrow we're off to Nashville and Westmoreland TN. 

Reflections from the Ringers - the First Years

June 25th

It's time for something a little different. I'll post the usual daily update for Day 11 later on, but in the meantime, here's some thoughts about the tour in the ringer's own words. For this post, it's the First Year ringers.  I asked them to answer the question 

How is tour different from what you expected?

Here are their answers:

Tour is different than what I expected because I actually thought that the people that would host us would typically have small houses or not very much room but the majority of the houses that have hosted us have been fairly large. Also the churches down south are very big and i kind of thought that most Methodist churches would be fairly small.

-Gabe Dabling

you become very close with everyone. its fun to get to know everyone and stuff, and its fun to see all these cool places.

-Lizzie Steele

Tour has been almost what i expected it to be because my brother and my mom told me a lot about tour, so i knew what to expect. One thing though was that some of the kids and my mom told me some host homes are not that good, but all my host homes have been really well.

-Colton Pulver

I expected tour to be a series of long bus ride with a concert every single night. I was wrong however. I got to see things many people don't see until they're older for example the kennedy museum and the french quarter. there are still concerts almost every night but they are more fun than just riding on a bus. It's like a big party when everyone is awake. I love being on tour and I will return to bell next year.

-Madi O'Neal

I did not expect to be this tired and sleep on the bus as much as I do. Before I left, I thought that I would occasionally nap, but definitely not sleep every day, but I was WAY wrong. I sleep every day, whenever I get a chance. Also, I expected to be doing more driving through cities instead of rural areas, but in reality it is the opposite. Most of the time spent driving so far has been on rural highways.

-Emma Allison

Day 10 - Pensacola Beach FL to Dacula GA

June 23rd

Happy Birthday Alicia G!

Today was a long bus day (see the pictures from Day 3 to see what that is like).  We had to get from Pensacola FL to Dacula GA on the northeast side of Atlanta, a distance of about 380 miles, plus we lost an hour when we crossed the Alabama-Georgia line. 

By the way, Dacula does NOT rhyme with Dracula. It is pronounced da-CUE-la.

After our traffic experiences in Houston and Baton Rouge, I was worried about getting across Atlanta at rush hour.  We ate an early lunch in Montgomery AL and limited the length of our potty stops and everything worked out fine.  We hit some slow-downs, of course, but we made it to our exit with about 30 minutes to spare. We made good use of the extra time by stopping at a grocery store to get a cupcake, birthday candles, and a few other necessities. 

The concert tonight was at Hamilton Mill United Methodist Church.  It is a big, beautiful church with some interesting features. It was raining when we arrived and I forgot to take any pictures of the outside of the church.  Dinner was a variety of pasta dishes, including baked ziti and eggplant parmigiana, with mini cupcakes and cannoli for dessert. It was really, really good. We ate dinner in the room where they have children's church.  It is pretty amazing:

No, that is NOT the set for a play, it is a permanent installation called "The Rooftop". 

We had a very good crowd and the kids played an excellent concert.

The concert was arranged by former CUMC member Carol Findley. Thank you very, very much, Carol!

We had a couple of WBR alums in the audience, as well as some family members and even the parent of two of WBR alums (Lynne Tatum - sorry, she got away before I could take her picture).

WBR alums Nick Olsen and Marchelle (McGill) Sanchez

Cassie with her grandmother, aunt, and cousins

Tomorrow we are going to visit a couple of attractions on the way to Huntsville AL.

Day 9 - Hattiesburg MS to Pensacola Beach FL

June 22

Today was a fun day.  We traveled from Hattiesburg MS to Pensacola Beach FL, with a fun little diversion on the way. 

We started the day by driving from southeast from Hattiesburg MS to Mobile AL to return to the I-10 freeway. Faithful readers of this blog will remember that we've had some less-than-happy experiences with bridges on I-10.  Well, right outside of Mobile, the first part of the crossing of the Mobile Bay is not a bridge at all, it is a tunnel.  And, if you've ever been on a bus full of teenagers (or maybe it's just the Wesley Bell Ringers), you know that whenever you go through a tunnel, you have hold your breath and hold your hands up in the air:

Good thing it wasn't a very long tunnel.

After we crossed Mobile Bay, we made our first Starbucks stop.  We were over a week into the tour before we stopped at Starbucks.  Either Starbucks are few and far between or we had long bus days and we didn't want to risk the side-effects of a break that included a lot of coffee drinks.  Or maybe a little of both.

As you know, the sub-title of this tour is "The Roadside Attraction Tour".  Well, today that part of the tour continued when we visited the famous "Bamahenge". 

That's right, a life-size reproduction of Stonehenge in Alabama. C.P. got a boost from Jake and climbed on top of one of the "stones":

Of course, we had to take the required "group in front of the outrageous object" photo:

There were other interesting things in the area, including dinosaurs, knights, and an alligator:

We were hoping to see the Lady of the Lake, but she was in dry-dock.

All of this craziness is on the road to Barber Marina outside of Elberta AL.

After lunch in Pensacola, we headed to Pensacola Beach and found our hotel.  It turned out to be easier than we expected:

We distributed room keys and turned everyone loose (as long as they were in groups of two or more) for fun-in-the-sun on Pensacola Beach.

Pensacola Beach is a beautiful place and we had a lot of fun there.

It did rain, but not until about 9:00 PM.  It was a fun day.  Tomorrow we head to Dacula GA for another concert.

Day 8 - Baton Rouge LA to Hattiesburg MS

June 21st

Today we toured New Orleans and played a concert in Hattiesburg MS. Catherine's host gave her a big bag of Mardi Gras beads to help get us in the mood for New Orleans. She passed most of them out, but kept a whole bunch for herself:

Lucy had arranged for a bus tour of New Orleans, so we left Baton Rouge and headed to the Big Easy.

The Katrina Memorial

After the bus tour, we broke up into small groups and walked around the French Quarter. The groups visited a variety of places including Cafe du Monde, St. Louis Cathedral, Jackson Square, Bourbon Street, the French Market, souvenir shops and even a voodoo shop or two.

Waiting in line at the Cafe du Monde - the beignets and cafe au lait were delicious, but we weren't the only tourists who wanted them:

After experiencing Cafe du Monde, we walked around the French Quarter in our small groups:

Menu at a food stand in the French Market

It was very hot and humid in New Orleans, so even though we really didn't have enough time to see everything we wanted to see, we were all ready to get back on the air-conditioned bus and head to Hattiesburg.  I think everyone, except Ed, fell asleep on the way to Hattiesburg.

The concert tonight was at Oak Grove United Methodist Church outside of Hattiesburg MS.  Hattiesburg is the home of Brett Favre.  Unfortunately, he was busy tonight and couldn't attend the concert. The concert was set up by WBR alum Jill (Yelverton) Hershberger.  

For dinner we had Mississippi barbeque - pulled pork, baked beans, green beans, cornbread pudding, and cole slaw. And for dessert there was cake, bread pudding and peach cobbler.  Thanks, Jill!

The kids played another great concert.  It sounded great on the main floor of the sanctuary, but it sounded even better in the balcony. I think that must be why Ed always up to the balcony whenever there is one.

Jill (Yelverton) Hershberger, her daughter Emily, and her mom Pat Yelverton

Jill and Ed

Tomorrow we are going to drive to Pensacola Beach FL for fun-in-the-sun and a well-deserved night off.