NOW BOARDING

Yesterday was an hysterical historic day in St. George.  We got a brand new cutting edge tiny airport in St. George.  Several months ago a quartet I play in was asked to provide background music for a few hours.  We were asked to start playing at 2:15 so I picked up Jared at 1:30 and we started what is supposed to be a twenty minute drive.  As we took the brand new exit to the airport we encountered something we really hadn't planned; a traffic jam.  After driving for a half hour and only going about five miles, I started to panic.  I called Misty, the leader of our group, who had left quite a bit earlier that we had, and she was only a few miles ahead of us.  She had made a few calls and found out that even the dignitaries were stuck in traffic.  Oops.  It turns out that Dieter Ukdorf, who gave the dedicatory prayer, flew in so he was there, but the rest of St. George was on the southern parkway watching the poor Nellis Jets circle for about an hour waiting for the flyby that was postponed.  It was that moment that I decided that if the group responsible for this oversight was also in charge of air safety, I would continue to fly out of Vegas. 

After we had been in traffic for about an hour, I saw the police coming up behind me with a couple of black Tahoes following behind.  A police escort!  Yes.  I was getting ready to dart out and join them when Jared shrieked and said "NO!"  He scared the heck out of me so I missed my window to move.
"If you start following them you will be arrested." 
"They won't know that we aren't supposed to be in the group."  I argued.
"We're in a mini van."
Ouch.

We finally got up to the airport and the event staff was directing people to a parking lot a mile away.  I opened my window and told them that I was a musician and was supposed to be playing now.
"You were supposed to be playing an hour ago."  He said, and directed us to the front before I could curse at him. 

We got in and set up and were ready to play.  We started playing as soon as the ribbon cutting was over and the crush of people was milling through the facility checking things out.  I enjoy playing background music, but it is a strange experience.  It's almost like you are transformed into a zoo animal.  People come right up to you and talk like you can't hear them.  We have little kids poking us and the obligatory "guest conductor" who thinks it's funny to come up and start leading us.  Ha ha.  Now GIT.  It was absolute chaos and then everyone went in mass to another area.  There were some people sitting behind us and I heard one woman say. "They're like the musicians on the Titanic, they just keep playing when everyone leaves."
I turned around while I was still playing and shot her the death ray and she looked so embarrassed.  They quickly fled.  The second round of patrons came in next.  A couple of other people thought it would be fun to ask us questions while we were playing.  Just in case any of you are tempted to do this...don't.  It is almost impossible to count and talk at the same time and if you turn your head to acknowledge, you invariably loose your place in the music.  We even had people kneel in front of us and behind for pictures.  I felt like one of the giraffes.

It was fun though to be a part of it. We played until about six and then took some time to look around.  There is nothing as beautiful as the scenery out there.  The airport is about a half mile away from our old house and it was the reason we had to move in the first place, but after seeing the tiny airport, I figured it was ultimately worth it so all the tiny passengers can get away when they need to.  I spent most of my life living out in that area.  On the ride home the scenery was breathtaking. The colors were so beautiful as the sun set.  It was worth going out there for the view alone.  It was amazing to see it from a different perspective and for that I am grateful.