Day 33 Sliding In To Ottawa

My goodness what an exciting day!! We were still in Sarnia…breakfast at 5:30am and bus rolling at 6:00am. Highways still closed except an alternate route. We back tracked a little to the 40 South and managed to make our way to the open section of the 401. The military were rescuing over 300 stranded vehicles off the highways, 200 of those vehicles where transfer trucks…pretty crazy.

To say the least it was a slow slippery drive. We had a couple of dead stops on the 401 which lasted over an hour. We only traveled 50km/hour for most of the trip…and that was the faster speed.

We finally made it to the airport and switched drivers. Our farewells to our wonderful driver was very quick. During all the hubbub Rob forgot his winter jacket (we’ll send it to Calgary for Christmas with your relatives…you might need it there.) We welcomed John, freshly squeezed from Florida. And we were off!

We occupied our time practicing carols…just kidding, we watched some movies, The Grinch with Jim Carey, Groundhog Day, and the White Stripes new documentary Under Great White Northern Lights. The documentary ends with Buddy MacMaster and Ashley MacIsaac playing fiddles at the Savoy Theatre in Glace Bay. Jack White sang an alternate line in one of his songs about our home town, Sydney Mines.

Our show was postponed to 9 pm from 8 pm. We arrived at the front of Centerpointe Theatre at 9:15pm. Donnie really worked his magic with the set up and a record load-in by the crew had the show starting earlier then expected. We also would like to thank the staff for making this show happen. They called and e-mailed all the ticket holders for the show. An amazing effort by everyone involved. Terry at Shantero Productions had a nail biting day for sure. His positive outlook kept the machine running.

We couldn’t finish our day without thanking the audience for making today’s trip worth while. The warmth and excitement during the after show meet and greet was overwhelming. A very patient audience -like waiting for Christmas to come. Thanks so much Ottawa!!