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July 6 , 2004 - Travel Day
I woke up on the morning of the 6th very excited. Traveling abroad has been one of my biggest dreams since I started playing music. Even though this is going to be a short trip, I was just as excited as if it was a month long tour. My wife helped me pack and since I was going to be gone less than a week, I packed very light. Victor and I decided that I would play his basses, so I'm not even bringing any of my basses. My flight didn't leave till almost 3:00PM, but Toné had to be to work at 2:00 so she dropped me off at the airport early. I had a 3:00 flight scheduled to JFK in New York and then meeting up with the rest of the guys and we were all flying to Spain from there. I didn't mind because I like hanging out at National Airport. One of my favorite restaurants, Legal Seafood, is in National Airport so I was looking forward to getting a meal in there. When we got to the airport around 12:30, Toné and I realized that she wouldn't have enough time to hang out. So we kissed and said our good-byes. Whenever I fly, I always buy car magazines to read on the airplane. So I bought the latest copy of Motor Trend, Road and Track and Car & Driver magazines. I skimmed through them while I was eating my order of fish and chips from Legal Seafood. I had a couple of hours to kill so I browsed around the airport for a bit. Then I decided to go to my gate. I ran into the mother of one of my students (Donovan Willis) who was working the security X-ray machine for Delta Air. I chatted with her for a bit and then I went to the gate and waited to board the plane. After boarding the plane I sat down next to a woman named Dottie Cousirean. She was very sweet. She told me she was 70 years old, but she had the energy and vitality of a woman in her 40's. She was on her way to Venice with some friends. Dottie and I talked the whole flight to New York. We had a lot in common. She will definitely be somebody that I keep in touch with. I landed in New York sometime after 4:00PM and the flight to Madrid wasn't scheduled to leave until 7:45PM. So I had more time to kill. About an hour later the guys from Nashville showed up. Regi and Joseph Wooten, Derico and Kurt. Victor was flying in a day later. I took Regi over to meet Dottie and her friend Matt Wuerker. He didn't realize that I was out on the road with the Victor Wooten band and when I told him that I was going to Madrid to play music and that I was going to play bass, he mentioned that I must be a fan of Victor Wooten. It really surprised him when I told him that that's who I was on the road with. He told me that he and his son had caught our show at the 9:30 club in DC and that's why I brought Regi over to meet them at their gate. Regi, Joseph, Derico and I found a cool food court and passed the time eating while waiting for Divinity. Of course we were laughing and joking and being silly as usual. The jokes picked up right where they left off in February. Divinity finally showed up and we headed to our gate to wait for the flight. Unfortunately, because of an injury, our tour manger Danette, would not be able to make the trip to Madrid. But she did come to JFK to drop off the tour itinerary with Joseph. Just after 7:00 we boarded the plane to Madrid. It was the biggest airplane I had ever been on in my life. I had a row of seats to myself, so I was hoping I could get some sleep later. The flight left just before 8:00PM and with the 6 hour time difference, we weren't scheduled to land in Madrid till 9:00AM the following day. After watching a movie and reading through my car magazines, I only managed to get about an hour and a half of sleep on the plane. Next thing I know we were flying over Portugal. Funny thing is, Madrid is pretty much straight across the Atlantic from New York - it's a straight flight. When we finally got over Spain, I realized how beautiful the country was from the air. There were a lot of mountains and hilly terrain. I could tell I was flying over another country. When we finally touched down I had the biggest smile on my face. Finally,...I will get to play music in Europe. peace & blessings Anthony
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