I believe that this post would turn into a short novel if I wrote about all the wonderful times we enjoyed the past two weeks while singing and touring with the Oasis Chorale. So, I offer instead a few highlights and a brief commentary. That should suffice.
After the first few days of rehearsal we relaxed at a park in Hutchinson one evening. We decided that the basses should be the horses pulling our wagon.
And, it had been exactly thirty-two years since I was last in Hutchinson, Kansas, loading a bus to go on tour with the Sky Ryders Drum and Bugle Corps. So one evening we drove around and visited the old practice field at Hutchinson Community College and the infamous Landmark Hotel where I actually stayed one summer.
After recording Hymns of the Church, Volume 3 and giving a concert in Hutchinson, we boarded a bus with these delightful people and embarked on our tour of the midwest.
This interesting contraption was in the ladies' dressing room at one concert. The next morning we found out that it contained twenty-two urns with the remains of twenty-two inviduals. Opppps. Sorry!
We had a day off in St. Louis in which we went to the top of the St. Louis Arch, of course, and visited the amazing City Museum where we could've spent hours. After dinner with the choir atop a hotel, we walked a few blocks to get rolled ice cream. The ice cream was great, but Jeff was tired. Really. 
Our amazing tour manager Jason Martin kept everything running smoothly and kept us laughing with his hysterical comments. One morning he and Jeff had what I called a "bad talk show" at the front of the bus over the microphone. That was quite entertaining.
It is always fun to meet up with friends old and new. Here is Jeff with Eldo Miller-- who held the same position teaching music as Jeff does now at Terre Hill Mennonite High School.
Former OC bass Nelson Martin came up with these creative sound projector thingys that worked amazingly well. His new bride Hannah cooked us the MOST delicious international meals. We were treated very well by our hosts in Hutchinson.
The next evening found us in Wichita for our final evening singing together.
The last concert is always so bittersweet. The people, the music, the conversations, the friendships-- these all create such a rich experience that it is difficult to say goodbye and have the experience come to an end.
Most of us met for breakfast the next morning, and then, one by one, the flights left, our group dwindled, and the last person went home. We and our choir folders returned home, tired and happy, with rapturous melodies ringing in our ears.
And to explain the title - In 1986 a group I had the privilege to teach (Odyssey Winter Guard from the University of Texas at Arlington) won the Winter Guard International championship. We all had medals hung around our necks at a grand celebration in Dayton, Ohio, and basked in the glory of the moment. Then we returned home. A wise clinician had warned us about this. She told us that after her group had won the national championship she returned home and went back to work. Her boss asked her, "How was your trip?" She told her all about winning nationals and how great it was, and then the boss replied, "That's nice. Now go back and mop the floor." It's just reality. :-)
1986 Odyssey Winter Guard from the University of Texas at Arlington