We've arrived in Chicago! 

After a slight snafu with a screw in our tire, we were ready for a great time in Chicago! Erinn and Dan met up with their good friends Lindsay and Alain, Grace met up with friends from school and the team hand a very chill night in. 

The next day, we all headed to downtown Chicago where the beautiful Chicago River was dyed green for St. Patrick's Day! We met up with our good friend Anna and explored the city. 

Grace suggested her favorite Pizzaria for Chicago-Style Pizza, Lou Malanti's- and it was a great choice! Our friend Heather met us there, and we had a great pizza party and all left feeling full and happy.

We walked to Millennium Park, where we visited the famous Chicago Bean. Dan took pictures, and after we warmed up in Erinn's favorite hidden gem of the city, the Chicago Athletic Association. We got warm by the fire, talked about life and had wonderful coffee. 

Back at the apartment, it was movie night with Bullet Train. A great day off before our show tomorrow at the Greenhouse Theatre. Hope to see y'all there! 

St Louis was an incredibly memorable show! Being that it was Myra's home town, there were a lot of Miller's at the show, as well as our good friend Katherine who has been helping with the tour behind the scenes. Grace's family also came to the show, and a group of INCREDIBLE veterans from the St. Louis Veterans Home! We got choked up when the audience gave the Vietnam Veterans a standing ovation and welcomed them home. 

The Quilts of Valor again came through with a beautiful quilt for a 99-year old WWII Veteran named Sully. 

Our friend Bob mailed us COOKIES! We miss having him around for the tour but we couldn't be more grateful for the homemade goodness he sent along. 

After the cookies, Myra and Grace went off with family, and Tyler, Dan, Jack and Erinn went to the bottom of the St Louis Arch. It was a beautiful sunset at the arch, and we got some great photos. It was much larger than expected from the bottom! It is the largest manmade monument in the United States. 

Back at the apartment, we had an Oscar party with Dairy Queen. 

Thanks, Missouri for being a great fun city with lots of great memories. 

Today was the first day off we've had in a while, and it was well used! 

We all rested, caught up on work, phone calls and sleep! In the evening, Dan, Erinn, Grace and Tyler went to see To Kill a Mockingbird and the INCREDIBLE Fox Theatre in downtown St. Louis (right next to the theatre we are performing tomorrow)! 

The show was incredible, and starred Richard Thomas (from the TV Show The Waltons) as Atticus Finch. After the show, we drove by a view of the St Louis Arch across the river and Dan jumped out to get a cloudy shot. Who knows which St. Louis picture will make his blog.... we're excited to see! 

Today is just a travel day from Tennessee to Missouri. 

I'm just enjoying time to reflect on how amazing our team is. 

Myra is constantly making sure the cars are taken care of, gas is in them, we are fed and to where we need to be, setting up the lobby and merch, checking in with the reenactors and the Quilts of Valor contacts and just loving on the veterans. 

Jack is always around, even when you don't expect him to be- conducting interviews, making reels, recording shows and being awesome. We love having him on the team! 

Grace is constantly talking to venues, making sure we have everything we need for tech, running load in and load out, setting up our props, giving us calls, and troubleshooting sound.

And Tyler is doing an amazing job assisting Grace in whatever she needs always, and adapting to new lighting boards and situations at each and every venue to make the show look great with the lights. 

We are SO lucky to have SUCH a great squad. Only 31 more shows to go!  

Our hosts for our official Tennessee stop of our tour was the Old Glory Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. For more than 120 years, the DAR has been dedicated to preserving American History and securing the future through better education for children. They are an incredible group of ladies! 

The crowd for the show was so much fun, and included our good friend Joseph Land from Camp Liberty, our good friends Linda & Tom who we met during the 75th Anniversary of D-Day in Normandy, France, a man who looked remarkably like Santa Claus, and a very sweet 102-Year Old WWII Veteran! 

After the show, Jack, Myra, Dan and Erinn took our last bit of energy to drive to Nashville and see the lights of Broadway at night. We didn't stay long, but took in the atmosphere of the live music EVERYWHERE.

​Tennessee will always have a special place in our hearts. 

Today we left John and Claudette's home and traveled to the beautiful Diamond Caverns in Park City, Kentucky! In 1859, a slave of landowner Jessie Coats discovered a pit in the floor of the valley near the road to Mammoth Cave, and the cave was given its name when the first visitor thought the calcite formations looked like diamonds!

The cave is mostly limestone, and there are some awesome creatures in there too! Camel Crickets AND Southern Cavefish- unpigmented fish who have no eyes that are only found in two areas of the world, Kentucky and in the Ozark Mountains! 

After we left the caves, we drove to Tennessee, where we checked in to two beautiful and cozy homes that the DAR was putting us up in for the event tomorrow in Franklin. 

We are grateful for everything along the road. Thanks for joining us. 

Known for the Kentucky Derby, world famous bourbon trails, Louisville sluggers, bluegrass music and KFC... we found nothing but smiles, hugs and friendliness in Kentucky! We had the privilege of staying with our good friends John and Claudette who we know rom our time at American Queen Voyages. They were the most incredible hosts and we enjoyed a beautiful sunset over their backyard of the Ohio River. 

The show at the Kentucky Center for Performing Arts was wonderful! The facility was beautiful and there were many amazing veterans in the audience. We also had the privilege of seeing our friends Mary and Mike (who brought us delicious Kentucky bourbon  candy), and we also saw Jeff and Michele from the American Duchess, and our good friend Aramie who used to live in Winston-Salem!  John and Claudette also got to see the show which meant so much to all of us. Also a new friend, Colette, taught Erinn the phrase"Merabile Dictu" which is a Roman phrase used to describe a wonderful event.  

The quilt of Valor when to an amazing Vietnam Veteran, Mike who also works with the Woody Williams Foundation! There were several reenactors at the show as well, and we were so impressed with the amazing staff at the Kentucky Center! 

That night after the show, we had pizza at John and Claudette's and played Codenames with the team. Stop #19 on our tour was tops! 

Hello, Indianapolis! 

We drove to Indiana today, where we stayed with our good friend Jeff! Jeff was our cruise director when we worked on American Queen Voyages, and is the owner of Old World Gondoliers, the premiere Gondola company in the Indiana Canal! If you're ever in Indianapolis during the season, you should definitely check them out, as they are a GREAT affordable way to spend the day in Indiana! Check out their website HERE.

The show was at the Irving Theatre, a historic theatre that was built in 1913, and had a very USO-Style vibe! We had a full house of incredible veterans, friends, and even got to meet Quilt of Valor Volunteer Services Director, Doug Chapman! We loved working at the Irving, and would return again! 

After the show, Jeff took us to see the Indianapolis Canal where Dan photographed the moon over the city (be sure and check out his photo on DAN BECKMANN PHOTOGRAPHY'S FACEBOOK PAGE! After we enjoyed the view, we topped off the evening with an incredible Thai dinner at Thaitanium. 

The day started out live on WTOL in Toledo! We had a great time on the Good Morning show talking about the show with their incredible staff. 

After the show, we met our new friends, Al and Melissa who took us to the world famous Tony Packo's Restaurant!  The restaurant has been around since 1932, and you may have heard about it on the TV show M*A*S*H, as Klinger talked about Packo's in 6 different episodes, and the actor Jamie Farr and was from Toledo! 

We stayed at an incredible Air B&B with the team- a poker table, pool table, game room, projection screen, pinball machines and game room! Here we are reenacting one of the paintings on the wall.  

Our official Ohio show was the Maumee Indoor Theatre, and was a ton of fun! The crowd was very enthusiastic, and filled with lots of veterans of all generations, friends/passengers from the American Duchess, and reenactors- including our youngest reenactor of the tour to date who was 7 years old! 

We presented our friends Al and Melissa with our Ohio coin, and enjoyed another very special quilt presentation from the Quilts of Valor to Susan Theisen, an amazing veteran! 

Also, if you scream "O-H" in Ohio, someone is bound to scream back "I-O"! 

​The things you learn on tour. 

Today was a long travel day, but it included a very special stop!

On the way to our show in Ohio, we stopped in to see a friend of Myra Miller's: M/Sgt "Al" Klugiewicz, who is 106 years old! Al landed at Omaha Beach on D-Day plus 17. On July 4, his division engaged in its very first battle in the village of Sainteny after relieving the 101st Airborne Division near Carentan. That day, the 83rd lost 1500 men in combat. Al KLugiewicz participated in all subsequent battles through Normandy, Northern France, Rhineland, Ardennes-Alsace and Central Europe.

Thanks to the Quilts of Valor, we had the opportunity to award Al a very special quilt to wrap him in love from a grateful nation.