Home Sweet Home

I decided it would be very memorable to take a slight detour to Roanoke, VA to see the blue ridge parkway. I guess the weather had other plans. The normally picturesque drive through the blue ridge mountains was thwarted by a layer of dense fog. I mean seriously??? We could not even see the guard rails...I had my eyes glues to the road. This was some serious fog. We took like 1 picture before it was just too dense to see anything. We drove for 10 miles then just hit the interstate. West Virginia was very beautiful, but the drive was insane...18.5 hours from Roanoke to Pittsburg. We decided not to stop and just forge on to get home. We arrived shortly after 1:30 am. We took out only what needed brought in and hit the hay. We slept in till about noon today...whew...what a trip. We had a great time, made lasting friendships and had several chances to play music and blessed some people in the process. I was very well received and blessed my self with many compliments. Back to the grind tomorrow. Working 96 hours this week starting tomorrow. I am playing at the "Love Bubble" here in Pittsburg on Friday night at 7pm. It is a local radio station with a retail shop in the mall. Thanks for following the blog and checking in. Jamison

Heading for home

Last night was our last night in New England. We were very sad to say good by to our new friends there. We have made great connections to several families in the area. The Webers hosted us sight unseen the first several nights. We made fast friends with them and will miss them greatly. The Beenes hosted us the remainder of our visit in their home in Bristol, CT. We were treated very well and have made good friends with them as well. We made connections with many people there and were welcomed with open arms. Thanks very much CLC for all of your sacrifice. I truly hope to return the favor some day.

We spent the evening last night in Springfield, Mass playing at "The Underground Cafe" there it is a cool little place where on Friday nights a local church there hosts an open forum style coffee shop, music venue and radio station. It was pretty cool. I met some new friends there and hope to return sometime in the future.

After an amazing trip to the northeast, meeting new friends, playing music in big cities, visiting several new states and seeing the beautiful countryside, we are once again on the road. We have decided to take the scenic route going home instead of the suicidal pace I had originally planned. We took a detour and are currently in Roanoke, VA. We drove about 10 hours and arrived about an hour ago. I have long desired to drive the blue ridge parkway up from Roanoke. So tomorrow we will get up early and head out to enjoy the artistry of Gods hand in Virginia. We will then cut over and travel through West Virginia, Kentucky and finally end up in Missouri late tomorrow evening. I will post pictures of the trip on my face book page as we travel Verizon network permitting....thanks for reading and keeping up. Jamison

and on the 8th day...

Even God made a day for rest...We have been traveling since the 19th. We arrived in Connecticut on the evening of the 21st and have been non stop ever since. Today was spent having a great lunch with the Pastor of Christian Life Church in Berlin, CT and his family followed by some shopping and general running around town with Keith. Then we went to the church for service. We have decided to just veg out here in Bristol tomorrow. Maybe a little shopping, but not much else. We just need to rest. Tomorrow night we are having a get together with some new friends from the area here in Bristol. Looking forward to some pork chops and Maine lobsters. Yum! Yeah, I know you are envious. Seriously though, we have made some real connections here and cannot wait to continue building relationships with the people here in CT for years to come. -DJ

Updates

Ok...A good nights rest will do wonders for you...We traveled all over the east coast of Mass, New Hampshire and Maine for the past 2 days before driving a very scenic back road through the mountain country of New Hampshire, into Vermont and then south back to Connecticut. Whew...that was a nice drive. Got in late last night and passed out. Slept in and are just relaxing in the home of the Beenes, our host family in Bristol, CT. They have graciously allowed us to stay in their home on a mountain overlooking the city of Bristol and surrounding areas. I will be posting photos later of our trip. Today we will be having lunch with the pastor of the Christian Life Church and his family. They have asked me to lead worship again tonight at the church. That will be fun as they told me it is fairly free and up to me how to take the praise and worship for the meeting. If any of you know me, you know that means it will be a little louder than normal....The church worship team is a great bunch of people who learn very quickly and have fun playing music for the Lord.

Tomorrow is pretty free for us so we will just have to figure out what we will do, or we will just hang out and do nothing. Sounds like a plan to me...Looking forward to the rest of the week and then heading back to Kansas on Saturday and Sunday. Please leave comments to let me know if you are keeping up with the blog. Thanks! DJ

Boston...ub boy...

We awoke this morning after our very long day yesterday and decided to go back to Boston to see more stuff. With the traffic and lack of parking, we did not see much...But we did see the USS Constitution. That was cool. Very tired tonight...will post more about todays trip in the morning.

Boston

This weekend was a weekend of firsts. It was my first time playing in New York City, and the first time I have ever played with another churches worship team in a worship concert setting. I had the chance to run through several of my songs with the team from Christian Life Church in Connecticut. I made some great lasting relationships with several guys, Gary, Dan, Troy, Isaac and Thomas as well as the pastors wife Cathey and his daughter and son (twins) Chanel and Luke. They were awesome to work with and very patient with me. The morning on Sunday found me leading the church in 2 worship services, then we had a special service that evening as an outreach of the young adults ministry team in the community. That was when we really amped it up...good times. Had a great turnout and received many kind words.

Today we awoke at 5:30 am to get an early start at our trip to Plymouth and Boston Mass. We went to Plymouth Plantation and got to walk through there and visit with people whos job is to learn every minute detail of the character they are portraying and to make them come to life for visitors. It was pretty cool. It was like stepping back in time. Very unique experience. I highly recommend it. We then munched on some great seafood and headed to Boston. I had a coffee house/bookstore event scheduled. Unfortunately, the manager had no idea we were even coming. I guess someone dropped the ball. Either way, I set up in the bustling coffee shop of a downtown boston Borders book store and played some hard hitting christian music along with my 13 year old daughter acoustically to a room full of people who could care less....until the last song. It is one called "One". It quite bluntly proclaims that Our God, Jesus Christ, is the only true God. The only One...that seemed to turn some heads and make people make some faces...Some even walked out. You see, this part of the country is known for it's liberal ideals and value system. It was obvious to me that we were a light in a very dark place. I could not help but notice how clean the city was...how people seemed content. I heard God while preparing to leave...He told me how easy the enemy can deceive people into thinking they were fine, no need for Godly things...Nice clean exterior with garbage on the inside....

We are of to some sight seeing in the Boston area as well as Salem Mass and on up into NH and Maine. Till next time...DJ

New York, New York.

Well today was a wonderful day of sight seeing in the Big Apple. We left out about 9 am and drove to New Haven, CT. From there we caught a train to the city. We got off at Grand Central Station. That was an experience all in it's self. To be from the mid west and see something as huge and bustling as a big city train station makes one feel quite small.

We proceeded up to 42nd street and made our way to Times Square. All the things you hear about in NYC are actually very close together. We saw Broadway, the Hershey building and several famous buildings along that strip. Then before we knew it we were at Central Park. So we just kept on walking. We saw the Trump Tower and the insanely expensive property along Central Park West. We walked through the south end of the park and then made our way to 5th Avenue. We attempted to hail a cab to take us the 20 blocks south to the Empire State Building, but none had room for 6. So we just kept walking. We saw FAO Schwartz, Gucci, Armani and all the high end retailers there. There were literally millions of people walking around the streets. The classic taxi's, buses, police cars and people driving all over honking and yelling. It was classic New York.

We finally reached the Empire State Building and caught the subway downtown to see the World Trade Center sight. Unfortunately, we missed the last boat to the statue of Liberty by over an hour...so we only saw her from distance. We went back to Times Square for some chow and came back to our host families house for the night. After walking over 10 miles, we are pretty pooped. Going to go to bed as tomorrow Keith and I will return to the city for another round and a concert at a NYC record store as well as a CD signing. I am looking forward to it. Keep checking the blog for updates. - DJ