We had to go across the street to get to the venue. Unfortunately there was a parade in the way, but luckily they had crossing gates
set up. You just needed to wait in line, yeah right. I’m a New Yorker, and I used my New Yorker skills to get right across that
street. Once I got to the otherside, I couldn’t see where Nikki and Jen went. Finally I moved into the crowd more and there they
were, waiting for me. I thought I was the only one from our group who got across. I never saw them go through the gate.
Apparently, they have more New Yorker in them than I do. They didn’t even use the gate. Finally we make it to the venue.
We have our drinks and party essentials in hand, but we still needed to finish coloring in the sign for Kenny. Once I finished the
sign, we all decided that we would walk over to the other side of the venue where Tracy and friends were stationed. While doing that
we passed so many people who just thought we were the oddest things going. Most people just couldn’t understand why a trio
of New Yorkers would come to Tampa for a concert and not for Gasparilla Day.
We finally met up with Tracy, Mel, Amber, Fallyn, Tonya, and Tracy’s brother. It was at this point, that I had someone
recognize me by my shirt. I was wearing the shirt that is the same as my signature, and Tori (a.k.a. thisistori) picked me right out.
That was very funny and it was so nice to meet her. She was at her first KC concert. Naturally, we shared our Margaritas. No one
seemed to want what was in the cooler. We hung out there for a while, but we eventually headed back to the other side of the venue,
where the sun was still shining and where we had found someone to baby-sit our party supplies while we were inside for the show.
There were a lot of interesting people over here. We had a lot of fun with them. After a while, I decided to head inside the venue to
try once again to win that stupid GM meet and greet thing. Can you tell I didn’t win? Anyway, so I left Jen and Nikki outside.
They apparently had a ball without me. They caught up with me much later while Kellie Coffey was still on stage. They claim I
was eating pizza when they found me. I don’t remember that at all, and it wouldn’t be the last thing that I don’t
remember from the evening in Tampa. Somehow we found a bar downstairs thanks to my two smoking friends. It was the only
place to go to smoke. Eventually, we made it to our seats for the show. Tracy, Mel, Tonya, Fallyn, and Tracy’s brother were
just on the otherside of the aisle a few rows up. For the second show this weekend we happened to be pretty close and that was
good.
At one point while Montgomery Gentry was still on stage, I decided to go back to that bar and get some “good� beer for me
and Jen and a drink for Nikki. I tried just about every door, but I just couldn’t find it. At least I do remember being there. I
believe after Montgomery Gentry was done, Nikki and Jen needed to go have another cigarette, and they were gone until Kenny was
well into his set. When they came back, they were asking where the two girls that had been sitting in our row went. They were
surprised when I told them that I wasn’t in our row anymore. I had occasion to upgrade myself and did just that. Security wasnâ
€™t as tight as it was for the Jax show, but it wasn’t as lax as it had been in Tallahassee either.
By the time Kenny was on his last two songs, we all (Tracy, Fallyn, Nikki, Jen, Tonya, and myself) were right at the stage, and we
were all right together. It was great how that happened, since it wasn’t planned. I don’t remember if Amber and Mel were
right there with us. They might have been behind Tonya who was behind me. Nikki and Tracy had been taking turns holding Fallyn
up. Eventually Kenny saw her there while she was in Nikki’s arms. Nikki pushed her even higher above her head and Kenny
grabbed her hand and sang to her. It was the coolest thing. Kenny was so good with her.
When Kenny was done singing, he did get to sign a bunch of autographs. There is one part of this that stands out in my mind, and I
think that might be why I seem to have forgotten so many other details. I was just so excited. Now, Jen had adopted a 4-inch road
cone for herself, but she also adopted cones for me and for Nikki. We had them at this show. Nikki had her cone autographed by
Kenny. I wonder what that boy is thinking about seeing two cones in one weekend, or if he even remembers Jen having a cone
backstage the night before. I got very lucky with an autograph too. If you remember from the Biloxi, Mississippi show when Nikki
and I had gotten separated, I wanted to get a picture of Kenny after he came off the elevator and started walking to the right of the
stage (audience right). Well, that picture came out really good and I had my guy blow up to a 5 X 7. Kenny grabbed the picture,
signed it, and then asked me where I took it. I just love it when he talks to me from the stage. I was so thrilled. I told him right
away “Mississippi�, then realizing he played that state twice that weekend, I yelled again “Biloxi�. He said it was a
good picture.
Well, then it was time to leave. The whole bunch of us stood out in front of the exit doors for a while before we decided to go gather
our tailgate party supplies. Tracy and Amber decided to hang with the three of us for a while. I hate to say this, but I don’t
remember you girls leaving. It has come to my attention that I am not just forgetful with Jack. Apparently, Jose does have the same
effect. I also remember that there was a 25¢ charge to use the toilet at our tailgate party.
When I had left Jen and Nikki to go inside the venue to sign up for the GM thing, they found themselves a “party bus�. Just
some fans who traveled to the show in their own bus/camper thing. Well, they were still having a party on that bus. That was
actually quite interesting. They were a fun bunch of people, and apparently I had a good time with them because I took lots of
pictures. Eventually they left and we decided to head back to the other side of the venue where the buses had been parked. All of
the buses were gone except for one, the crew bus. I only know that because I remember seeing a member of the crew getting on it.
That’s right I remember that. I forget what we were doing there, but I do remember just refilling my solo cup with a margarita
and then placing it on top of the rolling cooler. Just after I put it down, Jen decided to sit on the cooler. Would you believe she took
out my drink. Well that didn’t deter me none. I refilled that cup. Unfortunately that cup wasn’t in tact anymore, but it
didn’t stop me from drinking from it. I was getting margarita all over me. It was just pouring out the sides. Then we decided to
walk to a bar that was towards the front of the venue, but the bar was now closed.
Well, it was time to call it quits, but we needed to walk back to the hotel. While we were trying to walk, okay so maybe I was the
one trying, they were actually walking, I kept having problems. Jen and Nikki spent our travel day on Sunday filling me in on these
events. There was mention of a trolley car, I never saw it. There was mention of me dropping my cooler of Margaritas, as far as Iâ
€™m concerned it never happened (no actually I do remember that). There was mention of just leaving me sitting on the grass. I do
remember that. Hey, I do remember this bit too. While we were walking, we came across the same group of people that we had seen
earlier. We had told them about the concert, New York, and such. I can still hear that guy saying “they’re still at it (totting
the two coolers and suitcase), you gotta respect that.� I was rolling on the ground, literally.
Well, eventually a cabbie saved me from being deserted by my friends. Well him and the fact that I had the hotel room key in pants
pocket. I do remember this part. He was quite mad at us for needing a cab to go the few blocks to the hotel, but Jen and Nikki had
enough of my slowness and just wanted to get there. I remember Nikki spinning a story about my multi-millionaire husband and
then when I denied that Steve has any money (mostly because I keep spending it), she tossed in the line, “what are you going to
say, he works for a grocery store or something�, which is what he does. I don’t know who paid this guy, or if they paid him
at all, I just hope he got tipped for what he deserved. Oh it’s great to be the margarita girl.
You would think this story would be done right? Not so. We still had a day of travel and what fun we have when we travel. Okay I
haven’t mentioned this yet only because I hate to categorize anyone with basic generalizations, but I have to say it “Florida
drivers are the worst�. I have it in my notes three times (yes my notes, I now have a new nickname thanks to my notes).
Apparently, in the rest of the country, anywhere besides Florida, you pass in the left lane and drive in the right. When you live in
Florida you drive in the left lane and pass in the right. It had me so confused all weekend. Luckily I had it down pat for the drive to
Tampa. I basically stayed in the middle lane the whole way to Tampa, and if I had to pass someone, I moved into that right lane to
pass all the slower moving vehicles in the left lane. Okay I’m done whining about the driving.
We had a lovely trip back to Orlando to catch our flight. Jen had yet to experience Nikki’s multi-tasking while driving. I like to
say that she went to the Hick school of Driving. I made sure Nikki was behind the wheel when we stopped at McDonald’s for
our gourmet breakfast. After ordering $20 in drive-thru food, when we got to the pick-up window we were greeted with “hello
my hungry ones�. It’s amazing how Nikki can eat and drive. We finally made it to the airport, but then we remembered we
needed to fill the gas tank on the rental. So we turned around to go find a gas station, and since we were there a bit early we decided
to catch us some sun, about an hour’s worth.
One last thing that has to be mentioned, during the last leg of our flight, the rows had only two seats together. One of us had to sit
alone. Nikki was that one. The poor guy that got stuck sitting next to her. He didn’t realize that she’s referred to by friends
as “the people person from hell�. She chewed this guy’s ear off for the whole 2-½ flight, and she kept me awake while
doing it. Actually she was quite entertaining other passengers were even laughing, at first. Nikki’s row partner knew everything
there was to know about Mr. Chesney, about the margarita girl, about the cone girl,etc by the time the pilot said welcome to Long
Island where the current temperature is now 36 degrees. With that one line reality had set back in, and a cold one at that. Especially
since when we first started out earlier that day Tampa was 66 degrees.
I’m still not done. I need to mention this here. I really did mean a “number b� when I was asking Daryl for a shirt at the
Tallahassee show. I said it that way, and dang it I’m sticking with it. Remember that sign that we were making for Kenny that
Jen and I bought supplies for. Well, Jen and Nikki left it outside. So, Kenny never saw it. We had floor seats for all three shows.
For Jacksonville we were in the 9th row and for the other two we were in the 13th row. Always the same section, on the right side.
With those seats we made it to the front of the stage for two out of three nights, not bad. Jen, who has said this before, but she now
swears that she is bringing a camcorder with her for our next show. She wants to tape my drunk a**. Especially since I don’t
believe half the things they tell me.