This is the last of my four-part blog about my Midwest David Cook adventure. I hope y’all have enjoyed reading it

Sunday was a day off for us, and I spent all day writing my first two blogs and uploading photos to myspace. On Monday at around noon, we headed out for Rolla, which was about 4 hours away. We had reserved seats this time, but in the twelfth row. In comparison to our past shows, these seats were very far away. I even joked that this show would be weird, because there would actually be people in front of us. That got a good laugh from Zilla and Ava.

We headed out on the road and decided to stop off at Quik Trip so we could try David’s favorite food: the chicken taquito. They actually had three kinds of taquitos, and I wasn’t entirely sure which one he liked. So I went with the Spicy Chicken, and it was GOOD. I mean, you don’t expect anything good to come out of the hot meal section of a convenience store, but David knows what he’s talking about, y’all. I wish they had Quik Trip here in Arizona. Ha!

The drive to Rolla was pretty uneventful, for the most part. Although we did see a ton of cows and other animals by the side of the highway. I’m sure that’s perfectly normal in some parts of the country, but you never see cows along the highway out West. I thought it was fascinating, and during day one of our trip, I said “Oh look random cows!” when I saw them the first time. So all along the way to Rolla, we were yelling “Random Cows!”

When we got to Springfield, Zilla started looking for nearby restaurants on her GPS system. I was half-asleep at the time, but when the list of restaurants popped-up, I saw Steak N Shake and went berzerk. I was like: STEAK N SHAKE!!!!. I love their food, but they don’t have any Steak N Shakes west of Texas. Poo.

So Zilla says to ava: Well I guess we know where we’re going for lunch. Haha. So we went to Steak N Shake and stuffed our faces, then got back on the road and went the west of the way to Rolla.

When we arrived, we parked right near where the buses were already parked. A small crowd had gathered there, and we saw a couple of the guys go back and forth from the bus to the venue. One person saw Joey and was wondering who it was. Zilla told her it was the bass player, and she’s like: Oh for Ryan? Haha. We told her he was David’s bass player, and she’s all: Oh I don’t know anything about the band! And she was upset with herself for it. I’m sure by the end of the show, she loved all the band members and was eager to learn their names, birthdays, and relationships statuses.

Zilla had made several license plates with a picture of Kyle’s glowing drumsticks, and we decided to give one to Kyle. Ava volunteered to be the one to deliver it, and she and I stood over at the barricade hoping to see him wander by. Eventually he did, coming out to grab a guitar from the bus (why the drummer was getting a guitar is beyond me). As he was walking back, Ava called to him and asked him if he knew what was in the picture. He said “yeah it’s my drumsticks,” and she told him it was for him. So he came over to us, took it, and was like: “Oh it’s a license plate!”

And now I hope he puts it on the front of his car. That would be cool.
So after that we just hung around for a bit before the venue opened up. I got in the merch line and bought a couple of shirts, then we sat around for a bit...for some unknown reason. Not entirely sure why we didn’t just go on in to the theatre. LOL.

We finally went in and found our seats...which weren’t really *that* bad. Yes, it was way toward the back, but when the place only has 15 rows to begin with, no seat is really going to be all that far away. Ryan was good, although I find it a bit annoying that he does the same exact set every show. What was nice about *this* set though was that he brought Hiedi’s daughter on stage during his last song! Remember how Andy and Kyle came out during that song in Omaha? Well this time he brought her up and had her play the shaker. He had to pick her up though and hold her in front of the mic so that we could hear her. Then he asked “How’s she doin’?” and we all cheered for her. Yay for Hiedi’s daughter!

Right after Ryan’s set ended, Zilla went running out to the lobby to see him and get him to sign three of his CDs that she bought for us. And he recognized her from our other three shows! According to her, he was bummed that we weren’t going to anymore shows. So that shows you just how close we were during those first three shows. Ryan realized that we had been to all of them, because he saw us in the crowd! Haha. She had him sign one of the CDs for me, so now I have a signed Ryan Star CD. Coolness.

David’s set included several songs we hadn’t yet heard at our previous shows, which was nice. He started with TWIK, and for some reason I had a feeling he’d do that. It seemed like the right kind of crowd for TWIK. Very much like a crowd you’d see at an AI show. He also did Anodyne again, which shocked me. He does it so rarely, and then he did it during two shows that were so close together. And I was at both of them. I didn’t even want Anodyne, because I prefer Andy singing it...and then I go off and get it twice. Figures. Haha.

Interestingly enough, the crowd clapped during Anodyne. I found that to be rather odd, but David seemed to like it. He commented afterwards that we were the first crowd to clap during that song. I just feel like that song isn’t really a “clapping” song. Too somber, I suppose. If that makes sense. But if David was OK with it, that’s all that matters.

Another new one for us was Avalanche, which was right after Anodyne. Avalanche is my least-favorite song on The Record, and the others with me knew it. I think they got a kick out of the fact that he did two songs I’m not a huge fan of back-to-back. When Avalanche started I was like: Epic FAIL! LOL. Just a joke, of course...because I like every David Cook song. There are just some I love more than others, and to me, there could have been better songs in there than Avalanche. Like Life on the Moon. . And I sort of felt bad, because I know there are a lot of folks who love both David’s Anodyne and Avalanche and were probably very envious of those of us who were there to hear both of them. And there I was, not so happy. Different strokes for different folks, obviously...but still.

Little Lies was the other new one, and it was nice hearing that one. I found myself singing along with Andy and Kyle rather than David...which is to be expected from someone like me, I suppose. I would have done the same thing with MITB if they had done it. Hunger Strike, too. I enjoyed that one enough that it made up for Avalanche. Ha!

One really cool thing that happened during the show was when David came meandering up to our area of the theatre. It was stadium seating, so you had to go up steps to get to each row. He just came right on up the steps on our side, and since we were close to the end, he was really close to us. He actually stopped right between our row and the row behind us, and then gave his pick to a little girl in the row behind us. That was really cute. Of course, I’d like to think that he chose to stop there because he recognized the four of us and wanted to be close to us again. Wishful thinking, I know.

David spent quite a bit of banter time commenting on how a lot of folks don’t seem to pronounce Rolla properly. He told a whole story about how the tour was supposed to end with Tulsa and then they extended it and told him his first show would be in Rolla. And they pronounced it Role-ah instead of Rah-la. Apparently the tour folks were pronouncing it wrong, too. I thought it was cute how David was so bothered by it.

Another cute banter moment was when David mentioned all the things that he had done since winning Idol, like playing for Sen. Clinton at Carnegie Hall and going on the USO tour. Then he turned and asked the guys what else they had done. Andy, who clearly hadn’t been paying attention, said “We went to Iraq!” David got a kick out of that. Point of the story: David’s band does not listen to David’s banter. They probably have more important things on their minds, like making sure they don’t goof up on the next song. LOL

After the show we went out to the buses, and it was clear that this was going to be a much bigger crowd than the crowds in Omaha and Tulsa. I’m telling you, your chances of seeing David and the guys at the buses are much better when it’s a students-only show. The students aren’t hardcore and thus aren’t going to be showing-up at the buses. But this show was open to the public, so more hardcores were in attendance. The crowd was at least four or five people deep in the center...maybe more.

I had already spoken to David twice, so I really didn’t feel the need to speak with him again. However, I hadn’t met Kyle, Joey, or Neal, so I was really hoping to see them. And Lettuce loves Neal just like I love Andy, so I was *really* hoping Neal would come out so she could meet him.

After awhile, Joey came out and started going down the line. He started on the opposite end from where I was (figures), and I ended up being the last person he talked to as a result. Right before he got to me, I thought to ask him something that both nleigh and I really wanted to know. So he got to me, I said hi, and then I asked:

“Whose idea was it to flat iron your hair?”

He laughed and said “Well Andy was flat-ironing his own hair...”

[insert stunned face here]

I actually stopped him and said “Wait...*who* was flat-ironing his hair??”

He said “Andy.” Then he said something like: “He has this girly thing going on where he blow-dries his hair and then flat irons it.”

So now I have visions of Andy standing at the mirror doing the same thing to his hair that I used to do back when I had the patience for it. For some reason, the thought never occurred to me that Andy knew how to use a flat iron because he flat-irons his own hair. I flove Andy so much.

But y’all already knew that.

So Joey goes on to say that he figured he’d just try flat-ironing his hair, and they tried it for about 10 minutes. That’s why it wasn’t fully flat at the show that night. He said it probably would have taken an hour to do it right, and that he’s never doing it again. I told him it probably would have taken *two* hours. Ha!

David came out right as Joey was talking to me, and Zilla gave him her copy of The Record for him to sign. It took him awhile to get through the line, and he didn’t have time for pictures because he needed to take care of Dublin. He told us so himself. . So we saw him take Dublin for a very short walk, and then he went back on the bus. The huge majority of the crowd left at that point, but others, including us, stayed behind hoping to see the other band members.

After quite some time passed, even more people started to leave. Finally it got done to only about 10 of us. Lettuce was positive that no one was coming out, despite the fact we had seen Neal, Andy, and Joey going to and fro from the buses.

Then, hear comes Neal walking down the sidewalk next to the buses. He stops and starts talking to one of the security people, and my heart stopped. I thought to myself: Please God, for Lettuce’s sake. Let him come over here and talk to us. He’s so close.”

And miracle of miracles, he starts coming over to us. He came to where myself and two other gals were standing, and starts talking to them. I have to admit that I suffered from a bit of Neal Trance. I mean, I love MWK so, so much, and here was the guy who had written all the beautiful lyrics to all those beautiful songs. The dude has more talent in his pinky than I have in my entire body. Seriously.

I watched several other folks say hi to him and take pictures with him, and then I saw Ava and Zilla bringing lettuce over to where I was. Lettuce went up to him and stuck out her hand for a shake and introduced herself. She said something else to him, too, but I didn’t catch it. I blame the Neal trance. LOL.

After Lettuce got her picture taken with him, I jumped in and got a picture too:

Then I told him “I just wanted to tell you that you’re an amazing songwriter. I love MWK.” He said thanks and that he appreciated it.

After we were all done getting our pics taken with Neal (I think all four of us got one. LOL), we stood around talking a bit more...because I was still hoping that perhaps Andy would come out. I stood over by a tree right next to Neal and a few other fans and watched them talking. I was going to ask Neal a question I thought of, but then he had to leave. Right before he left, I noticed Andy go into the second bus. Lettuce came over to me and said: “You realize Andy is right there, right?” And I said yes.

That ended up being the last time I saw him.

Neal ran and got on the bus, and we all said bye to him. Then we went over to our car, and talked to some other gals for a few minutes. We even saw the buses drive away. The guys left before we did! Haha. Then we made the long drive back to Tulsa, stopping at a Waffle House at 2 AM for a meal. That was a fun experience. I don’t think I’ve eaten a meal at that hour before

I slept till about 10 AM that morning, and then wrote my Tulsa blog before heading to the airport. As I walked through the airport heading to my gate, I felt like I was forgetting something. And then I realized what it was.

While en route to KC, I was carrying a large cardboard box containing something that didn’t belong to me: A framed photo collage that I had merely designed but never really owned. I was just the delivery person. And now I no longer had that box, because the item it carried had been delivered to its rightful owner.

And I missed him already.

THE END