My Kenny Trip

Ok, so I'm back (regretfully!!) from my Kenny trip, and although I don't feel like I have the energy to tell ya'll about my trip, I guess it's time I pull up my skirt and fill you in. If you sense a little sadness in my tone, you're right...I'm sad, very, very sad!! Last week was hands down the best week of my life, and coming back to real world SUCKS! I could totally live my life following Kenny's tour around and you know, being a Kenny groupie...it was amazing!! There are so many stories to tell, but please read through to the end cause that's where it gets the best!

Monday: Our vacation wasn't supposed to start until Tuesday evening, but Heidi and I just couldn't stand it any longer and decided that it needed to start Monday night. So we both called in sick to work for Tuesday and spent Monday night at her house trying on outfits, packing, and getting excited. We managed to get to bed by 1:30am, which allowed us a couple of hours of sleep.

Tuesday: 5:30am we HIT THE ROAD!! That was the best feeling...the car was packed and we were headed on our Kenny journey! We made it to the radio station in NH around 6:45 in time for our first radio segment. The radio show was SO MUCH FUN and we were HYSTERICAL!! The folks from the station were a blast and we continued doing our radio segment every day last week and then wrapped it up this past Monday. And just so you know, they made Heidi & I our own jingle!! It was awesome...as they were introducing our segment, they started playing the song 'She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy'...when the music started, Heidi and I giggled because we like that song and the DJ told us to be quiet and listen because we didn't know what was coming...and then the song busts out (to the tune of 'Tractor') "These Chicks are Chasing Chesney." It was hysterical and I swear Heidi and I played that 1,000 times that day! As we were leaving the station, we chatted with the producer, who wanted to make sure we knew that they still weren't sure if they'd be able to get us Meet & Greet passes, but that they'd try. Sigh. So once again, we set out on the open road, destination: Saratoga, NY. After getting lost in MA for a good hour looking for an Irving gas station, we finally got to Saratoga at about 2:00. After chatting with my family (they live in Saratoga) and resting for a bit, we decided to go check out the venue. We get to the venue, parked, and got out of the car to the sounds of a SOUND CHECK!! Heidi and I pretty much shat our pants right there and went to try and find a way in. As we're sneaking around and trying to find an entrance, security enlightened us that the music we were hearing was coming from the Goo-Goo Dolls as they had a concert there later that night. Sigh once again. In an effort to better scope out the venue and the backstage area, we walked and walked and walked...over the hills, through the woods, and right through a sinking swamp. 'It's fine', I thought, 'I can make it'...I was wrong...I ended up covered in mud, but I didn't care...it was all for the love of Kenny ya'll!! We then headed to dinner to celebrate my Sister's birthday and then ended the evening by meeting up with a few fellow Kenny fans at a local hotel...we hung out there for a while and chatted (all Kenny talk, of course!) and then headed back to my Sister's place for bed.

Wednesday: Big day...show day! Woot Woot! Heidi and I weren't fucking around so we hit the grocery store and were at the venue at 9:00am for the show that would start at 7:00pm. As soon as we drove in, we saw the busses...busses, busses, and more busses...there had to be about 20 of them. As we so calmly lingered around the busses for a few minutes, we were approached by a couple of Kenny's bus drivers. They chatted with us for a while and told us that it was fine if we wanted to park our car there and hang out for the day. Ha...we were IN! Security came over, and the bus driver promptly told him that we were fine and to let us stay there. I love being a VIP!! So throughout the day, we hung out right there, ate, drank and mingled. We saw Sugarland as they were coming off their bus in their jammies and they waved and said 'hey' so we were pretty hot shit right there. We also met a few of Kenny's band members who were way cool and nice and they actually chatted and hung out for quite a while. Kenny wasn't there throughout the day as he hadn't had a show for the last couple of nights and he was home and flew in that afternoon...so no Kenny sighting, but it was a fun day. Then it was time to head into the show and our seats were in the VIP Pit section...of course...the view was amazing and there's nothing more that I can tell you about the show...the man is just AMAZING!! He has so much energy and is such a blast up there on that stage and makes the show a blast for everyone. So ya'll know that I like Kenny's song 'Big Star', right? (Hence, the name of my blog, my e-mail address, my ring tone, my license plates, etc...) Anyways, Heidi had made a sign that said 'She's A Big Star' with an arrow pointing at me. So he starts singing 'Big Star' and Heidi holds up the sign...Kenny saw it and laughed, and then security came and tried to take the sign...props to Heidi who hoarded that sign like it was her job and wouldn't let them take it. At the end of the show, Kenny signs autographs for a few minutes and I brought up the sign...Kenny reached over about three people, grabbed my sign, signed it and gave it back to me. I was a pretty happy girl right there!!

Thursday: We hit the road bright and early to get to NJ, hoping that we could hang out and tailgate with the band and crew like we did on Wednesday, especially now that Kenny would be there for the day. No such luck, as when we arrived, we learned that the busses were out back and we couldn't get through security. We drove around for a while and did manage to see Kenny out running with his trainer and WITHOUT a hat on. We were happy to see him, but bummed that we couldn't get up close. So we headed off to lunch, came back, sat in the car with the a/c on (cause we're brats like that) and once it cooled off, we put out our blanket and took a nap. We pretty much just wasted the day away waiting for the show to start. Once we got into the venue, we managed to sneek through an area where we could see the busses, but no sight of Kenny. Sigh. But soon enough, it was time for the show...and this is where we had FRONT ROW!! Kenny had requested that the front row be right up against the stage, and let me just tell you, until that point, that was the best night of my life...Heidi and I were in heaven!! When Kenny came out, he was going along high 5-ing everyone in the front row...and since I couldn't decide which hand to throw up there, I just put them both up there for him. And ya'll...he grabbed both of my hands, squeezed them, looked at me and said 'thank you.' I don't know what the 'thank you' was for, but I'm pretty sure it was just because he could feel the love shooting right through him!!

And don't get me wrong, Heidi had just as much of an AMAZING time as I did, but I'm pretty sure her happiest moment all week was when she got this picture! She was feeling the pressure to get that pic, let me tell ya! And just to prove to you how close we really were, here's a pic that I girl I know took from the other side of the stage:

Right in front of Kenny's legs you'll see an African-American (is that PC?) security guard, then Heidi, and then me. Kenny was a blast at this show...he kept dancing and jamming out right in front of us, and was high fiving us, shaking our hands, and punching our hands all night...it was great! Although I still really wanted to meet Kenny, after this night, I really felt like if I didn't, it would be ok, because everything about that night was more than I had ever hoped for.

Friday: We made our way up to MA for the show that would happen on Saturday. As we're strolling around the hotel, Heidi mumbles 'Erin, there's two guys waving at us right there, who is that?' And of course I didn't want to look, and then the guys came over and low and behold, it was two of the bus drivers that we had met on Wednesday...they remembered us! They filled us in that the band and crew were staying at the hotel and that they'd all be up for partying in the lounge later. So that's what we did Friday night...we hung out in the lounge, drank (too many!) beers, and chatted it up with the band and crew. Kenny wasn't there (sigh) as he doesn't stay at hotels...he stays right on his bus at the venue because it's safer and because his bus is like his 2nd home. Even though there was no Kenny, we still had a good time...we found out some good gossip and got to hang out with some cool people. Good times.

Saturday: We got to Gillette Stadium at about 10:30am and found the radio station van immediately to see if we had Meet & Greet passes. He still couldn't say for sure since he didnt' have them in hand, but he was pretty certain that we were all set. This never got confirmed until about 2:30 when we got our Meet & Greet passes IN HAND and knew that we were going to meet Kenny at 6:30!! We were beyond excited!! Let's fast forward right to 6:30 and the Meet & Greet...it was awesome!! It happened so fast and I was so excited that I don't remember everything that was said, but here's what I can remember. I walked up to Kenny and he stuck out his hand and we introduced ourselves and then he immediately put his arm around me, put his hand on my hip, squeezed my hip, and called me 'baby.' I pretty much melted right there! I know, I know...he calls everyone baby, but I don't care...ya'll, he was touching me and calling me baby!! So then he signed a picture for me:

Hehehehe...he loves me! And then we took our picture together:


Can you please look at how tight I'm holding onto that man? I was in heaven!! And in case you want the cropped, closer up version:

So then my turn was over and I started to walk away, but then I turned back around and said 'Oh Kenny, wait' and he looked at me and I said 'are you going to sing 'Boston' (a song that he wrote that's on his 'Be As You Are' album) and he said 'I don't know, we haven't finalized the set list yet.' So I stuck out my bottom lip, pouted a little bit, and said 'you HAVE to.' And he said 'I really won't know until we finalize the set list, but I'll try. We'll see.' And that was it...my Meet & Greet with Kenny was over. SO THEN, the concert starts and of course Kenny is amazing and having such a blast up there...genuinely moved by a stadium full of 65,000 people and he was just soooo happy. ANYWAYS, about 3/4 of the way through the concert he grabs the microphone to start talking and at the same time Heidi grabs my arm and goes 'Oh my god, Erin!'...and he starts talking...(and by the way, I'm crying right now just thinking about it!!)...and he says 'earlier tonight, I had a girl ask me if I was going to sing this next song, and I told her that I didn't know, and I really didn't know, I wasn't lying, because we hadn't finalized the set list.' YA'LL, HE WAS TALKING ABOUT ME. I was DYING!! The people around us thought I was nutty...I was screaming at the top of my lungs, shaking, and crying and I just kept screaming 'THAT'S ME, HE'S TALKING ABOUT ME!!' We were in the 6th row so I was hoping that he'd see me, but he didn't. Honestly, I'm pretty sure that was the greatest moment of my life...I was so friggin' happy. I couldn't tell you what he said after that because I was screaming so loud, but he talked about ME. ON STAGE. TO 65,000 PEOPLE!! HE REMEMBERED ME!! And then he sang 'Boston' and in all the reviews I've read, everyone keeps saying how cool it was that he sang that song and ya, of course he did, BECAUSE OF ME!! And then before we knew it, the show was over and we headed back to the hotel. No excitement back at the hotel since the crew was back at the stadium breaking down the stage, and Kenny and the guys headed home after the after-show party. Sunday morning, we headed home, and just like that, our Kenny week was over.

So what do you guys think? Isn't that the most amazing week, EVER??!!?? We're pretty happy and excited at everything that we got to do and see, but we're also pretty sad that it's over. Monday was a particularly hard day for me as I was on the verge of tears the whole day...I could honestly live that week over and over for the rest of my life, or better yet, become a full time groupie! Thankfully, we have one more show to go to this summer...September 1st...so I'm really looking forward to that. I hope you guys followed this post to the end...I know it's long, but hey, at least it's GOOD!!