After getting back with the band in October
1994 following my graduation, I learned that the band would attend a competition
in Williamsburg, Virginia, which would include two days in the capitol
of the United States, Washington, D. C. In January 1995 I asked Mr. Farmer
if I could possibly accompany them on this trip. He agreed under the condition
that I surrender my seat to one more- essential member or chaperone if
they planned on attending. Fortunately that did not happen, and it turned
out to be my first trip that far north and my first photographic experience
with the Big Red Band. (Photo left: The 1994-1995 Big Red Band rehearses
for their big debut in Williamsburg. March 1995)
DAY 1 -- I arrived at Hillsborough High School, camera in hand, at 6:45 on the morning of March 28. The patio area just outside the bandroom began filling up with students and luggage. The charter buses arrived, and we were off by 10:30.
With a trip of such a distance, we made numerous rest stops; I didn't keep track of how many and exactly where all the time. Our group of four buses were separated in northern Florida near Jacksonville but reunited later down the road. Our dinner stop was in Florence, South Carolina, at Ryan's, a stop two hours long.
Uncomfortable as it was, it was time to get at least a few hours shut-eye on this stretch of the overnight voyage to D.C. I woke up several times during the night, tracking our route on my road atlas.
DAY 2 -- By 6:00 a.m. we were
in the Crystal City mall near Tysons Corner, Virginia. As you probably
figured out, everyone was eager to get off those cramped buses and have
a hot meal.
At 9:30 our tour of D.C. commenced.
We were dropped off in front of the Natural History section of the Smithsonian
Institute. From there, the band split up. I didn't know where to go first
in this unusual environment called the District of Columbia, but I eventually
decided to tour the Mall starting at the Lincoln Memorial. Then-Dancerette
director Linda Haines was generous enough to take a couple of pictures
of me standing in front of the statue of Lincoln with my camera. With hours
of sightseeing, I was able to stop by all the major attractions along the
Mall with the exception of the Washington Monument, which had a mile-long
line of tourists wanting to go inside. All were gathered by mid-afternoon
to see artifacts from the horrible genocidal attack on Jewish people in
the 1940s, displayed at the Holocaust Memorial Museum. That part of the
trip was required of all attending the trip. A tour of the Capitol Building
was also included, where the band was split into three separate groups
touring different parts of the Building at the same time.
By evening, I, as well as just about everyone else, was ready to unwind and rest in a real bed for the first time in more than 36 hours. Following dinnner at a nearby mall, we arrived at the Best Western Westpark Hotel in Tysons Corner. I don't recall very many people wandering around once we unloaded. One exception was my roommate Kenneth Sapp (class of 1997), who was, in his words, "drooling over girls."
DAY 3 -- I woke up at 5:15, while it took Kenny more than 90
minutes extra to get started. Breakfast was held at a Shoney's-type buffet
restaurant just behind the hotel. By that time I had a small group of band
members who accompanied me just about wherever I went: twins Audrey and
Karen Mueller-Thayer (who left HHS the next year), and at times Michael
Rupert (c/o '98), Jason Quire (c/o '97), and Leila Delaughter (c/o '97).
I affectionately called them the "Washington Gang." Sites visited during
the third day included a tour of Ford's Theater, where President Lincoln
was shot in 1865 and died soon after; Union Station; the Iwo Jima Memorial;
and the National Cathedral. (One picture I should have used on this site
was the one where the Washington Gang sat under the bell located outside
Union Station with them holding their ears as if the bell was ringing right
under them.) A panoramic photograph was taken of our entire band and chaperone
group on the steps of the Capitol Building. In the dark of night we were
taken on a tour of the city to view the landmarks from a different perspective. 
It
was also time to fool around, and some kids played hide-and-go-seek around
the pillars of the Lincoln Memorial. Mr. Farmer was, umm, shocked, to see
that going on, as evident by the expression on his face (March 1995)!
It was about 10:00 before we returned to the Best Western.
DAY 4 -- Our last hours spent
in the Washington area were spent at the Arlington National Cemetery, where
the Big Red paid homage to those fallen American soldiers "known only to
God." Drum majors Sherisse Asberry (c/o '95) (foreground, left) and Laura
Killinger (c/o '95) salute as fellow drum majors Erin Sylvester (c/o '96)
(background, in front of Sherisse) and Joey Bokor (c/o '95) lay a Hillsborough
High School wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns (March 1995)as the
rest of us watched solemnly. Following soon after was the tour of Mount
Vernon, home of the first U. S. President George Washington. Both sites
took about two hours to see completely. Our buses then took the four-hour
or so drive south to the Williamsburg area, site of our competition. Once
there, we went straight to the Morrison's Cafeteria to have dinner, then
we arrived at the Days Inn Williamsburg to stay. I witnessed a group of
students throwing the football in the parking lot, similar to Gatlinburg
II activities.
DAY 5 -- The day started at 5:30 a.m., mainly for packing our
suitcases for the long drive back to Tampa following the performances and
free time at Busch Gardens Williamsburg. The contest was held at Bruton
High School just outside Williamsburg. According to my personal log, the
Big Red Band competed against seven other bands nationwide. As I and other
chaperones sat in the auditorium awaiting the 
arrivals
of our band, wind ensemble, and orchestra, one band in competition sounded
more like a seventh-grade beginner's band and really didn't deserve to
be there. Our bands performed soon after. I recorded the performances on
my portable audio recorder. One piece the wind ensemble played was called
"Manx Overture," and contained many difficult series of 32nd notes and
wide range of notes. (Thank God I didn't have to perform it!) Despite the
difficulty, they played perfectly! I wish I could record it on here so
you could hear a part of it, but I'm not that advanced in Website construction
yet. The band dressed into more casual attire following their superior
performance and we headed for Busch Gardens.
I had been to Busch Gardens Tampa Bay so many times in the past -- my brother actually was featured in a commercial for an Anheuser-Busch theme park in Pennsylvania, but that's another story -- so I was anxious to see what Williamsburg's version on Busch Gardens was like. Tampa's BG is Africa-oriented; Williamsburg's BG has a European theme, Middle Ages Europe if I'm not mistaken. It had the same types of amusement and thrill rides, not very much different from BG in Tampa. I remember as the Washington Gang played one of those games where you throw a dart at a balloon and win a prize, one of them won a giant mouse (kind of like Fievel from "An American Tail") and I shot a photo of them fighting over it. Eventually Leila claimed ownership of it.
As the band bunch returned to the buses, students began cheering and yelling for joy. Mr. Farmer's son Matt (c/o 2001) ran to me and proclaimed "We got first in everything!" It didn't sink in at first. "What the heck's going on?" I thought. I approached Mr. Farmer, and in front of him was many trophies from the competition -- first place trophies at that! That was a good enough reason to cheer and yell. The 12 or so trophies were displayed at a table at the Morrison's where we were to have dinner. Every student passed by them to stare at them and smiled with glee. One of the waitresses there noticed the awards, asked where we were from, and once she discovered we were from Hillsborough, she asked to have her picture taken with the trophies and to have a photo sent to her. (I think she said she is an alumna.) Unfortunately I never sent her the picture. As we departed Morrison's and Williamsburg with our memories and successes, we entered Interstate 95 headed south for home, the Sunshine State -- and another uncomfortable overnight sleepover on the buses.
DAY 6 -- Coincidentally it was Daylight Saving Time, so an hour of sleep was lost. By daybreak we were in southwestern Georgia and stopped for breakfast at a Shoney's in Brunswick. We re-entered Florida by 11 a.m. and crossed Tampa city limits at 1:29. The dear old Red and Black was in view just moments later, which brought an end to a magnificent trip.
