Saturday: Morning:

We were given the morning to explore Atlanta, but it was raining, so most of us played on the elevators.  The building neighboring the Hilton was 47 stories high and had a glass elevator that went up 41 flights in 30 seconds.  It was pretty sweet. :D  Others visited the Coca-Cola factory, the mall, and other little places. 

Saturday: Afternoon:

The band loaded the busses to head out to the alumni tent.  We also had a police escort for this excursion.  WE GOT TO DRIVE ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD!!!! It was SOOO COOL!  :D  The alumni tent was PACKED! The most packed I’ve ever seen it.  We got off the busses to go to sectionals and the fans started cheering “Let’s GOOOO Mountaineers!” (We of course joined in.)  We filed into the alumni area and they went crazy! They were excited, maybe slightly intoxicated, but still excited.  They really enjoyed our performance.  After the performance, Jason and I were bombarded with “Thank You”s and “You are really a part of something special!”s.  It was great.  I met one alumni who said he was in the band when it was 100 strong.  He said, “It’s so interesting to see what the band has become since I was in the band.”  He was very impressed and loved the performance.  After the performance we received Chick-A-Fila.  Not only did we get the normal sandwich, chips, and brownie, we got eight piece nuggets and a fruit cup!  It fed me at lunch AND dinner!  At this point, it was not raining.

Saturday: Evening:

            GAME TIME!!!!!  The crowd, not to bad, really, they didn’t say that many negative things to us, I was pleasantly surprised.  We got in our lines and marching into the stadium to our seats.  This is where the trip takes a drastic turn for the worst.  There weren’t enough seats.  People had to sit shoulder to shoulder for the whole game.  It was VERY tight; the piccolos didn’t even get to set all together.  Then, it rained.  Ponchos had been given out so everyone put them on.  It was a very steady rain, most members didn’t think it could rain any harder, then, the monsoon hit.  Waterfalls were coming down the stairs at the stadium and pooled at the feet of the staff, Jason and I.  The water under the entrance was knee deep, we were standing in water up to our ankles.  It continued to rain, the game was delayed, it rained some more, the game was delayed more, eventually the crowd saw the 30 minute clock start to tick and the stadium exploded with relief.  However, because the field was real grass and not turf, Auburn’s band could not perform pre-game.  The Pride was VERY disappointed.  We had heard how great the band was in Auburn and were looking forward to seeing their performance, but there was still halftime to watch!  Oh, wait! Halftime was cancelled for both bands!  We traveled so far to perform and it got cancelled!  Needless to say, both bands were upset.  We performed the Auburn Halftime show in the stands.  It was LOUD!  It was great!  The stadium at Auburn has great acoustics and made The Pride sound even louder than normal.  After the performance, we listened to Auburn’s band play their halftime.  They also sounded great.  Following halftime, the Auburn Kappa Kappa Psi brought the whole band water!  Which was much needed.  As we all know, the football team lost, but The Pride won. :D

Saturday: Night:

The Pride marched back to the busses, most upset about the loss, others upset about not being able to perform.  Alas, we got the busses, learning that we wouldn’t be leaving until 10am instead of 8am, a blessing in disguise?  The band really didn’t care at this point about sleep, they just wanted to get home and a two hour delay, not so good.  We got on the road to return to Atlanta and wouldn’t you know it, Bus 6 gets broadsided by a pick up truck.  The driver, “didn’t see the bus”, the sixth bus to be exact, so he saw one through five, but missed that sixth 40 foot bus.  After the paper work was taken care of, we proceeded to the hotel to pass out.