Well here is the final chapter of the voyage, I last wrote while in Nawlins. This morning I am back at home in Phoenix and everything seems like an anti climax, after always being on the run with somewhere to go or something to do. I Now have to get my head back into staying home and working and not having to look at the clock every few mins.
The final night in New Orleans was just a clinic so no excitement to speak of except for the people taking part in the clinic andc JA and Nick. During the day before the clinic we did all take the opportunity to get together and first of all talk about the tour. Its something we do everytime and we go over what could we have done differently, how can we make it better, what did we do well and what did we do not so good. We have some ideas that we think will make the shows better and a little different and also some preparation on my part that can be done better and also how we can make the clinics different and have more tools to use like a manual that goes along with the clinic and video for stroke analysis. All these are just things for us to work on. Some of them are great ideas but also may not work for wone reason or another so again, we shall see.
We also took the chance to give eachother a hard time about one thing or another and JA got some jabs about his driving and I got some for just being me but JA and I decided that Nick gets away with so much that it was time to lay it on thick. I think I have talked before about Nick and the dissapearing act he tends to do when its time to load and unload the van. This loading and unloading usually happens when we arrive at a new hotel, leave the hotel for the shows, get back to the hotel from the shows, when we get to the pool room, when we leave the pool room. Here is what has to be moved when we arrive at a hotel and leave a hotel when our time is done in that town. 3 large suitcases, 3 overnight sized bags, 5 dealer cases that look like big flat suitcases, 3 boxes of extra cues for the display cases, 2 regular cue cases, few boxes of balls and a box of DVDs. From that point when we get to the pool room its everything but the suitcases. So just to let all of you know, JA and I do not really mind doing the loading and unloading, Nick is the oldest and so out of respect for him we do what ever we have to. The thing is we have talked about it between ourselves that we don't mind but we have never told Nick and so he still tries to find reasons to not be around or have something else to do right at the moment its time to load and unload. It has become a source if entertainment for me and Johnny, laying small bets as to which of his reasons he will use this time to not do the work. Its anything from needing to go and hand the hotel keys back in at the front desk, to checking in, bathroom taking trash out of the van and putting it in a trash can. Here is an example of this. We began the loading process to leave a town, Nick decided since we were already checked out and had nowhere to hide that he was gonna take the trash out of the van. Ok, well I suppose that does need to get done if it gets too bad but we keep it pretty clean. Sh we are loading and JA and I whispered "this is a new one hows he gonna make it last long enough though?" so Nicks head dissapeared into the passenger side along with the top half of his body obviously looking for trash and gathering it together. He is still there when we are half loaded. Wow must be more trash than we thought, every now and then we would see Nicks head peeping over the front seats into the back I am guessing to check on our progress. Nick steps away from the van and heads toward the trash can. JA and I watch him walking with one empty bag of Cheetos. Thats it one empty bag and we just laughed at how long it took but that wasn't the end of it we walks right past the closes t trash can outside the hotel and heads for one thats much further down and if he walked any slower he may have started going backwards. This made JA and I laugh even more that he thinks we don't see what he is doing. So as he gets back we are still sniggering and talking about it, nice says "Whats wroing with you two idiots? We ready to go?" "Yes Nick we are ready to go, Ja says "Did you get all the trash?" we laugh again. Anyway so since we are giving Nick a hard time in the hotel room over this we tell him all the things we have noticed him doing and how he dissapears etc. He starts by giving us a confused look and as we recount the things he has done and the differnt times he has done them he begins to laugh, he starts laughing louder and louder and once you get him laughing its hard to stop him and its really is very fun ny to watch because he tried to talk and he can't get the sentence out cos he is laughing too much. Anyway I said "Its ok Nick we are just giving you a hard time and letting you know we have been on to you for a while. Nick still laughing says "Yeah, I probably deserve it, I don't know what the F&$K I'm gonna do when its time for me to unload this stuff when I am on my own I have gotten so used to avoidinbg it that I might just get out and go stand in the hotel for ten mins and realize its not unloading itself."
After the clinic that night the guys wanted to go out and do something, its something that we try to do on our last night, end of tour Wrap party as often as possible. I could not do it this time as I had to be up VERy early and so we just all settled up what we all owed eachother for one reason or another and I went to bed. Not sure if they stayed up and chatted or went out for a drink or something to eat. As expected I was shattered and exhausted last night after the full day of traveling home and watched the debate and was ready for bed.
My final word is that this tour had its ups and downs, it could have been better but all agree it could have been much worse. So at the end of the day we are all happy and I have to say what and honor and privilage it is to work with these two living legends and am honored to call them my friends. We could not do three week tours together without having that friendship and understanding. Well thats all folks, I will be back reporting when the next tour happens. Thanks to all the people who have been following along with the reports and thanks also to all the people who have send me messages telling me how much they have been enjoying it. Til next time.
I won't mind at all as it will be just good to be home. 
