I don’t think I’ve mentioned the big road trip I’m taking next week.

Four of us from the chorus, Dee, Cyn, Lila (the director) and myself are driving from the Boston area to Greenville, South Carolina. The purpose of this trip is to go to the International Education Symposium that the Sweet Adelines are sponsoring. It’s a four day intensive music, education, dance and showmanship program.

We had to sign up for classes back in March, but we really haven’t made any other plans about what we’ll do on the trip itself.

So the four of us got together to plan.

I think we’re an ambitious group!

We’re leaving on Sunday the 14th. On our first day we plan to drive from Boston to Alexandria, VA, where we’ll stay in Old Town (I haven’t been there in years). I hope we’ll have the chance to at least drive through DC and stop at a couple of monuments. I know I’ve been there many times, but there is nothing in the world that moves me as much as seeing the Capitol Building, or the Lincoln Memorial. Especially since 9/11, they seem like something that should be cherished even more.

The next day we’re going to stop at Mt. Vernon, and then drive to Durham, N.C. We’ll probably stop along the way if we see something interesting to see, but we didn’t make any specific plans as far as that goes.

The following day we’ll drive to Greenville, S.C. We may have planned to stop along the way, but for the life of me I can’t remember where we might have wanted to go!

The director needs to be there a day earlier than the rest of use (peons that we are!), so we plan to go to Atlanta for the day on Wednesday. We don’t have anything to do at IES until suppertime that night.

The next four days will be spent taking classes and going to contests in the evenings. We have four songs that we have to learn before we get there, "Carolina in the Morning", "We’ll Meet Again", "Keep Your Sunny Side Up" and "Sitting on Top of the World". I’ve got three of them mastered, but am having a more difficult time with "Sitting on Top of the World". I don’t know why, but I am.

We were also sent a package of devotional music to learn for a Sunday service by the lake. Some of those I know (even in a barbershop arrangement) and others I know in church arrangements, but there’s way too much to try to commit to memory. (Especially because on top of all this we have to re-tape our entire current chorus repertoire so each song is word and note perfect.)

Some of the devotional arrangements are really challenging, but a blast to sing. At least we can be hanging on to music for that (unlike the other four songs that we’re supposed to have memorized).

We leave S.C. on Sunday, but Lila isn’t coming back with us, she’s going to Florida to see her daughter.

Dee, Cyn and I have planned to take the Blue Ridge Parkway back through North Carolina, stopping at Roanoke and staying in Salem. Monday we’ll go to Charlottesville and see Monticello. Now somewhere in here we also plan to see Lynchburg and Appamatox. Monday night we’ll stay in Winchester, VA.

Then on Tuesday we’re going to Gettsyburg, Lancaster County (Amish country), and then stay in Hershey. Waking to the smell of chocolate! Yum!! I’m pretty excited to see any of the sights that are associated with the Civil War, seeing I’ve never seen any of these places and at one time I taught U.S. history so I’ve read about them all my life. Of all the places we’ve got lined up, it’s Gettysburg that I’m most looking forward to.

On Wednesday we’re driving to NYC and have tickets to see "The Producers" that night. Getting those tickets was an unexpected bonus, but somehow I lucked out when I went online to inquire. We’d like to see a matinee as well, but the one show I’m most interested in seeing won’t hold the tickets at the box office and insist on mailing the tickets, but they won’t guarantee that they’ll be here before we leave on Sunday.

Bummer.

On Thursday we’ll spend some time in the city then drive back to Boston.

Pretty ambitious, huh?

I’m looking forward to it, but am a bit concerned about Dee. She’s already announced that she won’t do any of the driving (we’re taking Cyn’s car, which is far more luxurious than anything the rest of us drive – and has all that zone control air conditioning and GPS system stuff). It might get a bit dicey if she just sits like the queen and lets everyone else do all the work. She was like this during the planning stage, Cyn and I were running back and forth to the computer and phone to make reservations while she sat in the kitchen.

I’m hoping she decides to pitch in and be helpful when the time comes. I think Cyn was a bit surprised at the lack of help she gave when we were trying to figure out what we wanted to see and do.

So now I have to get my act together so I can leave here for twelve days.

Therein lies the challenge!