DAY ONE - Tuesday, December 28, 1999:

The day started out very early for some students, staff and chaperones who arrived at the high school at 01:30am(EST) for a bus ride to the Rochester airport. As many parents can appreciate while on a family vacation in the car, it was not very far from Oswego when the cries of "Are we there yet" could be heard from the back of the bus. The first bus arrived at the Rochester airport at 04:00am(EST) for an early check-in. All things went well and the group boarded their flight to Chicago and connecting flight to sunny Phoenix. The temperature in Oswego was a chilly 7 degrees how ever when the students arrived at the Phoenix Hilton the temperature was a balmy 74 degrees. Many, many students took to the outdoor pool ASAP.

The second group began their journey at the high school at 03:00am(EST) for a bus ride to the Syracuse airport. According to Band Director Bill Palange "Everything went like clockwork" Palange commented on how well behaved the students were with the airline personnel and other passengers traveling on the same plane.

The third group of students were the winners in the sleep category as band members began arriving at the high school at 08:30am(EST) for their trip to the Rochester airport. The flight to Chicago was a "windy" one to say the least. As Chicago truly lived up to its name during our landing. It was a good experience for a number of students who have never flown before. Upon arrival at Chicago, we were informed of a slight delay(pic1) with our connecting flight coming in from Florida. The delay put us back approx. 1 hour. The kids were absolutely fantastic during this minor disruption as many students played cards(pic2), ate fast food, while some pulled out musical instruments and entertained the passengers in the airport(pic3). We arrived at the Phoenix Hilton Hotel at 8:05pm(MST) and quickly made our way to a wonderful Mexican fiesta dinner accompanied by a mariachi band(pic4).

Following dinner and a few announcements(pic5), and with most students not having slept in almost 24 hours, the marching buccaneers collected their instruments and met outside in the hotel parking lot for a brief band practice. This was a great way for the students to "blow off some steam" and get thinking about what they are here for. At 10:00pm(MST) it was back to there rooms for bed check and lights out as a big day is planned for Wednesday in the Grand Canyon.

10 - Mel M. is leading the Quest for Quadisis Contest so far.

9 - Bus # 1 had to make a rest stop on RTE 104 just 20 minutes into the trip("I got to go NOW"!)

8 - "Hey, this airline food is better than hospital food"

7 - "I lost my trumpet does anyone have it? (we found it)

6 - Are we there yet?

5 - Vanessa V set off the X-ray detector a record 20 times with butterfly hair clips.

4 - Who has the can of Spam?

3 - The truck equipment made it!! We're going to have a competition.

2 - Ben H. and Liz C. were adopted by United Airlines as flight attendants for the day