RENT ME.... TRAVEL AMERICA...

For 20 years I traveled with a bluegrass gospel band called Cannan's Crossing.  It started after John and me married and I joined his church.  The first time I visited, I heard singing like I had never heard before.  The choir was unbelievable, and the solos were just as good.  One Sunday the choir was singing a song.  During one part, the choir director was featured.   I was completely blown away when Tim Maze started to sing.  I had never heard a voice so pure and powerful.  I was raised strictly bluegrass, so I knew nothing about southern gospel.  When Tim started singing, I realized if that is what southern gospel sounded like, then I needed to hear more.  Another Sunday, Tim and two other folks sang a trio special.  This was the first time I heard Andy Wilks sing.  Andy had a different style, but he and Tim blended perfectly together.  After I was there for a while, I knew I wanted so bad to sing with Tim and Andy.  I knew Andy played guitar, but I had no idea Tim could play.  We all got together one night, and it was right!  Tim played bass, Andy played guitar, and I played fiddle of course.  After we had gotten a few songs together, we would visit different revivals and sing our songs.  We had been singing at every revival service in the surrounding counties, and we had made a small name for ourselves.  We got the call one day to play at the local music barn that had gotten to be a "big deal".  I would like to say I was excited and ready to go, but in reality, I was TERRIFIED!  It was just the three of us, and we only had a few songs we really felt comfortable singing for people.  We needed two other people to play, and the 2 people I couldn't get off of my mind were Junior Saint and Wayne Burgett.  These two men had been part of my life since I was just a little girl.  I can't remember exactly who contacted them, but I was so happy to hear they accepted our invitation to play the show with us.  We practiced hard and eventually had two good set lists we felt people would enjoy.  The night of the show finally came.  I was so nervous I wanted to faint, but the other guys seemed confident, so that helped ease my worries.  We took the stage and when the curtain opened, we started the music.  People were cheering while we played our hearts out.  After we finished, I remember thinking, if I never played another note I was as happy as I had ever been.  After that show, it seemed like the whirl wind started.  As the years went on, members changed.  With each change brought new sounds and ideas.  We would win awards, and travel to different places.  We would meet people and hear their personal stories of struggle, disappointment, and blessings God had given them.  We would sing for people in a church of 20, then the next weekend play for a church of 200.  Every time and every trip was something new and exciting.  We enjoyed any and every kind of casserole known to man, and one time we were even served potato salad sandwiches.  No matter how many people we played for, no matter what type of buildings we played in, and no matter how many potato salad sandwiches we ate there was nothing more rewarding than when we would sing a song and someone would come to the altar and accept the Lord.  We knew it wasn't anything we did, but we loved knowing God had used us to reach someone.  The day we got a call to go play a show several states away, we thought we had hit the big time.  We didn't have a bus, or even a wagon to travel in.  We used our personal vehicles to drive to each singing, so we had no idea how we were going to get to that state.  One of the members had the idea of renting an RV.  One of the guys went to pick up the RV, and we were ready to go.  John and I got packed and headed to meet the band, so we could leave on our big tour.  As we were turning onto the driveway, we could see the big RV.  The closer we got, we could see a huge banner all down the side of the big machine.  RENT ME!!  TRAVEL AMERICA!!!  That is what we saw.  Everybody had a good laugh, but the laughter stopped when we realized anyone who drove the rv should've been present at pick up, to show proper ID so they could be added to the list of drivers.  This meant only ONE person could drive and that was Wayne!  After a moment of head scratching, we laughed it off and went on our way.  On a trip like that, it was only natural that each band member would bring their spouses and kids.  Wayne was a good driver, so we weren't worried about getting anywhere safe.  We had laughs, sang and just all together enjoyed our trip together.  We talked about the big things we would do when we got to the concert area.  We were supposed to do radio interviews, have our own private tent with food and drinks.  We were supposed to be paid more than we had ever made and have a crowd of 500 people or more.  The closer we got, the more the trip had taken a toll on Wayne.  He was exhausted, and more than ready to park that rv and enjoy the good food in our future.  After the last mile was driven, we had reached our destination!  The air was slowly being let out of our balloons when we saw the "concert area".  It was a makeshift stage surrounded by blue tarps, in the middle of a red dirt field.  The private tent where we could relax, was to porta potties that hadn't been emptied because the company had closed for the weekend.  While we stood there with our mouths opened and noses covered from the stench of the overflowing potties, we realized all of our promises were worth about as much as the contents of those potties.  We were thrilled when the promoters came to us to let us know they had fixed food for us.  We ran to that table like a female wolf trying to feed 20 pups.  We ate so many hot dogs in those two days, we should have bought stock in Oscar Myer!  Oh, I forgot to mention the radio show was not going to happen.  I guess the same people who were supposed to pump the potties, scheduled that interview.  Our big 500+ crowd was really just 7 people sitting in front of the stage and 5 of those people were us!  After our final set, we packed up and Wayne flew out of there slinging rocks and red mud.  The last thing those folks saw of us was the back end of the RV going down the road with RENT ME.. TRAVEL AMERICA glaring in their faces!  The next day, we had a church to play at, and it was such a relief.  The closer we got to the church, the darker the skies got.  The darker the skies got, the more the wind picked up.  We started getting concerned when we saw all of the downed power lines and oak trees on the street leading to the church.  Come to find out those dark clouds and high winds was actually a tornado touching down ahead of us.  Wayne strategically maneuvered the RV through the chaos, and the RENT ME bus pulled up the church!  The church had no power and the people had no intentions of letting us get out of playing.  This was fine by us, because Wayne was done with driving and we were starved and looking forward to the good food we were about to eat.  Before we sang the church's pastor told us the food was ready and for us to dig in.  With elbows flying we made our way quickly to the fellowship hall.  When we got there we saw the biggest plate of hot dogs we'd seen yet.  Our faces got pale and our stomachs did a back flip, but we didn't want to offend anyone, so we ate those hot dogs like we had never had them before.  We sang with no power, and the church was getting darker and darker.  When it was over, we loaded up with joy in our hearts because we knew we were headed to Alabama where we never had to see another hot dog again if we didn't want to.  We made it the Alabama state line and we had to have some real food.  We stopped at restaurant and filled our bellies with real food.  One of our members (I won't mention which one), ordered a western omelet, and devoured it so fast not even a crumb was left.  We hit the road as the darkness began to fall.  We had so many people in the RV, we had people sitting up to sleep.  As we got closer and closer to our homes, we noticed the RV going faster and faster.  Tim and his family were in the back bedroom, with his wife and son sleeping in the queen-sized bed. After we were all awake, we knew something was wrong.  Tim and his family had the worst of the deal.  They had no other choice but to hold on and pray they didn't have to keep doing football style drills in the bed because the trip was getting more intense after every mile.  You see, the multitude of hot dogs and omelet had taken their told on the digestive tract of our member and were about to make their appearances with no apologies!  Just when all hope was about to be lost, the beautiful lights of the Shell service station glowed like the Heavens had opened!  We turned into the parking lot on two wheels like a racecar taking a lap around turn 3 at a dirt track race.  As we came to an abrupt stop, our band brother ran like wind through the parking lot.  While the people in the RENT ME.. TRAVEL AMERICA RV were putting things back together from the wild ride we had just taken, our brother was releasing the demon that had been festering inside him.  We made it to the original meeting spot, then headed home.  That is the weekend we learned you need to make sure everybody who wants to drive better show up and show ID.  Another lesson learned, was we couldn't always count on the big promises made to us would be true.  Probably the most valuable lesson of the trip was, too many hot dogs will challenge your prayer life and the reliability of your sphincter muscle!  Finally, RENT ME.... TRAVEL AMERICA....