The Russians: Chauffeuring

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Chauffeuring

Last weekend, Andre had the fun experience of driving the tour bus for our friends in the Revive Band. We met Dave and Pip about a year ago at our church and hit it off right away. They are from Australia and are here in Atlanta with Dave's band Revive, indefinitely. We have LOVED getting to know them and have found their friendship to be a real blessing.

Anyway, the band is part of Winter Jam this year, a big Christian music tour, and each weekend they head out of Atlanta, touring. Because they have to be at each destination by lunch time every day and the shows only end around midnight (after breaking down equipment etc.), they usually have to drive through the night to make it to the next city. This makes for a very demanding and exhausting schedule for the band members and their wives, who often take shifts during the night.

So, last weekend, Andre was the official tour bus driver. And had a blast!! He so enjoyed being with the band (I think he would want to join if music was in his skill set!), meeting other bands touring with them, and catching some of the shows. Although he was usually asleep during the late afternoon and evening hours, catching up from driving the night before. They did get stuck in that awful snow storm last Friday and ended up taking 12 hours to get from Alabama to South Carolina, instead of the expected 7! But thankfully the Lord protected the bus through all that snow and ice. I missed him (he was gone Thursday through Monday) and was a little worried about him driving through the nights, but it was kind of nice, because every time I had to get up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, I would call Andre and see how he was doing with the driving! We didn't chat much during the days because he was helping unload or set-up, or sleeping, but we enjoyed our late night calls :) Here are a few photos he snapped:

Pip at the band's merchandise stand