Our first stop on the tour was Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. We had two shows on Friday and another on Saturday, all of them “Strange Like Me,” our diversity show. The folks at ISU had whipped up a batch of buttons that said, “Are you Strange Like Me?” in red letters on a white background. Surprised and pleased, we grabbed handfuls of them and adorned our various bags, purses, and straps.

Since we were in Ames for two nights, we had some free time to look around, a luxury we never had on last year’s tour. Michael, Bethany, and I visited Reiman Gardens. Among the flora, they have an abstract mock-up of the university’s campanile which blares recordings of bells. We heard pre-recorded bell renditions of “Love is a Many Splendored Thing” and something we thought was by Tom Jones but couldn’t immediately place.

 In the Home Production Garden, we snatched a few amazing cherry tomatoes and lamented the fact that we’d probably never have such good cherry tomatoes again. That night: Pork (“Iowa Chop”) and a beer sampler at Olde Main Brewing Company, which I keep reading as “Old Man Brewing Company.” Note: Michael is a home brewer and beer enthusiast, so whenever possible, we eat at brew pubs. It’s not unusual for him to bring his homemade beer along on tour.

ISU put us up for the night in a hotel on campus, which was pretty nice. There was extensive renovation going on, however, and the bowling alley in the building was closed. Sad.

Due to a miscommunication, we thought our Saturday morning show was at 9:00 AM. We got to the theatre an hour beforehand, as per usual. We started getting concerned when no one showed up to meet us, and when 9:00 AM finally arrived with no staff or audience, Michael went to the administrative offices. Apparently, they scheduled the show for 11:00 AM. We were grumpy, because we could’ve gotten more sleep, but it could’ve been worse. It’s a good thing the show wasn’t scheduled even later, because we had to hit the road for a show in Council Bluffs, Iowa, that night…