SEISO Residency-Day 2

Woke up insanely early because of the time change and my usual schedule, so I was able to get some work done before heading out. The first event of the day was an interview with KILJ Radio at 8:00 am. Then, I tagged along to Will's last school demonstration, which was fun. After that, the orchestra board member chauffeuring us around decided to give us a little local flavor, and took us to a small diner that had "the best pork tenderloin in Iowa". It was definitely good. On the way back to our hotel, we drove through a bit of Mt. Pleasant.

This is a gorgeous town! It is not new, but it is well-kept. The houses are all old midwestern designs with wooden siding, but they aren't falling apart and are newly painted. The storefronts are spectacular, most of them filled with some restaurant or other small business. The best part about Mt. Pleasant, though, is the Old Threshers' museun. The people of Mt. Pleasant host a fair dedicated to bringing back the turn-of-the-century Midwest way of life, complete with fully renovated and operational steam tractors and locomotives, a running narrow-gauge railroad, horse-drawn farm equipment, a working steam carousel with a real calliope, and more. We are headed back tomorrow to explore this in detail...which is going to be awesome.

Will and I took some time in the afternoon to go back over his part to At Sixty Miles an Hour and make some last-minute edits, then we schlepped off to the dress rehearsal. After a quick meeting with Bob McConnell, the director of SEISO, and a tasty Thai dinner, we got to Chapel Auditorium in Iowa Wesleyan, and set up. Rehearsal was amazing. The concert is going to be fantastic. So excited for tomorrow, with the final dress, and then the FIRST CONCERT at 7:30 pm CDT! This trip is unreal.