Day 1: Friday, October 6th; The Trip to Hempstead

6:30am
They're on their way!

10:55am
The buses crossed into Pennsylvania on their journey to Hempstead. The trip is uneventful (i.e. good!). The weather is cloudy but no precipitation.

4:25pm
This trip has been enhanced by the season - the leaves are beautiful! The band arrived at their destination after an unplanned little tour (translation: they took the wrong exit) and are currently on the practice field. It's still cloudy, no rain, and 70 degrees! Right now the band is about an hour behind schedule. After another hour of practice they will be having dinner then checking into the hotel.

6:15pm
Practice finished (for today anyway). Everyone swarmed a local mall for dinner, shopping, and general relaxation.

8:00pm
Check-in at the hotel went relatively smoothly. One thermometer claimed a high of 77 during practice. Right now its about 65. The swimming pool lost some water as the gang released even more energy (yeah, they still had some left over!). The rooms are decorated to the point that they resemble Las Vegas. Practically one whole floor has been taken over by the band members.

11:00pm
Curfew time. Some students were witnessed gathering foodstuff to last through the night.

12:00am
The floor is quiet. Sounds like everyone really is asleep!

Day 2: Saturday, October 7th; The Competition

The Preliminaries

6:30am
Everyone was roused from their sleep, and they appear to have slept well.

7:00am
During the buffet breakfast the good spirits and excitement became obvious.

9:24am
At the practice field warmups have started. On this windy morning the sun is shining in a cloudless sky. Today's forecast is clear and in the 60's.

3:26pm
The group is on the buses heading back to the hotel for dinner. The 1:00pm performance went very well, everyone felt great. The weather was partly cloudy with the sun shone brightly on the band during their show. The equipment crew deserves special recognition for getting the gear on and off the field in the alloted time (this was witnessed and acclaimed by a member of the equipment crew ;-).

5:55pm
After finishing up a nice pasta buffet dinner, the band was informed that Webster made the finals! They will be performing in the 7th slot. The exact time is not yet known. As a side note, it has been noted that Webster has one of the biggest contingent of fans.

The Finals

11:15pm
The finals are complete and Webster finished in 5th place in the finals with a score of 74.55. Now it's back to the hotel for a pizza party!!

1:30am
After the pizza party, people were pretty quiet and tired. The students hung out in the rooms visiting. By 1:30 everyone had returned to their own rooms for some much-needed sleep.

Day 3: Sunday, October 8th; The Trip Home

7:00am
Revele started at 7am (no bugle though). After energetically jumping out of bed (you think so?) everyone loaded the buses and some attended non-demoninational services.

8:30am
The hungry group took advantage of a great buffet breakfast then checked out of the hotel.

9:45am
The convoy pulled out and headed home.

10:20am
Close to New York City, the weather for the trip is currently clear in the low 50's.

12:50pm
Stopped for lunch at a Pennsylvania mall, the group expects to be on the road again around 2pm. The temperature is dropping as they get closer to home, currently 49 and cloudy.

4:10pm
The trip has been very colorful with the beautiful fall foliage and the hills. Having just stopped at a rest area near Kirkwood, NY, the group will board the buses shortly. No more rest stops are planned for the remainder of the trip.

5:35pm
A familiar site, the Carrier Dome, is within view right now (we'll be back there in 3 weeks!). The skys are partly sunny and it's 47 degrees, a little different from the 2 minutes of snow showers the buses encountered a little while ago. Still no plans to stop before Webster.

7:35pm
The travelers are home! A crowd of family and friends heralded the return of the band members. The traditional headlight gauntlet was setup to guide the buses to their final stop. On arrival the temperature was 43 degrees and it's just starting to rain. No school tomorrow, time to sleep...

Finals Placements
Place	Score	Band	State
1st	83.65	King Philip Regional HS	MA
2nd	82.05	Norwin HS	PA
3rd	79.55	North Penn HS	PA
4th	79.50	Norwalk HS	CT
5th	74.55	Webster HS	NY
6th	71.60	Bassett HS	PA
7th	70.65	Trumbull HS	CT
8th	69.00	Oswego HS	NY
9th	67.85	Lampeter-Strasburg HS	PA
10th	65.40	Newtown HS	CT

Finals Highest Achievements
Outstanding Music	King Philip Regional HS, MA
Outstanding Visual	King Philip Regional HS, MA
Outstanding General Effect	King Philip Regional HS, MA

Note: Arlington HS, NY did qualify for finals, but had to give up their finalist spot and leave
after their performance due to a change to homecoming thrust upon them at the last minute.
(quoted from Arlington Director post on newsgroup)