GOOD PEOPLE

By far the most incredible thing about being on the road is the unbelievable people that we have the privilege of getting to know along the way. This past week has once again left me humble and speechless. Everywhere we turn there are people like Blake and Teresa Sandall, who live 80 miles from the Salt Lake City airport. They got ahold of us before we left Nashville and offered to get us a suburban to drive for the tour this week. They drove down from Tremonton, UT (80 miles one way) to bring us the SUV after we landed at 10:00 PM on a Monday night. We then drove the car for hundreds of miles all week and they drove back to the airport to pick it up when we flew out on Monday. Insanely beyond the call of duty. Not to mention that Teresa's sister Susie had made a beautiful Nashville Tribute Band sticker for the back of the car. They are truly our friends and we love them! Then there's Shane and Mandy Johnson who booked us up at the Montpelier, ID Tabernacle. They made sure that the venue was stuffed to capacity with people, plus some, then they and their wonderful friends feed us like kings after the show (LOVE THOSE CREAM FILLED CREPES!). Shall I continue? I must. Then we drive to Logan where Tony and Aimee McClellan put our crew up for the night in their home, with all of their kids sleeping on their parents floor upstairs so we can have their rooms in the basement. Aimee, as always makes sure that we are fed and happy. Then we go to Sky View High School where the venue is 100% SOLD OUT plus some. We, again, meet some of the most wonderful and beautiful people after the show! Then get this, the Cottam's, a family who we love so much from Farr West, UT insist that we stop by their restaurant (Bella's in Farr West) on our way from Logan to SLC that night after the Logan show. We show up after midnight where they have the grills fired up and the tortilla's piping hot and they feed us the most fantastic mexican food we have ever tasted. Again we drive out of Farr West at 2:00 AM so full we could barely walk but with hearts full of love for good people. Wait, there's more. The next day, as we are driving 5 hours south to Tuacahn, we stop at the Chevron station in Beaver where Matt Lopez introduces us to a man named Rick Jarvis who was greasy under the hood of a car. Many years ago, when Matt and Jenny were newlyweds, they had car trouble in Beaver. This man went so far beyond the call of duty to fix their car, make them comfortable and get them safely on their way...it is a long wonderful story that Matt has blogged about on the Due West blog. However, this particular day Matt just wanted to stop and hug Rick one more time and introduce NTB to another good man. Rick, we salute you for your generosity and kindness! May it come back to you tenfold. Then we roll on into St. George, where Kevin Warnick and the spectacular staff of Tuacahn Amphitheater treat us like royalty, not because they have to, but because we have opened their spring season three years in a row and we love them like family. Seriously good people! Talk about good people, the wonderful people of Marv's burger and icecream shakes joint in St. George once again fired up their grills at midnight after the Tuacahn gig and the beautiful women of Marv's fed our crew and friends burgers and fries to die for...and most of all the best BLACKBERRY OREO SHAKES on planet earth!!! I am fairly sure that heaven will have a restaurant where Bella's and Marv's (Marvell's) are combined and we will eat every meal there and never get fat in our pink Marv's t-shirts! Love you Marv's! Then, we roll on up to Cedar City where, again, we are taken care of in every way...meals, accommodations, smiles and love every minute by Pam Smith and a host of her kind friends! The list of people and good deeds from this past week goes on and on, but let me say that two wonderful women, Aimee and Pam, came to every show this week to work the merch tables for us. They handled the crowds and the money and asked nothing in return. Every till balanced out perfectly and they had their beautiful smiles in high beam every second! Jeremy Moon, who once again came down to Tuacahn to shoot pictures of the shows, never ceases to amaze me with his charitable time devoted to Nashville Tribute. Jeremy has built our website from scratch and he maintains it at no charge...ever. We could never have an online presence without him. Thank you JM! Greg and Sharon Farmer may take the cake. They live in Clarksville, Tennessee. They drove all the way to Montpelier, ID to run sound for our show (no joke). They then followed us to Logan and then on to Tuacahn in St. George to take care of our technical needs and to hang with the tour. They are precious souls and lifelong friends. I could go on and on an on about so many good people. If it weren't for the long list of GOOD PEOPLE that constantly give of themselves, we could never possible reach the people that we do in sharing the message of THE RESTORATION and the rich history of our beautiful Saints. Our hearts are bursting with gratitude! The people we have become reacquainted with this week and the ones that we have met for the first time have made us better people, enriching our lives with every smile and kind deed. We love you all...the good people along the road! God bless you all! - Jason Deere