On last Saturday, the marching band had a competition, just like they do every Saturday. What no one expected was how the entire day would go. It started out like any other day. We woke up early and made it to the school to practice. After two and a half hours, we were finished practicing and everyone ate lunch—still a seemingly normal day. Then we got a pep talk from Mr. Munoz, which lasted a few minutes. Finally, after five hours at the school, we loaded the buses and departed for Avon.

After sitting around for a good hour making jokes and listening to music, we were told that we were stopping at a rest stop. It wasn’t anything odd or different for us, so we expected that we’d sit there for a few minutes and then take off towards Avon again. What actually happened was much different. When our bus parked, someone got on and told us that the semi had a problem with one of its tires. It didn’t seem like a big deal when we compared it to what we’ve had happen in the past (ie. A bus breaking down and having to cram every kid on a single bus. This happened twice in the time I’ve been in marching band.), but in reality, it may have been one of the worst breakdowns yet.

After we heard the news, everyone trickled off of the bus. After about ten minutes of sitting around doing next to nothing, Mr. Munoz called the kids together under a pavilion and told us what exactly was going on. The semi had blown a tire, so we were going to have to get it fixed. It also had cut a break line, another thing that needed fixed. We were told to sit tight and listen for more instructions. A few minutes (five) after that, he told us that Avon was sending us a semi because we wouldn’t be able to use ours. We sat around waiting some more.

Soon, the band moms decided that they wouldn’t be able to serve us food when we got to Avon, so they brought it all out to us, and we ate taco salads at the rest stop. Commence another half an hour of agonizing waiting. Eventually, seeing our boredom, the Drum Majors called the band together. We were going to sing through the show. That took us a good eight minutes until we were sitting around doing nothing again. At this point, so much boredom had set in that a few kids were running around the grass, playing with assorted bugs (mainly grasshoppers).

Now we had been sitting at the rest for two hours. According to the itinerary, we were supposed to be getting to Avon about this time. We were still an hour and a half away hanging out with each other and tourists/semi drivers. This is when Munoz told us to get changed into our bibs (bibbers—basically, they’re the overalls we wear under our uniforms) and get our jackets out of the semi. Now we were moseying around wearing black overalls and holding hangers with uniform jackets on them. Eventually we were told to put our jackets on the busses. Then we got out our instruments and practiced in the parking lot of the truck stop.

It was nearing 5:30 when we finally saw the semi from Avon roll up. We put our instruments back into the cases and moved them under our seats on the bus. Then we loaded props onto the semi and walked onto the bus. I sat back in my seat and waited for us to leave. I heard the doors close and the engine start. At that point, I was excited. We were finally leaving. After three and a half hours at a rest stop, we were finally going to Avon again. Then we hit a traffic jam. We were stuck in traffic for another two hours. Finally we made it to Avon, an hour and a half after we were supposed to perform.

We performed an exhibition at 9:30. We got our score. Then we loaded the bus and left. I slept the rest of the way home.