TAIKOPROJECT: The Taiko Blog: Continuum show in Casper, Wyoming

August was a busy flying month for me. After the fun adventures in Coeur d'Alene, I flew back to LAX only to take another flight to Mammoth Lakes the same day for a family vacation. This was a good chance for me to relax and do some fishing, hiking, and even try to take photos of the Perseid meteor shower. But don't you worry, after my vacation ended I got right back on a plane with my bachi in order to meet up with the rest of the cast in Wyoming.

Our Casper, WY show was on Sunday, August 14. I flew into Denver on Saturday and met up with Scott. From there we rented a car and had a bit of a drive to Casper. There were very few cities (or anything besides flat land) along our route. The occasional tree or cow was enough to get Scott and me excited! When we finally made it to Casper about 5 hours later, we joined Maz, David, Liz, Jen, and Yumi for dinner at On the Border. I ordered something called the Big Bordurrito because it sounded big. It was :).

Sunday was the day of our Continuum show. After breakfast, we drove to Natrona County High School. Our show was in the auditorium, which looked to be built quite a long time ago. The building had a lot of nice details inside and out, which I took immediate notice of because I thought it was quite nifty. Once we finished unloading with the help of their crew, we prepped everything for our tech and run through.

Originally, Bryan was cast for this show, but he couldn't do it anymore once TP was confirmed for the VH1 Do Something Awards on the same weekend. I took his place and was excited to do the show, but was a little apprehensive as well. I had to learn and perform several new parts that I had never done before, including odaiko for BTO. So not only did I have to fill Bryan's shoes, but his fundoshi as well... Luckily for me, I'm not being literal! I had my own fundoshi to wear for the occasion. The auditorium actually had no air conditioning, so fundoshi was probably the most comfy thing to wear. During our tech, we were all hot and sweaty, so I suggested we all perform in fundoshi, but that motion didn't pass!

We had a few hours of time to rest and eat before the show. Thank you to our presenter who had prepared a delicious dinner for us! When it was finally showtime, we went out with a lot of energy and had a great show. We had the chance to meet and talk with people in the lobby afterwards, which is always fun.

We wanted to celebrate and wind down the night, but almost everywhere was closed. Much to David's delight, the only place we found open was a Wendy's. We all ended up eating Frostys and sea salt fries, yum!

The next morning, Jen, Yumi, Liz, Scott and I said our good byes to David and Maz as they continued on their romantic journey together. The five of us got comfortable in our Corolla and headed back to Denver with a few hours of time to spare before our flight. We decided to walk around downtown Denver for a bit. We ate some pizza at the Mellow Mushroom and took a nice stroll by the river. This was a quick and tiring trip for me, but I thought everything went really well and we all had a good time!