FHST week # 3 Kansas City KS/MO Sept 19th - 23rd 2011

It was a warm weekend in San Antonio, we had a blast at Sea World, but it was on a plane and back to the High School Tour. Thanks to some Texas sized thunderstorms in Dallas, we got delayed almost 5 hours, and didn't make it into Kansas City until 3AM on Sunday night. Fortunately for us, our first show on Monday, wasn't until later in the afternoon.

Most of the same crew on the road this week. We still have Eito Yasutoko (inline), Anthony Furlong (skateboard), Jimmy Walker (BMX), and Trevor Meyer (flatland BMX), but we trade out Austin Coleman for Dustin Grice (BMX).

Our shows this week span two states in the greater metropolitan Kansas City area. We perform at Oak Grove, Bonner Springs, Olathe East, Blue Valley Southwest, and Blue Springs High Schools. We started off on Monday on the Missouri side at Oak Grove High. As I mentioned before, fortunately for us, it was a later show, so those of us on the late night flight out of Texas, were able to sleep in and catch up on some rest. The Oak Grove campus was out on the east side of town a little ways, but it was a great way to start off the week. They brought out the entire high school student body, and they also brought out the neighboring middle schools students. I'm always a huge fan of when they bring the middle school students over, because that's the age most students start experimenting with tobacco, so it's important for them to hear the shows messages as well. The boys put on a show, and both sets of students were super stoked.

Tuesday we headed to the Kansas side of the border, to Bonner Springs High. This was a bit of a smaller town about 30 minutes west of downtown Kansas City. We had the ramp set up right in the front parking lot, and again, had quite the turnout. We spent the rest of the afternoon checking out a local eatery called Papa Bob's. Now if you don't know it yet, Kansas City is home to some of the best BBQ in the world. Papa Bob's is famous for being featured on the TV show, Man vs Food, and for having a massive 7 pound sandwich called "the destroyer". Adam Richman from Man vs Food couldn't put down the 7.5 pound BBQ sandwich, and none of us were brave enough to attempt it. Special thanks to Papa Bob for the hospitality, and for busting out some of the secret sauces for us.

Wednesday we were on the Kansas side again at Olathe East High School. This was a morning show, in the lower front parking lot of the school. The campus itself sits on a rather steep incline, so the front parking lot created a bit of challenge for the setup crew with the ramp truck. That thing was sitting pretty high on the hydraulics on one side, and I can't remember the last time I have seen that many shims holding the flatbottom up. Hats off to the ramp crew though, because they pulled it off, with time to spare, and once again, we had another great assembly show.

Thursday it was back to the Kansas side of things again, and the event was at Blue Valley Southwest High. This was a massive campus, a newer school located in the far southwest corner of the Kansas City area. We had another huge assembly, where they brought the entire school out to participate. Wind was a bit of a factor today, but at the end of the show, Jimmy Walker lit the crowd up with a doubles run where Jimmy crosses over Anthony in mid air, and then Anthony crosses over Jimmy while doing a 360 varial. It's pretty impressive, and the students seemed to enjoy it greatly.

Friday brought us back to the Missouri side of things. Again we were out east a ways from the actually city area itself, but we had our final show at Blue Springs High. This was another end of the day assembly, and I can't think of a better way to wrap up the school week. When we arrived, we were greeted by a couple of student reporters from the school newspaper. They took turns interviewing just about everybody in the crew, and it was pretty extensive interviewing as well. Once again the boys did not disappoint, and Jimmy and Anthony ended the show with their signature doubles run.

Once again it was off to the airport for most of the crew, to head back to San Antonio TX for another weekend of Sea World shows. We had our fair share of BBQ in Kansas City, and it was time to get back to Shamu. That's it for this week, next stop Minneapolis/St. Paul.

Jimmy C