Before you read any further take a look at this note that we found pasted to our truck this morning... isn't that cool? It reminds us of how big the torch is that these kids are carrying.

Once again the weather in Dayton is beautiful - cool, clear and sunny. Following breakfast we made the 6 mile trip to the arena ready to start unloading the truck at our allotted time of 9:14 am. The first problem that we hit was the generator would not start. With the help of some jumper cables that Mr. Young borrowed from another group, Shane was able to get the generator jump started using the truck's battery.

Warm-up went well although we did not see the crowds that we're used to seeing at the Nutter Center. This is mainly because every group's time is now extremely limited by WGI so that nobody gets a chance to go and watch other ensembles warm up.

Getting everything down the infamous tunnel turned out to be a relatively simple process and we succeeded in getting on and off the floor without picking up any timing penalty points. The kids had an extremely good run and everyone, including instructors, kids and parents all thought is was by far the best this year. The score of 88.3 and 8th place is certainly lower that I would have expected but at least we made finals and we get another chance to do even better tomorrow.

So how many music boosters does it take to light a gas BBQ?  However many it is, we didn't have enough. Initially we did succeed in getting the thing to work but it seemed to have just two settings, incinerate and off. After we extinguished the fat fire we tried to restart it... and tried... and tried... we twisted every knob, pressed every button, tightened every connection, dismantled the regulator valve, etc etc. Finally, after we had given up and taken our remaining hot-dogs and boiled them on one of the kitchen stoves, we read the part in the instructions where it says 'TURN IT OFF' before you try to re-light it. Oh well... we'll know better next time.

If you've been following this, you'll already know that Shane has repaired Dr. Beat and the generator. Since then he has fixed the broken rear door on the truck, tuned up the hotel's BBQ, fixed some fans at Belmont High School and is now looking for something else to repair. In the mean time, he has taken some excellent pictures that I'll add to the Kodak site as soon as I get internet access. THANKS SHANE !

Following rehearsal at Belmont High School, almost everyone went back to the Arena to watch Ayala's Concert World performance. WGI plans to drop the concert world class next year, making this event somewhat historic.

Meanwhile, Mr. Meeuwsen and myself decided to wait until the truck had safely left the school. This took much longer than expected since the rear door to the truck had jammed again and it took Shane some time to repair.

If you have read previous versions of Dayton Diary you probably know that Mr. Meeuwsen cannot come to Dayton without visiting a Waffle House at least once. This year was no exception and we've just returned to the hotel after feasting on "Triple hash browns scattered all the way."... I fear that I'm going to regret this tomorrow.

The parents prepared root beer floats at the hotel for the rest of the team. This was followed by the nightly meeting and lights out. Tomorrow we have practice at the tennis courts starting at 10:00, followed by down time at the hotel before going to the arena for finals.

Saturday's finals performance is at 6:17 Eastern. Remember that you can view this and all of tomorrow's other performances using the PPV web-cast at www.wgi.org.

Pictures are uploading and we need to be loaded by 9:15 for rehearsal tomorrow so, for now, its goodnight from Dayton.

PICTURES OF DAY #3 FROM BOB ANGERS ARE HERE, SHANE'S ARE HERE AND MINE ARE HERE.