The beginning of the best day of my life… :o) There are probably far too many details here but you know what happens when I start writing…

I said I was not going to go to Boise to see the boys since it is an almost 7 hour drive, the arena is smaller (as far as people it will hold) than the SunDome and I had heard the acoustics in the arena were really bad. Fate intervened and I got 3rd row tickets so I figured it was meant to be. From where I stand now, OK…technically I am sitting but you know what I mean, it was definitely COSMICKISMET that brought me to Boise! :o)

I left my house at 5:00 a.m. on Thursday morning. McDonalds doesn't even open until 6:00 so I planned on getting breakfast in the next county since it is about an hour away. I wound up getting there before 6:00 but the people opened early just for me! :o) Sausage Biscuit in hand I consulted my map and headed back down the road. The drive to Boise is the absolute most desolate drive I have ever made. There is NOTHING but brown land and mountains for the entire drive. Luckily I had my CDs to keep me awake. I did discover however that my car CD player will not play home burned CDs after a couple of hours. It was weird but I had others so I didn't suffer too badly! I got to Nampa about 11:30 my time, 12:30 their time. Cathy and Dana had a longer drive so I just hung out in the motel parking lot until they got there about 45 minutes later. They showered while I paced and tried to watch TV but my mind was not in that room!

Cathy had done some calling around and then I had supplemented it with some info I had so we knew the guys were staying at the Grove Hotel. That was probably culture shock to them because it is only a 3 star hotel! :o) We rounded a corner and wound up in this cul de sac near the hotel. I looked up and saw this black bus and screamed Yes, I do mean screamed "THAT IS NICK'S BUS!" I thought Cathy was going to drive right over the median for a minute! A friend in PA had told me, that Nick got on to the black bus when he was there earlier this year. It was parked in front of Pizza Hut so it seemed logical to us! He must have been riding with Howard for some reason the day my friend saw him though because we later found out the black bus belongs to the object of my obsession…err…devotion! The fact this bus was already at the venue on Monday explains why Howard zipped through the hotel parking lot and never got out of the van in Vancouver. It was about 3:00 by this time. I knew from Vancouver that the guys would be leaving the hotel between 4:00 and 4:30 so we walked around the hotel, went to Blimpies and got water. Just hung out. I knew the bus behind Howard's belonged to Alex since I had seen it 2 days before. The loading of golf clubs into the bus later confirmed that fact! We knew where Alex and we THOUGHT Nick would be coming out at this point. 2 boys down, 3 to go. I didn't realize there were so many dancer buses! I think there were 4 dancer/band buses. That was confusing. We had to look at the license plates and detailing on the sides of the buses to figure out which ones were Brian, Kevin and we THOUGHT Howard's buses. I am still not sure which bus was Brian's and which one was Kevin's. One of the buses had a big blue "K" beside the license plate. I thought that was the bus Brian's stuff was loaded onto in Vancouver but according to some girls who were on the other side of the building, said Kevin got on that bus.

After a few laps around the building, we decided to split up. Cathy & Dana had walkie talkies so Cathy staked out a place on the side of the building while Dana and I hung out at the front. It was cool! We saw several of the bodyguards milling around- Marcus has lost so much weight I didn't even recognize him! Howard's bodyguard and Brian's were directing luggage placement. We never saw Carlos though. He and Marcus are the 2 I am the most familiar with. We saw Tony & Richmond (the dancers who are brothers) and a couple of the female dancers. Sisqo's dancers were walking around. We didn't see any boys though. In all total there were less than 15 people waiting for the boys. That is a far cry from Vancouver. No one asked us to move. There was no screaming or shrieking going on. In general, no one seemed to care we were even there. IT WAS GREAT! :o) One of the mothers came over to us and asked if we had seen anyone. She had overheard Marcus telling one of the porters to put Howard's luggage into the black bus. Dana and I looked at each other, thanked her and headed back to the other side of the hotel. Her daughters wanted to meet Nick and Brian so she stayed where we had been. Cathy switched places with Dana and I at this point.

It was almost 4:00 by now. We had been standing there about 20 minutes when the side door opened and Marcus came out of the building. I said "Look Dana! There is Sarah!" Dana goes "OMG! There is Alex!" The scene was SO INCREDIBLY QUIET. They walked out of the building, got on the bus and shut the door before anyone realized what had just happened! LOL! He is so tiny that he just kind of slipped on by unnoticed! The mother from the other side of the building and her daughters had come back over. We waited for a few minutes, very quietly, hoping Alex would come back out. Finally, the mom went over to the door, caught Sarah's attention and Sarah sent Alex out! I like Sarah! :o) I think he was planning on coming out anyway; he just wanted to smoke a cigarette first! He came out of the bus, said something like "How are you ladies doing today?" and then proceeded to sign autographs. I had brought a favorite photo card of each of the guys plus a group one JUST IN CASE we ran into them! I gave Dana the group one since all she had was paper. I think I was the first person to ask to have my picture taken with him. Others were taking pictures of Alex but none of them got into the frame with him until after I did. Dana couldn't figure out how to work my camera so she zoomed instead of taking a picture but Alex was VERY patient and just stood there with his arm around me while she figured it out. HE SMELLED SO GOOD!!! After I was finished I thanked him and wished him a good show. He signed another autograph and then it was Dana's turn. We stepped away after she was done and watched him. He was so relaxed and really seemed to enjoy what he was doing. Sarah sat behind the driver and watched everything. I had heard she was intrusive and liked to be right beside Alex but the people who told me that must have been jealous because that definitely wasn't the case here. She just sat there and smiled. After he was finished signing autographs for everyone, Alex got back on the bus, the doors closed and the bus pulled away. He must have gone to the back of the bus because we didn't see him again. Sarah waved to us as the bus pulled away though. As the bus was pulling away Dana goes "We forgot to call my mom!" Sorry Cathy! We called her and she came over and joined us. Some of the other girls drifted back over to the other side of the building but you KNOW I wasn't moving since the remaining bus belonged to Howard! :o) I sent 3 friends a text message saying we had just met Alex. That set off a barrage of messages that lasted for the next like 7 hours! I know Dana and Cathy had to be sick of hearing my phone go off but I had a blast! :o)

Right after Alex's bus pulled away, one of the hotel guys moved the cones from around Howard's bus and his driver backed it up to where Alex's had been. We knew it wouldn't be long before Howard came out! I asked Cathy how my hair looked and she replied, "You don't want to know!" LOL! It was really windy so I knew she wasn't teasing! She attempted to help me fix it but we both knew it was a lost cause. I know I was shaking at this point. I couldn't believe that at any minute, Howard would be coming out a door less than 20 feet from me! The mother and her daughters drifted back over along with the remaining people from the other side of the building. They said Nick had pretty much snuck on to his bus and only signed 2 autographs. Brian and Leighanne came out, got on their bus and didn't come back off. That doesn't surprise me because Brian always seems to be the most reluctant to greet fans in the reports I read. The mother went on to say Kevin came out flanked by Carlos, rushed on to his bus and would not come off either. That surprised me. Kevin seems to love the fans as much as Alex does. You see tons of pictures of him from the hotels. While I was processing this info, the mother went on to say that Carlos had told them Kevin was sorry but he would not be able to sign autographs that day. He had gotten death threats in Portland and he didn't want to take any chances. I was fully shocked! I have given the comments a lot of thought since then and I am sorry but something doesn't add up. We later found out the guys, the crew, even Sisqo and Krystal had spent the previous day celebrating Kevin's birthday by playing softball at a local park. If there were fears for Kevin's life, then wouldn't being in an open place like a softball field be a greater risk then being right outside his bus? I think part of the story is missing here. Anyway, it was about 4:45 by now and Howard was evidently running late… :o) The door opened, his bodyguard stepped out said "Let Howie get on the bus and then he will come back out and sign autographs." Howard followed him out, pulling his suitcase behind him. IT WAS ADORABLE!!! He gave the suitcase to the guy loading the bus, stepped onto the bottom step of the bus, grabbed a pen and walked back off the bus. I was the closest to him so he turned to me first! :o) I wish I had been back further because I completely forgot what I wanted to say to him and I didn't touch him! YOU KNOW ME! I DIDN'T HUG HIM! If I had been back further I might have remembered. I remained amazingly calm. Y'all would have been proud of me! As he was signing his picture for me, I asked if I could have my picture taken with him. He said "Sure!" and tried to figure out who was going to be taking this picture! I stood beside him, he smiled, I floated and before I knew it, my encounter was over! Well…this encounter… :o) Like Alex, Howard was very calm and seemed to enjoy what he was doing. There was no screaming. Everyone filed through and no one mobbed him. It was a very nice meeting and no Dana-I am not being facetious when I say "nice"! We stepped to the side of the building where I called my sister on my cell. She says I screamed but I honestly don't remember screaming! About 5 minutes later I got a message from one of the people I had text messaged earlier saying "OMG! Piper said you met your man! I am so excited for you!" Word travels fast!!

I called my friend Jennifer on the way back to the car. Dana & Cathy were cracking up at me because I was trying to get Jennifer to GUESS who we had met! Then as I was describing Howard getting onto to his bus, turning around and coming back off, I turned in a circle just like he did!!! We laughed about that for a few minutes!

On to the most incredible concert of my life!

© 1999-2002 Kendra