In High School, I became a Journey fan. I remember building Illusions on the weekends and listening over and over to the songs “Faithfully,” “Don’t Stop Believing,” and my favorite “Who’s Crying Now.” Growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area, I had the privilege of seeing Journey perform live twice while I was in High School.
In 1983, the Journey music video to “Faithfully” premiered on MTV. It showed the band touring in their brand new 1982 Eagle Model 10 Tour Bus.
As a young magician, I would watch that video over and over again dreaming of someday touring the country in a bus just like the one Journey had.
After High School, I struggled to work as a professional Magician.
Sometimes at inception our dreams are tested, and sometimes they come before we are ready. In my case, I wasn’t ready for the test, I got discouraged and decided to go to college.
In 1987 I met and married Susan, the woman of my dreams, and graduated from Montana State University in 1990. With an Amazing woman at my side, I was ready to pursue my dream. It was a magical time. Five years later (after years of hard work), I was touring the country with my family in a 1982 Eagle Model 10 tour bus, just like Journey, and just like my dream 12 years earlier.
The bus, who’s name was “Rainmaker,” was an amazing blessing to our business and our family for 18 years.
Then, in August 2013 after many faithful years, Rainmaker just wore out. She left us stranded on a canyon highway outside of Missoula Mt.
It was a frustrating day, but I couldn’t really be mad at her. She had endured 3 million miles! As my son Peter reminded me, 3 million miles was equivalent to traveling to the moon and back 6 times!
As I stood out on the highway that hot August day waiting for a tow truck with my family, my crew, dog Bobby and 2 tigers, I thought about 1983 and the Journey video Faithfully, It made me smile, God had been faithful in allowing me to fulfill a childhood dream.
I thought about fixing her, so many great memories. However I finally realized Rainmaker was worn out. It was time to let her go.
A week later, I happen to watch the recent Journey documentary on Netflix called “Don’t Stop Believing” It showed the band touring in their new Prevost Mirage XL2 tour bus. I was amazed! I hadn’t realized how much the technology and comfort level had increased in the modern tour bus. I now had a new dream!
In September we went back on the road without a bus, and we spent the next 3 months traveling in Suburbans, It was a tough transition, and a lot of all night drives. It was also a little confusing, this was supposed to the beginning of a new season for us, and it seemed like it was going to be almost impossible to fulfill our tour commitments without a bus.
Again God was faithful, In December, through a unique set of circumstances, we were able to buy the perfect bus for our family and crew. In fact it was Journey’s bus, the exact same one I had seen in the documentary a few months earlier.
Every time I hear a Journey song, it makes me smile! They helped inspire me 30 years ago to dream. And now every time I have the privilege to get on our new bus and go back on tour, I think about Journey, the memories they made on the bus before us, and how important it is for all of us to look past our circumstances, trust God, keep moving forward and……”Don’t Stop Believing!”.
