Wednesday morning my alarm woke me at 4:00 am. It was time to begin the adventure that would go on for five long days! It was a two hour drive to the city, then through airport security and customs. Four hours later I was in Chicago renting a car. Three hours drive later we were in Danville. But there would be no rest yet...

As soon as darkness fell we were setting up the projectors and tracing the design onto the wall. The next morning after getting a healthy dose of sunscreen we began painting the wall for real. The temperature was in the nineties, the humidity as high as our spirits. First we blocked in the colors. Waiting for the paint to dry wasn’t an issue. Then we began laying down the line work to bring the mural to life. Mural number 116 (for me) was well underway with a few of my good friends lending a helping hand. By suppertime on Friday we were done. The rest of the weekend was to be spent helping my friends complete their murals. By Sunday afternoon all 15 murals were done and it was time to go back home at last. We had painted, told tall stories and had a lot of fun together. It is hard to believe so much could be packed into so few days.

It will take a few days to get back to speed here in my shop. Until then I’ll sit here with a goofy grin on my face - remembering...

-grampa dan