West Broward Color Guard member
I recently had the opportunity to attend a Marching Band and Color Guard competition in South Florida. It was a first for me and let me just say... wow! I think I got hypnotized. Rod Serling once said that "when people possess talent, others are possessed by it." The West Broward marching Band and Color Guard had me in a trance for sure.
I wasn't sure what to expect, as this was my first time attending one of these competitions. So, I took my Jayco Melbourne RV just in case; I loaded up the refrigerator, stocked the cabinets with snacks (plenty of Oreos) and made sure the bathroom had toilet paper. I started up the generator and it hummed like a kitten. Kittens do hum right? I just love being able to take my RV to the most innocuous of places; mostly because I'm a huge fan of clean bathrooms, air conditioning (Miami is hot) and TV! In an over abundance of "OCDness", I loaded up the coach and hit the road.
When people see my RV, they always ask me "where do you go in that thing?" And I'm like "I go get Chinese food, or I go to the Mall. I take it grocery shopping or I take it to baseball games." They never expect me to say any of that. I mean, I have taken it from Miami to Houston but realistically, I use it like a weekend leisure vehicle. Granted it gets like 12 miles a gallon, but it has a toilet!
It was a beautiful night at Boca Raton High School
When the coach got to about 74 degrees inside, I fired up the engine, plugged the address of Boca Raton High School in the GPS and hit the road! I got there in about an hour, paid the three bucks to park and naturally, my RV was just a tad too big for the parking spots in the lot. No problem (I thought) as I saw a sign for "truck parking" and drove towards the entrance. There were lots of large vehicles and buses but out of nowhere, a little man jumped out and asked what school I was with. He reminded me of the little man at the gate to Oz who wouldn't let Dorothy in to see the Wizard. Long story short, he turned me around which, by the way, isn't easy in a big RV in a small parking lot! Thankfully though, no flying monkeys. I realized that what I had just witnessed could be the end of a particularly terrifying nightmare. It isn't -- it's the beginning. I was about to enter a strange new world, too incredible to be real, too real to be a dream. It's called the Marching Band and Color Guard Twilight Zone!
They had food trucks a plenty; funnel cakes, shaved ice, and barbecued food for many.
What a setup, reminded me of being on the block with Jenny.
The marching band was succinct and on point with their jam, there was one particular color guard that made me break out my cam. When I saw West Broward line up on the field, I was like "damn!"
They had a huge pinwheel that the color guard started spinning.
It hypnotized my eyes; I realized that West Broward would be winning!
West Broward High School Color Guard
When their band started playing, it was louder than any other school had been all night. It was clear from the very first note, that they were playing the Twilight Zone! They threw their white wooden rifles high into the air; they were so good it wasn't even fair. Their flags spun with precision, like the hypnotic wheel that turned; not a flag was dropped by West Broward High School. With each rifle flipped and flag that was caught, the crowd cheered with an exuberance that could not have been bought. The marching band dissected the field with anatomical precision, marching like they had been practicing their routine for years and perfection was their mission. I was spoiled by West Broward at my first Marching Band and Color Guard Competition.