The
journey
to
Dallas,
Texas
June
15th
began
one
of
the
most
amazing
and
exciting
adventures
I've
experienced
in
my
life: The
Adventures
in
Odyssey
Live
show.
The
air
travel
alone
would
have
been
exciting
enough,
but
getting
to
meet
and
shake
the
hands
of
these
voices
that
I've
grown
up
listening
to
was
simply
awesome.
I'll
skip
past
the
most
of
my
trip
to
the
airport
and
what-not,
since
that's
not
really
the
most
interesting
part.
My
favorite
part
starts
right
after
I
landed,
so
that's
where
I'll
begin:
When
I
arrived
in
Dallas,
for
some
reason
I
was
expecting
a
quaint
little
old
west'y
type
of
town
with
a
few
horses
and
some
cowboys
and
stuff.
I
couldn't
have
been
more
wrong.
When
we
landed,
I
was
astounded
to
find
myself
surrounded
by
hundreds
of
skyscrapers
and
stadiums,
knitted
together
by
this
maze
they
call
"the
highway".
Never
before
have
I
been
caught
in
such
a
tangled
mess
of
roads
so
obviously
inspired
by
Italian
pasta.
It
was
a
proverbial
"spaghetti
junction",
as
my
good
friend
Eugene
would
say.
After
getting
hopelessly
lost
for
a
couple
lifetimes,
we
finally
arrived
at
the
first
event
of
the
day
at
Mardel's
bookstore
about
two
hours
late.
I
don't
think
we
missed
too
much,
since
I
still
got
a
chance
to
talk
to
Will
Ryan,
and
harass
the
Mr.
Whittaker
puppet
a
bit
(who
actually
turned
out
to
be
Bob Smithouser
from
the
Official
Podcast).
After
having
a
great
time
meeting
and
catching
up
with
some
friends
from
Focus
on
the
Family,
we
decided
to
go
get
some
rest
before
the
big
show
the
next
day.
The
next
morning
around
9 AM
(June
16th),
we
all
began
to
slowly
drift
back
into
the
real
world
and
out
of
the
state
of
unconsciousness.
The
day
was
christened
with
the
nostalgic
listening
to
a
couple
Odyssey
episodes
and
a
few
old
Ceiling
Fan
Podcast
bloopers
that
hadn't
ever
been
shared
before.
We
had
a
lot
of
fun
with
that,
too
much
perhaps,
because
we
almost
ended
up
being
late
for
the
show.
The
Show
Must
Go
On!
June
16th,
2012―the AIO
live
show
(This
article
DOES
contain
spoilers,
so
be
warned!)
When
Kevin
McCreary,
his
sister,
and
I
pulled
into
the
parking
lot
around
twenty
minutes
before
the
show
began,
we
were
surprised
to
see
how
incredibly
vast
the
venue
was.
Irving
Bible
Church
was
practically
the
size
of a
football
field
crossed
with
a
couple
concert
halls.
We
were
even
more
excited
to
see
almost
all
3,000
of
the
seats
(in
both
shows)
in
the
auditorium
packed
with
enthusiastic
fans.
The
show
began
with
the
two
hosts
we've
all
come
to
know
and
love
from
the
Official
Adventures
in
Odyssey
podcast
(Bob Smithouser
and
Jesse Florea)
introducing
the
show.
Considering
that
the
whole
thing
was
a
"Birthday
Bash"
for
Odyssey's
25th
birthday,
they
decided
to
kick
off
the
event
with
a
birthday
cake and
a
larger-than-life
birthday
card
signed
by
hundreds
of
fans.
Soon
after
the
devouring
of
said
cake
(which
I
didn't
get
to
partake
in,
unfortunately)
Chuck Bolte
took
the
stage
and
systematically
introduced
the
actors
in
order
of
relevance
to
the
show.
When
all
nine
actors
had
arrived
on
stage
and
director
Nathan Hoobler
gave
the
signal,
the
lights
went
down
to
begin
one
of
the
most
entertaining
stage
events
I've
been
to
in a
long
time.
The
first
scene
began
by
flaunting,
very
early
on,
the
impressive
skill
of
the
production
team,
with
Dave
Arnold
and
his
son,
Landon, masterfully
operating
the
miniaturized
stage
edition
of
"the foley
room".
It
was
incredible
getting
to
see
so
much
of
what
goes
into
making
an
episode
of
Odyssey
all
in
real
time.
The
story
seemed
normal
enough
in
the
beginning;
however,
as
the
show
went
on,
the
script
started
to
get
more
and
more,
well...
strange.
I
was
a
little
confused
at
first,
wondering
how
they
could
get
away
with
letting
a
villain
from
the
"Captain
Absolutely"
comics
escape
from
Kids
Radio
and
begin
attacking
all
sources
of
art
throughout
history
via
the
Imagination
Station.
It
seemed
a
little
far-fetched
for
Odyssey.
As
the
show
approached
the
ending
of
the
live
show
script,
I
didn't
really
care
how
"out
there"
the
story
was
because
it
gave
the
cast
and
crew
so
many
opportunities
to
show
off just
what
the
team
was
capable
of
doing.
In a
breathtaking
(and
even
more
ridiculously
silly)
finale
sequence
where
the
entire
town
was
blown
to
smithereens
by
an
atomic
bomb,
I
was
finally
and
hilariously
reassured
that
Adventures
in
Odyssey
was
still
the
same
show
I'd
come
to
know
and
love
when
the
line
came
out
of
Jess
Harnell's
(Wooton's)
mouth:
"So,
anyway,
Mr.
Whittaker,
that
was
my
dream".
Incredibly
cliché,
but
it
had
everyone
in
the
entire
audience
rolling
on
the
floor.
The
show
was
filled
to
the
brim
with
stunning
audio
and
visual
effects
and
hilarious
dialogue.
I
don't
think
I've
ever
laughed
so
much
at
an
Adventures
in
Odyssey
episode
in
my
life
(I
also
never
knew
Dave
Arnold
could
tap
dance!).
Everything
about
the
show
was
as
good
as I
could
have
imagined
it
to
be,
and
judging
by
what
I
saw
of
the
footage
from
the
live
show
of
2008,
a
million
times
more
fantastical.
The
venue,
the
acting,
the
writing,
the
production―everything
about
the
show―was
top
notch
and
really
showed
the
world
how
talented
the
team
behind
the
show
is...
and
just
how
much
fun
the
actors
have
in
the
studio.
My
only
negative
comment
(and
I'm
not
even
really
sure
it
should
be
considered
"negative")
is
that
the
show
overall
was
quite
a
bit
more
silly
and
over-the-top
than
you'd
normally
expect
in
an
Adventures
in
Odyssey
episode.
But
really,
I'm
glad
it
was.
It
gave
the
cast
and
crew
so
much
more
of
an
opportunity
to
have
fun
with
the
episode
and
keep
the
crowd
involved.
I
guess
if I
were
"rating"
Adventures
in
Odyssey's
25th
Birthday
Bash
live
show,
I'd
give
it a
9.9/10.
(I
would
have
rated
it
10/10,
but
I
had
to
take
a
point
off
for
the
one
line
in
which
Will
Ryan
goofed.
That's
right,
Mr.
Ryan.
You
can't
just
get
away
with
stuff
like
that.
;)
After
the
Show
In
the
hours
between
and
after
shows,
I
was
very
surprised
and
excited
to
see
how
many
fans
of
The
Ceiling
Fan
and
The
Odyssey ScoopCast
came
up
to
both
Kevin
McCreary
and
me
wanting
our
autographs
and
photos
taken
with
us.
It
was
such
an
honor
to
be
there
with
all
these
famous
actors
and
experiencing
recognition
from
fans
of
the
show.
I've
never
really
had
people
recognize
me
from
something
I've
done
on
the
internet
before,
so I
was
super
excited
to
have
people
knowing
who
I
was.
I
got
plenty
of
chances
to
interview
lots
of
fans,
and
even
some
of
the
crew
about
the
show.
It
was
such
a
blast
meeting
so
many
people
all
at
once
who
are
interested
in
the
same
things
I
am.
I
also
met
quite
a
few
creative
people
who
also
do
stuff
on
the
internet.
I
ran
into
some
really
cool
guys
from
YouTube
under
the
username
Blimeycow
who
produce a
show
called
"Messy
Mondays".
You
may
have
seen
their
video
about
homeschoolers.
