I've been a fan since Conga, following Gloria's music through the years not extremely, but liking her. I remember bawling when it came on the news about the accident, bawling even harder during the AMA awards.

But I didn't become extreme until I won 2 tickets to Mellon Arena (then Civic Arena) for the Evolution Tour concert on August 30, 1996. My ex-husband and I went. It was my first ever concert at the ripe old age of 24. We arrived pretty early and walked around the arena and got to see Gloria's tour bus sitting there, which I thought was cool. We had pretty crappy seats, sitting up in section C straight in front of the stage. While waiting for the show to start, Danny looked at me and said hey, look at the ball, you can see her feet, lol. Then the lights dimmed and magic arrived, lol. We laughed, I cried, it was totally AMAZING! One of the best experiences of my life.

From that time till 04, I bought most of the stuff that I now have, all the albums, VHS's, DVD's and lots of other odds and ends, lol.

Then when Gloria announced that Live & ReWrapped would be her last tour, I knew I had to go, but alas, she wasn't coming back to Pittsburgh. I decided to get tickets to DC, so that's what I did. My marriage was already in the rocky state, but at that point, my thoughts were on seeing Gloria and hopefully maybe meeting her.

Here's how the story of that day goes:

I woke up at 5AM, got showered and got ready to leave (without him I might add, he wasn't going to DC just for a stupid concert). That irked me (putting it mildly), so I drove the 5 hours to DC by myself. Parked my car in an underground parking garage and found the MCI Center, which was only up the block. I met up with Melissa, who I met through CongaOnline (Yahoo) to be exact, lol. She brought her niece and we had fun doing a late lunch and just hanging out, then we spotted Fred (yes Boggs), made our introductions and hung out some more. We watched the tour buses arrive and Fred introduced us to Ray Beard. Nice guy, which almost everyone here knows, lol. Finally came to when they were going to open the doors. We went in, found our seats, and the show was AWESOME! (Snuck my camera in and those have been posted on Conga since then).

So after the show we stuck around to see if Gloria would stop and sign for the small crowd that was standing about. Alot of the band members came out, I got to chat with Clay and get my pic taken with him. He's such a nice guy. So down to earth. Cheito and I think it was Pedro, but I'm not sure, went across the street and came back carrying glasses with beer in them, lol. And I thought it was the brass section that were the 'whinos', lol. Anyhow, they all went back into the buses and we waited around for Gloria. We waited as an ambulance came out (still don't know what happened there, assume a crew member got hurt or was sick or something), followed by Gloria in the black SUV, she waved in the window and followed the ambulance. The buses came out and we waved to the band. Donna was in there blowing kisses to everyone, it was a hoot!

So the crowd dispersed and I was going to say goodbye to Fred and his friend, but he said they should walk me back to my car, then I could drive them to theirs. I said sure thing, since I was alone and it's safer in groups and it was around midnight. So we walked the block and finally found the garage my car was in. Went in and guess what. My car was locked in. I drove to the gate with Fred and his friend in the car and wasn't using very many nice words. I'm sorry I can't remember her name, but she offered me to stay at her place till the morning, but I said thanks, but I have to get out of this city and get home. Told them they didn't know my husband very well, and I had to get out of there.

Anyhow, my cell didn't work and Fred gave me his to call the number on the sign. I did and told the guy that answered the phone in not many nice words that I wanted out of that parking garage. He said he'd be there within a half hour. We waited and he finally came and let me out, and told me next time to watch what the closing hours were to the garage, I told him again in not so nice words that I wouldn't be back to this city, lol. And away we drove.

I got Fred and his friend back to their car, said our goodbyes and this strange guy came over and asked for a ride to somewhere. I was like, uh no, I don't think so, we have to get going. So then I started home. By then it was probably 1 or 1:30AM and I had a 5 hour drive. I drove the rest of the night through, almost falling asleep a few times and finally got home around 6:30 AM. I was beat, since I was up for 25 1/2 hours straight by that time. I called my husband at work and told him I was home and he not so nicely told me to get my stuff, leave my keys and get the BLANK out. Apparently he thought I was cheating on him, little did he know. I didn't leave, thought we were working things out, but then I had had enough and left him the following August. Control freak, I need say no more.

Anyhow, these are my Gloria adventures so far, lol. I have to say DC gave me a taste of freedom and I loved every minute of it. I did get freaked in the parking garage, but nevertheless, it was an awesome ride that 25 hours.

I've got a plane ticket to NYC here in a couple of weeks and plan to add more to my Gloria adventures soon!

Click here to read Shawna's adventures at Starbucks!