Memories from the Homestead: Pioneer treasures—Tommy Nallie [Part 4]

    Adventures galore! That's the best way I can put it. Working alongside Dusty Rogers and his family was an extremely rewarding experience for Tommy and I.  The audiences showed great appreciation during our performances, a total of 180 performances in our first year together.

Onboard the Roy Rogers float at the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, California, on January 2, 2012. (Photo courtesy of RFD-TV)

In late 2010 going into 2011 we started taking the Roy Rogers Jr. and the High Riders performances out on the road for occasional dates. There were several that were an absolute hoot. I took a lot of notes, kept a journal, and produced a fan club publication just to keep these career highlights straight.

On December 10, 2010, we left for a trip to the Chattanooga area for a week-long engagement of five shows. This was six days before Luanna and I were married! We took two vehicles to haul seven of us, plus instruments, outfits, personal necessities you name it. Dusty and Dustin treated us all to lunch at the original Lambert's in Sikeston, Missouri. Tommy Nallie had never experienced anything like this and was absolutely taken by surprise when he discovered his favorite liver and onions on the menu. An unexpected winter storm in the Nashville area delayed us the farther east and south we went, so we arrived in Chattanooga the day of our first performance. 

Dusty had to find a car wash upon arriving, as the Hummer was filthy on the outside from the snow and ice. Inside the car wash, if you can picture this—me in the back seat, Tommy in the front passenger seat—the corner of the sunroof collapsed during the rinse process and a decent amount of water soaked Tommy pretty good!  

We rushed back to Branson after our nearly one week together of performances. Luanna and I married December 18, 2010, with a Cowboy Christmas theme. Tommy and Gary LeMaster performed with me, and Dustin Rogers officiated our ceremony! What an event!

On July 30, 2011, we were scheduled to perform in Stewartville, Minnesota. Our transportation had improved; we were now traveling in a motorcoach together. We left Branson around 8:30 a.m. the morning of July 29 and were just south of Kansas City around lunch time. We stopped for lunch along Highway 7 at Kurzweil's Country Meats in Garden City. We got our sandwiches, ate, and got back on the road in about a half-hour. At approximately 12:21 p.m., Tommy says to all of us, "Hey, I can't find my phone!" Soon Tommy is in shock, we look all over the inside of the bus for it as we're driving and it's nowhere to be found.

Reaching into my shirt pocket, I pulled out my receipt from lunch at Kurzweil's. We are now north of Kansas City. I called them up and asked if they had seen a phone. I asked them to check the parking lot, the bathroom, and they found nothing. I gave them my number, and we continued north, arriving that evening in Stewartville at the Ironwood Springs Ranch. Our performance the next day was great, and we started for home the next morning July 31.

For this trip I was Tommy's personal phone provider, letting him use my phone for all of his incoming and outgoing calls. It was hilarious but frustrating too. Coming home and while passing miles of cornfields in Iowa, I get a call just before noon, Sunday, July 31, and it's the folks at Kurzweil's. They found Tommy's phone!  

Apparently when he was paying for his lunch that day, when he reached for his billfold, he bumped his phone and it fell to the floor. It slid way back under the counter and since it was carpet, he didn't hear it hit the floor. Coming back through Garden City, we stopped by Kurzweil's and he picked up his phone.  

Tommy would lose his phone quite frequently I would soon learn, and it was always a humorous deal. The best part, my name and number typed on a business card was taped to the back of his phone from that time forward in case it was ever found again.  

The trip to the Tournament of Roses Parade in late December 2011 into January 2012 was a most memorable nine-day trip with Tommy. He and I were driven in the RFD-TV motorcoach from Branson to Pasadena, California. A hard two-day drive, we made it to Gallup, New Mexico, the first night. The next day, December 28, 2011, we'd arrive in Pasadena that evening. 

Passing through Kingman, Arizona, on I-40, we were suddenly pulled over by an Arizona Highway Patrol officer. Not sure what was up, the officer came onboard the bus and simply wanted to know if any famous celebrities were onboard. Just Tommy Nallie and John Fullerton, famous Western singers! We laughed about that for days!

To give you an idea of the Rose Parade experience, it starts very early. We were up at 4 a.m. arriving at the Roy Rogers parade float on Orange Grove before 6, and greeted fans for over an hour. We were on board the float by 8:30 a.m., and twenty minutes later our six-mile journey began. We were the last float. We sang "Happy Trails" repeatedly, a stretched out five-minute version nearly 90 times before we were done. By nearly 1.p.m. we were all done. Sore and hoarse, we were ready to go home. Two days later, January 4, we were back in Branson after nine days out!

During this time Tommy would return to the Sons of the Pioneers permanently and near the end of 2012 he couldn't perform in both groups. We all understood the situation and supported him one hundred percent. I would continue with Dusty for his final Branson performances in 2013 and road dates in 2014. He would then retire. Or maybe not?

My solo performances at several Branson resorts continued into the spring of 2014, and I then began a four-year run of performances at Grandma Ruth's Cinnamon Rolls shop.  

Tommy and I remained close, speaking to one another frequently. Often, he needed access to previous Pioneers recording sessions when the guys wanted to work up a song they hadn't touched for a while. Well, I had dumped my entire library of Sons of the Pioneers material to CD, making it quite simple to make work CDs anytime Tommy asked. I did this often for several years. I also spent quite a bit of time organizing the group's various radio transcription libraries, preserving hours of radio broadcasts onto CD, giving Tommy full access to everything.

On the morning of January 15, 2018, a phone call came from Tommy that changed everything. Next week I'll conclude this with part five and share with you some of the most cherished times that Tommy and I would ever experience together. 

Happy trails!