Typical Day on the Road
April 2008
April 1
This morning while planting nasturtiums in the back yard, we uncovered an odd metallic object that appeared to be very old, so we took it to the archaeology department at the University, where it was identified as a piece of a silver spur that had once belonged to fabled prospector Oscar "Occa" Reno, who along with his wife Janet, founded the city in 1811. It was also very valuable, and we're going to be paid at least a couple of million for it. Yeah, right.
We began working in earnest on props for the photo shoot, setting up shop in the garage with the items we retrieved from storage. Dennis spent much of the day running around town in a frustrating effort to buy things we needed.
Tonight, no fooling, Zephyr and his grandpa cooked dinner for the entire gathering, with each making his specialty: "Aztec" veggie burgers and stuffed portabella mushrooms respectively. Zephyr also concocted a flaming baked Alaska type dessert from a recipe he found in a haunted attraction magazine.
April 2
Still in Reno, and still frantically putting together props and costumes for our photo shoot tomorrow. And in preparation for that, Kimberly had her mother chop off her hair, which had been growing unshorn for years. (The exact number of years is something we've been hotly debating.) The hair that was cut off will be donated to Locks of Love, an organization that provides wigs for disadvantaged children who have lost their own tresses due to medical problems.
This afternoon, we dropped Zephyr's friend Koree at the airport. As you know if you read our blog last month, she joined us in Las Vegas about a week ago, flying out from Phoenix, and rode up to Reno with us.
April 3
After another half day of preparation, we headed off to our photo shoot, which was held at a church in Reno. We ran a few minutes behind schedule because after we'd driven down the hill from Kimberly's parents' house, we realized we'd forgotten something, so we had to turn around.
When we arrived, the photographer we'd selected, Alexis Turner, was there and was setting up; and we noticed that she also was very pregnant, but fortunately she didn't go into labor during our session. It went, in fact, quite smoothly; and within 90 minutes we were loading our props back into the trailer. Along came her father on his motorcycle, to check on the rear door of her van, with which she'd had trouble when she left home. (In our day, it was the kids who rode motorcycles and the fathers who drove vans.)
Having the shoot behind us, we felt that we could relax a bit and do something fun tonight with our Japanese "relatives". So we took them to play laser tag, which they'd never done before. We played at the Sierra Resort, formerly the Reno Hilton, where we performed at an event several years ago. We played two matches, with Zephyr trouncing everyone in the first, but Dennis taking the rematch. Then we went upstairs to the bowling alley, where we had a re-rematch in a different sport. There was a tie for first place between the two southpaws, Yukari and Dennis. This was a real shock, because Yukari is quite consistent. And Dennis normally is consistent too -- consistently in the gutter.
April 4
We'd considered taking our Japanese guests skiing today, but for a number of reasons (for one thing, none of us had any gloves on hand or off hand), we decided to save it for their next visit. They were just as happy going shopping at American stores (K-Mart was a special request) and seeing American movies ("Horton Hears a Who" in this case) and Ayaka just had to go eat at a Burger King.
One reason it was difficult to work out the skiing expedition today was we had to take our RV to yet ANOTHER mechanic! This time, there was a noise under the hood which turned out to be the alternator turning delinquent. And my, how times have changed. The cost for replacing the alternator and the belt was $384. Fortunately, we already had a new alternator on hand that they were able to use -- we'd bought it for our previous vehicle a couple of years ago and saved it because this one has the same engine -- otherwise the cost would have been perhaps $200 more! We just counted ourselves lucky to be able to find a place that even would work on motorhomes at all.
Then it was scrambling around to buy some farewell gifts for Yukari and Ayaka, as well as the other members of the family who didn't come on this trip. Gift-giving is a major tradition in Japan, and though it's imperative to bring someone a gift when you visit them, our Japanese friends also give you gifts when you visit them. We also had to find a birthday present for Ayaka, who turns 15 in a few days. Tonight we had a little party for her, complete with cake, and it caught her totally by surprise and brought her to tears.
April 5
Yukari and Ayaka went home very early this morning -- we got up at 4:30 to see them off to the airport. Well at least two-thirds of us did; Zephyr couldn't be awakened at such an hour by the apocalypse, unless maybe entertainment was provided by Green Day. Then we went to our storage unit for half a day or so, before coming back home and getting ready for a much deserved evening out.
Kimberly didn't know where we were headed until we got there, but Dennis had arranged to surprise her by ordering tickets to a new ballroom dance extravaganza called "Floor Play", which just opened at the El Dorado. She is a dance fanatic, and whenever she is staying somewhere in the vicinity of a TV, she has to watch "Dancing with the Stars". We much enjoyed this revue of various ballroom dance genres including tango, cha cha, rumba and paso doble among others, presented by an international cast -- there was only one American couple in the lot. The dance numbers were imaginatively staged, and included not only pairs but groups in various permutations, and even some audience participation.
April 6
We spent this entire Sunday reorganizing our storage unit, not leaving until after 8:00 pm.
April 7
Kimberly organized props and did some sewing in the garage, while Dennis ran some errands, accompanied by her dad. Because her parents are Nevada residents, we were able to use a coupon they were sent to dump our ten bags or so of trash from storage for free at the local landfill. "Local" means a few miles out of town, near the community of Mustang -- so named because mustangs actually run wild hereabouts, and at least 25 of them were in evidence today. In fact, the entrance to the landfill is, strangely enough, graced by a rather impressive wire sculpture of a mustang, larger than life and very realistic.
Kimberly's dad also used his address to rent a Rug Doctor, which Dennis used to clean the carpet and upholstery in the RV. And after gassing up at the TA truck stop for $3.46 a gallon (typical price in these parts is about $3.65), we picked up our photos from the photographer. When we got them home and looked at them (they were on disc, as photos so often are these days), we found that they far exceeded our expectations. Ms. Turner has provided us with just about the best set of publicity shots we've obtained yet in our 20 years in business. And her rates were quite reasonable in comparison to some of the others in town that we contacted. Kimberly couldn't refrain from getting to work with these photos right away, inserting some into our web site.
April 8
We'd planned to head to the Bay Area about midday, but first one delay and then another, and we didn't get away until after 6:00 p.m. While Kimberly did more sewing and helped her parents solve some of their computer problems, Dennis returned the Rug Doctor, dropped off some of our rejected items at Goodwill and made one last run to storage. Then finally we said goodbye to Kimberly's parents and headed west just as darkness and snow started falling. We did take a bit of a detour to Wild Oats to pick up something for dinner because we were starving, but if we'd delayed much longer, we probably would have been required to buy some chains to get over Donner Pass. Not that driving conditions were hazardous, mind you -- it's just that the law requires chains when there is anything beyond a flurry, and there will be attendants stationed there to make certain you don't make it over the mountain without spending some moolah one way or another.
April 9
We pulled into the East Bay town of San Leandro about noon, and landed at Zocalo, a very California coffee house that also features original artwork, live music and classes in yoga and related disciplines. And oh yes, did we mention free wi-fi?
Immediately upon arrival, we bumped into our old friend Ron (well, he's not really that old) who lives a few blocks away. And later we were joined by Kimberly's old schoolmate (make that former schoolmate) Carol, who came in the evening to see our umpteenth appearance at the San Leandro Library. Also in attendance was our old -- our longtime friend Craig from Walnut Creek.
Tonight's performance was special because it marks the beginning of Zephyr's farewell with our troupe, his last series of shows in the Bay Area, where we originated. The librarian here, Penny Peck, was instrumental in helping us launch our business, because she used to host an annual performers' showcase for area librarians, and it really helped us build our reputation. But another reason why this library is special is that it was the site of Zephyr's first ever public performance. At the age of 2, he appeared here in a kids' talent showcase, performing a speech from one of the Thomas the Tank Engine books, which he dearly loved. And we couldn't let this occasion go by without surprising him and embarrassing him to death by playing a clip of that performance after our show tonight. (We finally managed to locate it in our storage unit just before we left Reno!)
After the show, we had to drive to Roseville, where we have three shows tomorrow, beginning with an 8:45 setup. So it was already going to be a long night, but it turned out to be even longer. As we were leaving the library, we heard a ka-thunk ka-thunk noise, and upon pulling over to investigate, we found that the inner right rear tire (there are double tires on the rear) was not only flat, but was bent into a "C" shape, as if it was trying to imitate a Klein bottle or something. We chalked it up to the excruciatingly bumpy section of Interstate 80 between Vacaville and Oakland, a road that now has taken the prize away from I-79 in Pittsburgh and I-5 south of Seattle for best simulation of an Indiana Jones ride.
We fully expected that we'd have to call roadside assistance and have our spare put on, delaying us for an hour at least. But instead we limped to a nearby gas station and aired it up. Much to our surprise, it not only inflated, but held air. We intend to have it checked out at the first opportunity, but we're mystified as to what caused it to go flat and contort into such a bizarre shape in the first place.
April 10
Up early, and off to Excelsior School in Roseville. We had two performances of "Quizzical Quests", and then a lunch break during which food was provided. And yes, they did remember that we're vegetarians. We ate in the library, alongside the teachers, just as if we were real folks. Then in the afternoon we had our final performance of "Shakespeare Shazam" and it went capitally, even though we hadn't done it in some time.
Well, the sick tire from last night seems to have healed itself miraculously, but in the process passed the affliction along to one of its neighbors -- the custodian pointed out to us that the outside left rear tire was looking low, so we went to another gas station and aired it up, but it seems to be leaking still, so we'll have to get it replaced as soon as our schedule will allow.
It didn't happen this afternoon, because we had to drive to an appointment that Zephyr took the liberty of setting up for himself. If you've actually been following this blog since the fall of 2006, you may recall that he volunteered to work at Callson Manor, a Halloween haunted attraction that was mounted at the fairgrounds in San Jose, and we ended up parking our rig there for about a month, which made us feel like we actually were putting down roots somewhere. Well, Z has maintained contact with the owners, and ran into one of them at the convention in Las Vegas; so he arranged today to meet with him for a consultation (he lives in this area) about some ideas he has for his own haunted attraction, which he's planning with a couple of friends in Salem.
After mom and dad dropped him off, we went to Home Depot to buy some desperately needed pvc joints to repair our set. Forgot to mention that when we were getting ready for our first performance this morning, the set collapsed and as a result virtually every joint on it broke. So we had to scramble to get it back up and secure it with duct tape, so it would hold up through three shows (which, we're thankful, it did). But before we did the shopping, we both took a lengthy nap, which seldom happens -- just shows how exhausted we were.
After we picked up Zephyr, we headed for the home of a teacher from the school, who'd invited us to spend the night parked in his driveway. We arrived to find a luxurious, spacious and imaginatively designed home featuring a portico with a fountain, trees, and classical sculpture. We were invited to take showers in a spare bathroom, and were delighted to see that in it was a Bathroom Guest Book, which we all signed. (There was a section where you could check off the purpose of your visit to the bathroom, including such choices as "shower", "brush teeth", "sulk" and "other".)
April 11
Up at about the same time as yesterday, because we had a similar schedule. Our first task, however, was figuring our how to get the garage door closed after unplugging our power cord, and then making an exit -- our hosts had already gone for the day.
Today's school was Maidu, which booked in conjunction with Excelsior. The grades were K-3, while yesterday's were grades 4-6, so today we just had two performances of folk tales, without the Shakespeare. Maidu school, incidentally, is next to the Maidu Interpretative Center, the former site of a Maidu (pronounced MY-doo) Indian village. And nearby is the Maidu branch of the Roseville Library, at which we performed several times during our early years.
Today's shows again went swimmingly, and again we were offered an excellent vegetarian lunch, and again the teachers were all quite interested in our business and our lifestyle, and again they were very well prepared, and were familiar with our web site. This is the kind of treatment you really could get used to.
After stopping to see Kimberly's brother Chris in Sacramento (we were going to drop off one of Zephyr's amplifiers, since it was broken, but his cousin Joey fixed it in very short order, so now we're blessed with two), we headed toward Modesto for tomorrow's gig. We stopped at the Flying J near Ripon to get propane and to dump our tanks; but we didn't accomplish the latter task because we were in line behind a woman who spent at least half an hour emptying her tank, and we can't imagine how she could have been carrying one so large -- or, if it was full, how she possibly could have pulled the trailer. Anyway, we decided to postpone that task for the return trip tomorrow.
April 12
A very hot day for this time of year, feeling more like summer than spring -- quite a contrast to the Reno chill we just left.
After spending some time online at a coffee shop, we went to perform at the Modesto Library, another venue we've appeared at numerous times over the years. For the first time, however, we loaded in through the front door instead of the loading dock in back, which always required taking an elevator and following a maze through the storage stacks to the auditorium. The new way was much more direct. On a previous occasion, the labyrinthine path caused us to leave behind a bag containing the base to our set, and we really had to improvise at our show the next day many miles away, until we could buy the hardware to make a replacement.
After our show, we headed back toward the Bay Area, after stopping at the Flying J to take care of the business we were unable to do yesterday. In Walnut Creek we visited our old friends Craig and Ann -- their son was the ring bearer at our wedding, and we knew them even before he was born. We went out to dinner at Sweet Tomatoes in Pleasant Hill, and Zephyr's friend Libby came out from Vallejo to hang out with him and bring him "home" later. You may recall that we adopted her for an entire month last fall.
April 13
After spending the night parked in front of Craig and Ann's house, we slept in and then joined them for a late breakfast in front of the TV tuned to CNN (perhaps the least offensive of the major "news" networks) and we all marveled over the latest non-issue being hammered into the ground: Barack Obama's harmless remark in Pennsylvania about "bitter" voters, which is being inflated into a fullblown "controversy". It's hard to decide which is more hilarious, the political circus or the media circus; but you know just how bizarre things have become when a self-made African-American man, the son of an immigrant, is being branded as "elitist". Next thing you know, they'll be interviewing Ann Coulter about global warming. No wait, they've already done that.
Anyway, with our Sunday entertainment behind us, we said our goodbyes and pressed on to Vacaville, where we found a Panera to do some online work. This Panera is near the Nut Tree theme park, of which we have fond memories. In our salad days, it was a fun place to bring kids (Zephyr spent his fourth birthday here) with kiddie rides, a bakery, a Halloween pumpkin patch and rocking horses that were almost life-size. The place also had a nice little restaurant and its own airport. Then it closed in 1996 after 7 decades of being a roadside landmark. For the following 10 years, we'd be saddened when we passed by and saw the property overgrown with weeds. But now, the attraction has reopened, and from what we can tell (we didn't really have time to tour it today) it might be bigger and better than ever.
In the evening we held our first rehearsal for our new show in the parking lot (our prime rehearsal venue, by default) and just when we reached the point in one story about starting a fire, we looked over and saw -- a fire, coming from a dumpster behind Borders bookstore. We ran over and saw that workers were courageously battling it with an assortment of fire extinguishers borrowed from neighboring businesses. Dennis ran back to the RV and grabbed our own two extinguishers, ready to contribute them to the effort if needed, but the fire department arrived shortly thereafter.
April 14
First order of business was to head to Les Schwab to have our tires peeked at. They initially told us that they would replace the outside left tire that kept going flat and repair the right inside tire that was contorted into such an odd shape. But then they told us that the latter couldn't be repaired and would have to be replaced as well. And then after further analysis they decided that the other two rear tires also had to go, leaving us buying four new tires at a cost of $768. The God of Mechanical Difficulty seems determined to gulp down all our money one way or another. We are impressed, however, with the quality of service at Les Schwab, and we particularly were amazed to see the workers literally run back and forth. We haven't witnessed this kind of hustle since we shopped at a department store in Japan.
After doing laundry (at a laundromat where the owner didn't want us plugging in our laptops), we headed to the Dixon Library for a rare event these days -- a debut performance at a particular location. Actually we were not in the library, but in the Veterans' Hall across the street. In the audience were Libby and her mother and sister plus a friend. Afterward we went to dinner together at Chipotle.
April 15
We celebrated Tax Day with two more Bay Area library performances. This afternoon it was a return to Pacifica, and this evening to Millbrae.
Today we inaugurated our new practice of streaming shows live on the Internet whenever possible. We'd been planning for some time to launch this endeavor at Pacifica today, since we knew that this library has wi-fi. But upon arrival, the situation was complicated by the fact that, unlike all our previous engagements here, this performance was staged not in the library itself but in the church next door. And we ended up having to pay $6.95 for a one-day pass on the municipal wireless network. That, and several other technological factors contributed to a glitchy debut for our streaming shows. But tonight it went much more smoothly.
Among the audience in Millbrae were our "old" friends Rodney and Ellen and their daughter Mary, who is almost exactly the same age as Zephyr. In fact, Kimberly and Ellen were in Lamaze together (and Dennis had been in a couple of shows with Rodney before that), and Mary attended Zephyr's first birthday party, way back when we still had a home in San Francisco. The last time we saw them she was about 8, and now she's about to graduate from high school.
April 16
After spending the night at the home of Rodney, Ellen and Mary, we headed out for three more San Mateo County Library gigs: Belmont, Woodside and San Carlos. All of these shows were streamed on the Internet.
It's gratifying to get so much repeat business in Northern California for National Library week, especially since many of these librarians hadn't seen us in years, and yet they still have fond memories of us -- even the ones that had only hosted us once before. It was particularly thrilling to receive such a gracious introduction at Millbrae, because the only time we performed there, Zephyr was either a baby or not even born yet, and we'd hired two additional performers to round out a cast of four. That's how much water has flowed under the Golden Gate!
Lately we're getting some of that chilly, foggy West Bay weather that Dennis and Zephyr love and Kimberly cringes at.
April 17
Today we picked up another "daughter" at the San Jose airport that we're adopting for a week. Unlike our other daughters, this one is already accustomed to living on the road, as hers is also an RV family. (We recently visited them in Albuquerque.)
We had no performances today, but tonight we did have a workshop on storytelling for a group of clowns in Sunnyvale. It was conducted in a meeting room in an inn, and was great fun. In the midst of it, a cat walked into the room, providing an opportunity for some ad libs.
April 18
An evening performance at the Half Moon Bay Library, after the library was officially closed. Despite this, we had a standing room only crowd, thanks in part no doubt to the article that appeared about us in the local paper. It always helps to have media coverage BEFORE the show -- all too often, the newspapers just show up at the performance itself and report about it afterward, which doesn't help the public learn about it in time to attend.
Tonight, for the first time, (but we fear not the last) we paid more than 4 dollars per gallon per gas -- the price for regular was $4.09 at the nearest station. And does anyone wonder why we've had to raise our rates?
April 19
Back to Sacramento, and before our show we dropped in on Kimberly's brother again. He used a high end carpet cleaner that he's been marketing on our carpet, and even though we just had it steam cleaned, he was able to remove an incredible amount of dirt. We were quite impressed.
Today we performed at Rancho Cordova Library for the bazillionth time. But Mr. Tim, one of our favorite librarians in the whole world, was alas not there -- he's transferred to another branch. We missed him, and we'll always have fond memories of the first time we met him, when we just happened to be at this library on the day of a big Harry Potter event, and he rushed out to greet us in the parking lot because he saw our trailer and had heard a lot about us, and he ended up hiring Zephyr on the spot to portray Harry that day.
Then it was back to the Bay Area, where we dropped Zephyr and Sarah off at a homeschooler sleepover in Castro Valley. Two of our other past "adopted daughters" were also there: Libby, who lives in the Bay Area, and Koree, who just flew in again from Arizona.
Mom and Dad rented the movies "Into the Wild" and "In the Valley of Elah" and watched them.
April 20
Still in Castro Valley, which is familiar territory to both D and K from many, many years ago. We needed to get some online work done today, but were concerned about finding a place to do so, especially on a Sunday. But we stumbled upon a coffee shop that is in a "new" shopping center (meaning it wasn't here 30 years ago) that had a high tolerance for lingering laptoppers.
Zephyr and Sarah returned later in the afternoon, but then they decided to go to a concert in Walnut Creek and sleep over again at the home here. So D & K again had an evening of peace and quiet, and this time watched "Juno".
April 21
Got the kids back and then headed to San Leandro, where we visited our old friends Ron and Sue Ellen. She's an award-winning director in the Bay Area, and currently is busy rehearsing "Urinetown", but she made time to see us. While we were there, we all got online and tried to track down another actor we all used to work with and love, a fellow by the name of Jim Askren. But we ended up hitting a dead end. (Anybody out there know where Jim is? Tell him to call us, would you?)
Then it was off to Vallejo, where we spent the night parked at the home of Libby and her parents and sister.
April 22
Spent the day with Libby and her folks. Dennis took a bike ride through Vallejo, and happened to pass by a boxing gym, which he didn't know was there. As he's been writing a story about a boxer, he was curious to peek inside, and the manager (who was somewhat like the Clint Eastwood character in "Million Dollar Baby") was happy to show him around. The ring is an old one brought in from Los Angeles, and once hosted fights by Muhammed Ali and George Foreman. The manager told about a local kid who started boxing when he was 7 (and is now 13) and was the subject of an acclaimed documentary.
Tonight Libby's mother, who is an avid beadmaker, taught Kimberly and Dennis the basics of making glass beads, and we each made two. They turned out quite interesting, though not nearly as ornate or beautiful as some of the ones she's produced.
April 23
It was 20 years ago today that we (Dennis and Kimberly) met at an audition in San Francisco. We both got the job, and the rest is hysteria. The director of the company was our friend Sue Ellen, whom we visited a couple of days ago, and we always like to remind her that she's ultimately responsible for all this.
Today we performed at the Fairfield Library, another place we've been to many times. Libby and her mom and sis came to the show, even though they've seen it before. And they witnessed the onstage collapse of our stool, an incident that we incorporated into the action so well that they thought it was planned. Very gratifying.
Also in the audience was one of Kimberly's Twitter buddies.
Twitter is a social networking/microblogging site that let's you "tweet" from anywhere in 140 characters or less. Check it out - we are "activated" if you want to follow us.
April 24
Performed at the Lodi Library, yet another of our perennial venues. Another of Kimberly's Twitter buddies was in the audience, and afterward we went out to tea with her. She and her husband are RVers as well, and they also ride motorcycles. Later they both rode their bikes over to the Flying J to say howdy again as we were going through the lengthy process of taking showers in the RV, dumping the tanks and refilling. We had to go through the entire cycle twice, since there are currently four of us instead of just three.
April 25
Pulled up to the San Jose airport this morning to drop Sarah off. Her plane was supposed to leave at noon, but once we got there we spent a great deal of time searching for her phone which had suddenly turned up missing, and the security guards were of course giving us a hard time about being stopped there for so long. And in the midst of it all, we suddenly discovered that in fact her plane was scheduled to leave from Oakland rather than San Jose, so we made a mad dash to get over there in time. En route, Sarah informed us that while inside the San Jose terminal, she'd had her flight switched to 4:30, so there was no need to rush after all.
Arriving in Oakland, we concentrated our efforts on locating the missing phone. She'd left it on vibrate, so we at first were not able to hear it when we dialed the number on our own phone. Finally, however, we did hear it buzzing and managed to narrow down its whereabouts as being somewhere under our couch. But a thorough search failed to turn it up -- until we realized that by some quirk of physics, it had ended up on top of our water tank, in a thin space under the couch. With some difficulty we retrieved it and then put Sarah on the plane in plenty of time.
Zephyr jumped on BART to go visit friends in Vallejo, and Mom and Dad decided to watch the Steve Martin movie "Bowfinger".
April 26
A very interesting day, one of the rare occasions when we all were able to go our separate ways. Zephyr, who stayed the night in Vallejo, caught BART into San Francisco and then explored Chinatown in quest of accessories for his haunted attraction and costumed character ventures. Kimberly caught BART to meet up with her old high school friend Tania (who was celebrating a birthday) and then went on to visit two other high school friends, Carol and Patty. Dennis drove the RV to the scheduled rendezvous point near the Daly City BART station, and then decided on the spur of the moment to catch a train into The City himself and wander around for the first time in ages. He got off at Powell Street, where a group of activists were warning people about the dangers of Scientology, then walked up Market Street where he succumbed to the temptation to play a game of chess against one of four hustlers who were playing challengers for 5 bucks. (He lost, but it was a good game.) Then he caught a bus out to the beach and strolled by the ocean and up to our old neighborhood on 42nd Avenue (yes, we lived in a "stick house" once upon a time) and caught the N Judah streetcar (which we used to ride regularly) back downtown along with a horde of baseball fans headed to a Giants game.
Zephyr's friend Libby came home with him to spend the night (you may recall that we adopted her for a whole month last fall) and Kimberly was dropped off by Patty, who also brought along her teenage son and daughter to meet Zephyr. It was quite a mirthful gathering on the sidewalk, and we were almost surprised the neghbors didn't call police to complain about the noise.
April 27
Return engagement at the San Francisco Jewish Community Center, joined by Libby. Also Tania came, and brought a friend who was of Korean extraction (and she apparently revealed to Tania that "Goza" means something less than complimentary in Korean).
We then drove Libby home to Vallejo, taking the northern route across the Golden Gate Bridge for the first time in ages. She really is a grand old landmark. Afer visiting Libby's folks for well into the evening (during which time both Kimberly and Zephyr took advantage of Libby's status as an aspiring masseuse), we said our goodbyes and headed to nearby Fairfield for the night, so we can check for mail again first thing in the morning.
April 28
Hip-hip hooray, our mail was there. And both Dennis and Kimberly received a summons to report for jury duty in Los Angeles. (Dennis was scheduled to report TODAY!!) This was the sixth and seventh time that one of us has been summoned, even though we keep telling them that our address in Burbank is only a mailing address, and we are in Los Angeles county only a few HOURS per year, and there is no way we ever could serve on a jury. (We didn't go to L.A. last year at all, and probably won't this year either.) The interesting thing is that we are NOT allowed to use this address to register for voting.
With our mission accomplished in Fairfield, we started driving north for our next booking. We made it all the way to Eugene tonight. This is the first time we've been there without visiting one of Kimberly's grandmothers, who both passed away last year.
April 29
Stopped in Boccherini's Coffee Shop in Albany, OR. to get online. Then onward to Hood River, which is near tomorrow's shows. Dennis made Kimberly very envious by going into Old Navy and buying some very colorful socks on sale which she greatly covets.
April 30
Returned to the little town of Odell, just outside Hood River, for a return engagement at a school where we appeared in the fall of 2006. We had hoped to stick around here and maybe get in some bicycle riding -- it's incredibly gorgeous country, with the Columbia River, the forests and the mountains decked with an occasional waterfall. But we had to get back into the Portland area to take care of some office business.
