Typical Day on the Road

December 2003

<- November 03 - December 03 - January 04->

Dec 1

Dennis had a recording session for his new song at Studio V in Jonesboro, AR. The session lasted 6 hours, and that was just to lay down the guitar and bass tracks. But he's really hoping to get another song played on "Dr. Demento". Zephyr went with him to observe and get his assignments done. Kimberly ran off to Kinko's to get online.

Dec 2

Second day of Dennis's recording session. Today he cut the vocal track and the background accompaniment. Zephyr again sat in. Kimberly went to town to get some copies and work at Kinko's.

Dec 3

Jonesboro, Ark. Picked up Kimberly's sewing machine from a repair shop that was straight out of 1950. The proprietor has been in business for 50 years and nothing has changed - including the cash register and the ever-so-friendly service (wish we could be as enthusiastic about the price).

Said good-bye to our library books and librarian friends at Craighead County Library and headed on to Missouri.

Dec 4

Made it to St. Louis before the van started acting up. We pulled off to the shoulder thinking it was the heater motor. But when we popped the hood Dennis saw that the belt that was just replaced less than a month ago in Michigan was about to break. We eased it off the highway and called the tow truck. An hour later the truck came, but the driver said he couldn't tow our trailer with his truck, or any of the trucks his company owned. So we called Allstate roadside service again, and they sent another truck which they said would be there in other hour. But 15 minutes later they called back and said that the company they had contacted didn't have a truck in the area at the moment, so they arranged for a THIRD company to send a truck. This time, it actually got there and towed us.

Got to the mechanic's about 8:00 pm and discovered that the Shnucks supermarket next door had a free Internet cafe. Couldn't believe our luck!

Dec 5

The Goza family spent the morning happily surfing the net while waiting for the van to be doctored up.

Made it to our show in St. Charles on time - our last one in 2003. It was another performance booked at the convention we attended in Anaheim back in April. This was the first time our story about how the ice cream cone allegedly was invented at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis, has been performed in the St. Louis area.

We'll be taking the rest of the year to take care of the business end of show business.

Dec 6

Business day at our Kinko's "office" in Creve Coeur, a suburb of St. Louis.

In the evening we hit the books - Zephyr found a group of college kids to discuss politics and current affairs with.

Dec 7

Business at our Kinko's "office" in Creve Coeur, a suburb of St. Louis. (again)

Dec 8

Errand running day - fun stuff like laundry and grocery shopping in the St. Louis area. Also went to the Science Museum, one of our favorites. Saw a film about Lewis and Clark (It's the bicentennial of the start of their expedition, which set out from St. Louis.) It was an impressive spectacle on a huge wraparound screen. And it made us more appreciative than ever of Sacagawea, the Native American girl who, despite being a teenager with a baby in tow, was the backbone of the expedition.

In the evening we went to a Borders Bookstore, and Dennis dropped in on a "Philosophers' Cafe", a roundtable discussion that was moderated by a professional philosopher---we didn't even realize there was such a thing. D intended just to listen in, but soon was drawn into the discussion and offering his two dollars' worth. He'd had discussions before with a couple of philosophers at once, but never with nine! (For once, it was hard to get him to shut up for the rest of the night.)

Dec. 9

Zephyr went to a scout meeting. (Zephyr is a Lone Scout - a scout without a troop.) He had a great time playing games with troop 374 and learning about how to avoid hypothermia.

Dec 10

Had to take the van back to the same shop where we had it a few days ago, because it started making noise again. Turns out the belt tensioner that they installed was faulty, so they had to replace it. Thus, we had plenty of time to be on computers again at Schnuck's.

Took up residence in Creve Coeur (Borders and Kinkos). Zephyr went to the movies to see "Haunted Mansion", which he raved about.

Dec 11

Visited Forest Park, home of the 1904 World's Fair, birthplace of the ice cream cone. Virtually nothing remains of the Fair except the Art Museum, but some of the other structures are even older. In the Visitors' Center we chatted with an employee in the cafe, who was quite knowledgeable. She informed us that it took 5 years to give the park its makeover for the Fair---and THIRTEEN years to return it to its former state! Also toured some interesting exhibits at the History Museum, including some relics of Lewis and Clark, an exhibit on Girl Scouts, an exhibit on the African-American struggle for equality, and a display of memorabilia from "Sportsmans' Park". When Dennis was a child, the latter was known as Busch Stadium, and he attended some baseball games there between the St. Louis Cardinals and the San Francisco Giants. Some actual seats from the stadium were on display--- perhaps one of the seats he sat in, who knows?

Dec 12

Took the van in yet again with the same problem. But even though it made plenty of noise for us, once we arrived at the shop it wouldn't cooperate and duplicate the feat for the mechanics.

On to the Arch downtown. We didn't ascend to the top of it this time--been there, done that-- but we toured the museum downstairs commemorating the Louisiana Purchase.

We dropped by troop 374 Christmas Tree lot to see if Zephyr could lend a hand-- he had signed up to work tomorrow and the next day. But we soon discovered that nobody else was on hand to sell trees. And so we all began helping customers who had been waiting up to an hour for help. (A couple of others had taken trees, left their name and phone number and left.) We did what we could to help and managed to sell about 10 trees in the 20 minutes before the other scouts arrived (they had been told their shift started at 5:00.) Zephyr continued working until about 7:30, and really enjoyed it.

Dec 13

Zephyr spent the afternoon helping troop 374 sell Christmas trees. He had even more fun this time, because several inches of snow had fallen, and he and the other boys were able to have snowball fights when business was slow.

Dec 14

Zephyr volunteered again at the Christmas Tree lot. He also got the grand tour of the house troop 374 uses for their annual Haunted House. And he's currently obsessed with haunted houses, so he was on cloud thirteen.

Dec 15

Returned to the St. Louis Science Center - to explore the planetarium. Enjoyed lying on the floor to watch the night sky and listen to the guide talk about the stars.

In the evening Z met up with another Scout troop for a meeting. He worked on his First Aid Merit Badge with a Counselor and helped teach First Aid to the new scouts.

Dec 16

Said good-bye to St. Louis and headed west. Stopped along the way in Cuba and got the trailer axle serviced (standard maintenance). Found our living room (Borders) waiting for us in Springfield. Unlike the bustling stores we'd found in the St. Louis area, this one was nearly deserted.

Dec 17

Got to work in our office (Kinkos) in Springfield.

Dec 18

Went swimming at the local YMCA, did some more office work and drove to Harrison, Ark.

Dec 19

Arrived at Dennis's sister's house in Arkansas.

Dec 20

Returned to Jonesboro to work on Dennis's new song and do some last minute Christmas shopping. Love those crowds! (not)

Dec 21

Spending some "down time" with Dennis's parents in Arkansas.

Dec 22

Ditto yesterday

Dec 23

Began making a Gingerbread House at grandma's.

Dec 24

Waiting for Santa in Northeastern Arkansas. It's amazing he manages to find us every year even though we are never in the same place twice!

Dec 25

Spent Christmas with Dennis's Family up at his brother's house. Though it felt more like summer weather than winter.

Dec 26

Dennis took the van back in to be looked at. It is still making funny sounds. Kimberly and Zephyr spent the day with Grandma and Grandpa in Arkansas.

Dec 27

Dennis is trying to get the trailer painted (a never ending job).

Dec. 28

Hit the road again. Spent the night in Searcy, Ar., where we watched the movie "Paycheck". (Kimberly thought it was mediocre, Dennis thought it slightly above average, and Zephyr loved it.)

Dec. 29

Arrived in Little Rock, spent most of the day at Kinko's. In the evening we went out to dinner at Olive Garden with Dennis's cousin Tina, whom he had not seen since she visited him in San Francisco about 15 years ago--this was the first time she'd ever seen Zephyr.

Dec. 30

Stayed another day in Little Rock. Back to Kinko's, then went swimming at the YMCA, then spent the evening at Barnes & Noble.

Dec. 31

Drove to Hot Springs, Ar., and found that almost everything was closed up for the holiday(s). Even the Books-A-Million store closed up at 6:00 p.m. So we went to the movies--Kimberly and Dennis saw "Mona Lisa Smile", which they loved, and Zephyr saw "Haunted Mansion" (again!) which he still loved. Then we went bowling (Kimberly won both games) and watched the countdown from Times Square on the TV. Another strange year comes to a close.

<- November 03 - December 03 - January 04->