Typical Day on the Road
February 2004
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Feb. 1
Another day at the resort. (Orlando, Fl.)
Feb. 2
Still at the resort, of course. In the evening, Zephyr went to the clubhouse to attend a screening of the movie "Bruce Almighty", but nobody could find a key to the projector, so it was rescheduled for tomorrow night.
Feb. 3
Learned from Zephyr's friend Tim in Chicago that Kimberly's computer is not toast after all-- there was merely a short because of a loose connection in the USB port, which he quickly remedied with some hot glue. So he's shipping the computer back to us. A kid figured this out, and a repair shop couldn't???
Zephyr again tried to see the movie in the clubhouse, but again it was a no go.
Feb. 4
Another dull day in paradise.
Feb. 5
Received the computer back by express mail. Now we each have a laptop, as we've always wanted. But the timing for buying a new one was certainly not very good!
Feb. 6
Checked out of the resort, and went back downtown to pick up our mail. This time, it was there!
In the evening, we went back to the Winter Park YMCA, and Zephyr attended a screening of the movie "Radio", but was unable to finish because somebody pulled the fire alarm and a fire truck came, and everyone evacuated the building, and they closed early.
Feb. 7
Returned to the YMCA for a workout. This time we were not interrupted by false alarms.
Feb. 8
Tried to do our laundry, but we only were able to locate one laundromat nearby, and it was extremely busy all day.
Feb. 9
Dennis made his last trip to the dentist (for a long time, we hope) and had the new crown installed to replace the temporary crown they gave him on his first visit.
Feb. 10
Spent the day at Disney MGM. This was our one day of splurging on one of the major Orlando attractions-- it was Zephyr's choice to select this of all the Disney parks. One reason was to meet up with his friend Isaac, who works in the animation department. We met him last year, and he and Zephyr have been exchanging emails occasionally. Like many of the other people at the studio, he's rather sad because the Disney bigwigs from Burbank suddenly closed down their animation division in Orlando, even though it's been quite successful. We sat in on several sessions of an animation class, in which animators (including Isaac) taught the public how to draw popular Disney characters. (We're still arguing about which of us drew the best rendition of Stitch.)
One new attraction at this park is the set of the movie "Haunted Mansion", which we toured, since Zephyr is quite fond of the film.
Naturally, we watched the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular, and rode Rock 'N' Rollercoaster and the Tower Of Terror several times. We'd heard that the latter had been revised, but we didn't notice any real differences. We finished the day by watching "Fantasmic" again.
Feb. 11
Left Orlando en route to the little town of Lecanto, just north of Tampa.
Feb. 12
Three performances at Lecanto Primary School--two during the day just for students and teachers, and one in the evening for students and parents. We had a great deal of down time in the afternoon, so we brought in computers, our printer and other assorted equipment (including the CD player and a new album of Brahms music that Dennis just bought) and set up office backstage.
Feb. 13
Friday, no less. But nothing uneventful happened-- we just spent the day driving toward Illinois We had to dig out our winter coats again, after running around in T-shirts for a month. We expect to lose about 50 degrees in the next couple of days.
Feb. 14
Took a driving tour of the Civil War battlefield in Chattanooga, then on to Nashville, where we spent the better part of the afternoon in Kinko's.
Feb. 15
Arrived in Illinois. Visited Metropolis, which has laid claim to being the "Home of Superman". There's a 15-foot statue of the guy in blue tights in the middle of town (a new statue replacing the one that was here when we performed here 11 years ago) and a mural nearby depicts the four best-known actors who've portrayed him: Kirk Alyn (from the old serials), George Reeves (from the Fifties TV series), Christopher Reeve (from the movies) and Dean Cain (from the TV series "Lois and Clark".)
Spent the night in Mattoon, a few miles from the site of our show tomorrow. No Kinko's or major bookstore, so we went to see the movie "Butterfly Effect", which we enjoyed although it was rather disturbing.
Feb. 16
Performed at a school in the little town of Lerna, and of course we were obliged to work in an awful pun about "lerna lot". On to Belleville, just outside St. Louis. There was a Borders Bookstore nearby, and a Kinko's right next to it, so we took advantage of both.
Feb. 17
Checked into the Ramada Inn in O'Fallon, where our room is being paid for by the venue where we're performing tomorrow. A very pleasant facility with an indoor pool, an exercise room, and a microwave and refrigerator in our room. (This is definitely NOT Reno Econo Lodge.) Zephyr watched the Tim Burton version of "Sleepy Hollow", which he has on DVD.
Feb. 18
Performed in the theatre at Southwest Illinois College. A good turnout, and a very receptive audience. Had to drive until 1:00 a.m. to make it to Poplar Bluff, Mo. for tomorrow's shows.
Feb. 19
Two performances at the Poplar Bluff Library-- one in the morning and one in the evening. So again we had an afternoon to catch up on some office work. The local newspaper ran a pretty good story on us Sunday, and we obtained a copy of it. Some students from a local college course in children's literature made up a significant portion of both audiences. Also quite a few homeschoolers. Another long drive after the performances back to the St. Louis area.
Feb. 20
Three performances at a school in Edwardsville, Il. Then we started our long trek west. Stopped in St. Louis to do some shopping at Whole Foods Market. Also met up briefly with a leader of the Scout troop that Zephyr sold Christmas trees for. He brought a hikers' water bottle that was left behind, although Zephyr already bought another one long ago.
Feb. 21
A long day of driving-- from Missouri to Oklahoma City. But there was a layover of about an hour in Joplin, Mo., where we washed and vacuumed the van. What an exciting afternoon!
Feb. 22
Left OKC and drove through the plains of the Texas Panhandle. Passed through Britten, which still professes to have the "largest cross in the Western Hemisphere", although other states have erected crosses along the freeway to give it some holy competition. Britten also is home to the famous leaning water tower, and if there's some symbolic significance to this combination, we haven't figured it out yet.
You spot them both, along with two other vertical anomalies, on the horizon as you approach from miles away. One is the mammoth sign of a long-defunct garage, looking itself like some sort of cross with three crossbars-- with a replica of the water tower perched on top. The other is the solitary smokestack of some factory/ plant that apparently is also just a dim memory. Due to the curvature of the road, these four looming landmarks initially appear in a different order from what you'll see them later. Then as you draw nearer, they shift positions like the pieces on a chessboard. It seems like a sight that merits its own poem, but we haven't figured that out yet, either.
On through Vega, Texas, a speed trap you should be cautious about. If you're cited by a state trooper in the vicinity, the only way to contest it is to appear in court in Vega-- after posting a $200 bond! Quite a profitable little racket, no doubt. (Similar rackets seem to exist in Medford, Oregon and Fairfield, Connecticut. Let the traveler beware!)
Into New Mexico. Stopped for gas at Cline's Corners, a Native American trading post in the middle of the desert that is, understandably, a magnet for good samaritanism. On one occasion a driver gave me a lift to the station after we'd run out of gas on a backroad a few miles away. On another, we contributed our fire extinguisher when we saw a motor home ablaze.
Spent the night just outside Albuquerque.
Feb. 23
A day for errands in Albuquerque. Oil change long overdue, so we had that done. Also had the transmission fluid changed, which we'd been wanting to do ever since we bought the van. And we had to have these services performed in two different locations! Then we bought groceries at Wild Oats, the first one we'd seen in some time. (Wild Oats is essentially a West Coast franchise. We've only found two of them East of Santa Fe-- one in the Boston area and one in Little Rock, of all places.) Had a workout at the YMCA--we'd been mostly sitting in the van the past couple of days. A brief stop at Kinko's, then on toward Farmington, NM where we were scheduled to perform tomorrow morning. Just as we left, we received a call from someone in Farmington saying that they're having snow up there, so tomorrow's schedule is in doubt. But we continued on our way just in case.
When we got to Grants, the snow began to fall, so we decided to spend the night there, and called Farmington to reschedule the show for the afternoon.
Feb. 24
Finished driving to Farmington. Picked up our mail, and did our show at Swinburne School, where we've performed before. But this will be the last time, because the school is closing.
Visited the new library in Farmington (we performed at the old one last year) and were given the grand tour by the librarian. What a fabulous building! We've never seen a library quite like it.
Continued driving, hoping to stop at Four Corners and have another photo taken with a limb in each of the four states. But we arrived shortly after closing time. On into Utah, where we spent the night in Blanding-- site of our very first Utah performance a couple of years ago.
Feb. 25
Long drive through Utah to Salt Lake City. Wanted to go work out at a YMCA after spending so much time in the van, but discovered that apparently there is not a single one in the whole city!!! Dropped in at Borders downtown, and noted how different (mostly in the sense of being more upscale) downtown Salt Lake is from other downtowns. Also quite relieved that there are strict laws that prohibit smoking indoors. The unique character of the area also was apparent in a newspaper story we read about the proposed amendment to ban gay marriage. Several members of the state legislature were quoted in debating the measure, and most of them just discussed their religious convictions and didn't really mention the Constitution or legal precedent at all.
We drove on up into the hills to Park City, site of tomorrow's shows, to spend the night. Noticed about two feet of snow on the ground.
Feb. 26
Up pretty early and saw that snow had started falling again. Were delighted to see a Wild Oats Market, and since we had plenty of time we had coffee, tea and breakfast in the cafe section. It's just across the street from Olympic Park, site of the 2002 Olympics.
Did three performances at a nearby school and had a great group of kids who performed with us in all three shows. The snow was falling heavily by mid-afternoon, so we eagerly drove back down to Salt Lake, where we spent a few hours at Kinko's.
Feb. 27
Passed through the Bonneville salt flats and the city of Wendover, where Kimberly once spent several days filming the Area 51 scenes in "Independence Day", back in our Tinseltown days. She never imagined that it would become one of the top 10 blockbusters of all time. "Independence Day" is one of a number of Hollywood films that have shot scenes around Wendover.
On through Nevada (back on Pacific time finally, and it feels strange) and encountered snow-- on the ground, in the air or both-- throughout most of the state. (To think that we were in Florida just a few days ago!) Gas was about 2 dollars per gallon everywhere.
Arrived in Reno in the evening.
Feb. 28
Visited Kimberly's parents, who live in Nevada. We watched an old video that featured our wedding (first time Zephyr had seen it) and some footage of Zephyr as a baby in our San Francisco cottage. How time has flown!
Feb. 29
Spent the day with Kimberly's parents, and watched the Academy Awards in the evening. Disappointed and disgusted by how "Lord Of The Rings" swept everything. We were happy for Tim Robbins and Sean Penn, two very deserving artists-- but we would have preferred to see the award go to Johnny Depp, who is always brilliant-- and we loved him in "Pirates Of The Caribbean".
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