Typical Day on the Road
February 2007
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Feb. 1
Our neighbors astonished again this morning by bringing over fresh waffles. After visiting with them a while, we headed farther north, to the town of Laurel, and a repeat engagement at the public library in the evening.
And then we started a long drive (about 600 miles) to Orlando, where we have an appointment on Saturday. Dennis was again doing the driving, so Kimberly could again play a tune on her sewing machine, in preparation for the upcoming opening of our costume-heavy production "Shakespeare Shazam".
We stopped for the night near Mobile.
Feb. 2
A looooong day of driving (performed entirely by Dennis, as Kimberly continued to dance with her sewing machine), as we headed toward Orlando, making only a few pit stops along the way to take care of business. One of these was the post office in Ponce de Leon, from which we mailed an overnight package of a DVD to a producer back in L.A. who is interested in the possibility of using us in a TV show.
Another stop was at a Publix supermarket to acquire some groceries, including something for a very late dinner. We'll be out of Trader Joe's territory for a couple of months, and we're already going through TJ withdrawal.
Finally, close to midnight, we made it into the Sunshine State - which was pelted by tornadoes only a few days ago, killing several people just north of Orlando.
Feb. 3
Finished driving to Orlando just in time to prepare for a job interview at Disney. Yep, that's right: the appointment we've been rushing here for is to be seasonal performers alongside Mickey and Minnie & Company. This interview, which Zephyr arranged with the help of a Disney employee of our acquaintance, was originally scheduled for yesterday, but we would have broken our necks trying to get here in time - just barely made it as it was.
We entered the Casting Center and filled out applications, then watched an orientation film. And then it was time for our interview, which went quite well. Unfortunately, we were informed that seasonal employees must commit a minimum of 8 weeks; and we are not going to be available that long, not this time around. But we'll be back in December, and this time we'll arrange to have more time.
Feb. 4
A day of frequenting some familiar haunts.
First, we spent a big chunk of the day doing computer work at the Panera in Altamonte Springs, a familiar neighborhood for us over the past few years. (Has it really been a year since we were last here?)
Then we headed to Winter Park, for a workout at one of our favorite YMCAs (the other favorite one being in Southgate, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit). First, we had a Shakespeare rehearsal in the parking lot, complete with swordplay.
Afterward, we bought burritos at Tijuana Flats, then did some shopping at the Wild Oats, then spent some evening hours reading at Barnes & Noble. With all these repeat locations, it was almost like living in one spot.
Feb. 5
Picked up mail at the post office in Kissimmee (Note: the accent is on the second syllable), after going first to the wrong post office, and then snaking our way through some very heavy traffic. On through some more very heavy traffic on our way to the outskirts of Tampa, near the site of our next show. We checked into a campground for a couple of nights to focus on getting our Shakespeare production ready.
Feb. 6
A full day at the campground. Kimberly put in a complete shift, with overtime and no monetary compensation, sewing costumes for the new show. Zephyr spent most of the day in bed, having been up and throwing up during the night. Dennis spent most of the day doing laundry; not only had we accumulated quite a stash, but it all got soaked when our gray water tank overflowed into the bathtub, where we keep the dirty laundry crammed.
Feb. 7
Drove into Tampa to pick up our clearance badges to use at our shows tomorrow. Performing in the state of Florida has become a bureaucratic nightmare; the Jessica Lunsford Act requires anyone who does business on school campuses to submit to a fingerprint and background check, which doesn't sound like such a bad idea. But we've found its implementation to be a model of chaos. Each school district conducts the background checks independently, although there is a central data base that they can all access. But they don't do it automatically; you have to apply separately at each district you deal with.
We received a phone call abut a month ago saying that our badges for this county were ready, and asking if they should be mailed to us. We told them that we'd pick them up the day before our shows (i.e. today) as we were afraid the mail would not catch up with us in time. But we went into the office today and lo and behold, the badges were glaringly absent. We had several people look in several locations, but they were still unable to find them. We were asked whom we had spoken to on the phone, and we said Dan; we were then informed that Dan had not worked there in at least a couple of weeks. Furthermore, the person currently filling his position had gone for the day, and we should come back at 7:30 tomorrow morning. Trouble is, we'll need to be setting up at the school at about that time.
So we called the school and explained the situation, and then a representative from the school called the office right away, while we were still there, and put the pressure on them to get something done. So after an hour or so of getting the runaround, and having everyone in the office run around hither and yon (in all fairness, they'd just had new software installed, and were having an unusually busy day on top of it, and were all doing their best to stay cool and cordial) and even calling Dan at his new job, and still failing to find the badges, it was resolved that they'd just make new ones. This only took a few minutes, and we don't know why it wasn't suggested to begin with.
Anyway, we would have bet the title to our RV that the original badges were, in fact, in the mail at that very moment.
Feb. 8
A long day at Folsom Elementary in Thonotasassa, near Tampa. Began with three performances, back to back to back. Then we had lunch in the media center, catered by our contact at the school (Thanks, Susan.) followed by each of us teaching two workshops. And before we packed up and left, Kimberly carted in the old sewing machine to do some nips and tucks on the set.
We were all quite exhausted (especially Dennis, who's still recovering from the flu, or pneumonia, or spring fever, or whatever it was), but we had to do some shopping for props, fabric for costumes, and groceries. Our new production opens one week from today.
On the way to do our errands, we passed the Tampa sports complex, including the football stadium and a baseball stadium across from it. Folks around here are still quite proud of the fact that the Buccaneers won the Super Bowl in 2003. They also seem to be proud of the New York Yankees baseball team, whom they've rather adopted as their own, since that franchise conducts its spring training here.
Feb. 9
After spending part of the morning online at Panera in Tampa, we drove to an RV park to burrow in for a 5-day "hell week" in preparation for the opening of our new show.
Feb. 10
Spent the day at the campground sewing, making props and rehearsing. We did the latter in the clubhouse, trying not to be distracted by an uninvited audience of a few girls who kept whispering and giggling and traipsing back and forth to the water fountain behind us.
Feb. 11
Another day at the campground. Today's rehearsal was just costume changes - and there are some challenging ones in this show. Since we didn't want to lug all the costumes to the clubhouse - especially considering the attention we would attract - we just did it inside the RV. Hey, it was a bit cramped, but no more so than our usual backstage area. Dennis, who'd been recovering pretty well from his illness, was feeling rather weak today, and unable to do much.
Feb. 12
Lincoln's birthday, though nobody pays much attention anymore. We're still holed up at the campground, where we rehearsed the first half of the show with costumes. We worked outside this time, although the rain kept threatening.
Feb. 13
Rehearsed the second half of the show with costumes, although our rehearsal was delayed for several hours by a downpour.
Feb. 14
After having our complete outdoor dress rehearsal for the new show, we departed the campground and started heading south for its premiere, about 150 miles away. Dennis was driving, giving Kimberly the opportunity to do some last-minute sewing. And she ended up having even more time than expected; not only did we have some heavy traffic to contend with, but her chauffeur took the wrong freeway near Tampa and ended up heading several miles north before being able to turn around. But we still made it to our destination at a decent hour.
Feb. 15
Premiered "Shakespeare Shazam" at Alva Middle School in Alva, FL. (A return engagement for us at this school.) It went quite well, even better than we'd hoped. The students were wowed by the swordplay and other such physical feats. Afterward, we drove up to Orlando (about 3 hours) where we decided we deserved a movie as a reward for all our hard work. Went to Downtown Disney, where the film selection was rather disappointing. Zephyr saw "Hannibal Rising" and mom and dad finally settled on "Music and Lyrics", which they found surprisingly witty and entertaining. (And it features a song that's a good bet to win the Oscar next year.)
Feb. 16
Zephyr, being on one of the coasts, considers it mandatory to patronize one of the Disney parks. And so today he indulged in Animal Kingdom, while mom and dad returned to Kissimmee - first to pick up yet another parcel at the post office, and then to put in some hours working at the library.
Feb. 17
A rare day on which we each went our separate ways. Zephyr had a field day at Disney MGM. Kimberly spent the entire day, form 8:00 a.m. until 9:00 p.m. - attending a gymnastics meet at the Orlando Convention Center. (She's been a fan of the sport ever since she herself took gymnastics as a child.) Dennis did some computer work at Panera, some grocery shopping, took a bike ride, and made arrangements for a special activity for tomorrow that he is going to surprise Kimberly with. Shhh!!
Feb. 18
Zephyr spent the day at Universal Orlando; mom and dad, meanwhile, went to the surprise: an introductory class in skydiving. No, no, no, we did NOT jump out of a plane. The training sessions are conducted in an indoor wind tunnel, and you get to float a few feet above the floor on wind currents of up to 150 mph. It was indeed a unique sensation. We also had a workout at the YMCA and took care of some computer work and a few errands.
Feb. 19
We dropped Zephyr off again at Universal - the complex features two different theme parks, and today he went to the one he did not go to yesterday. The childless parents spent the day doing office work, although we did work in a visit to the YMCA.
Feb. 20
Spent most of the day in Altamonte Springs working on our podcast for this week.
But in the evening we drove to Homossassa Springs to be in striking distance of tomorrow's gig.
Feb. 21
A long day at Rock Crusher Elementary. We began with 2 performances, then after a lunch break we each taught 3 workshops, followed by another performance and another workshop. Then we packed up and dragged ourselves back to Orlando.
Feb. 22
Zephyr was feeling a bit under the weather, or under something, so he took the day off from using up his 7-day Universal pass.
Feb. 23
Back to Universal for Zephyr, while mom and dad took an afternoon ocean cruise. It may sound expensive, but (shhh!!) we managed to do it for free.
Feb. 24
The last day of Zephyr's Universal ticket, but he only used half a day. Then we all biked back to Universal property - the roads throughout the complex feature bike paths - and strolled through CityWalk, where we had an excellent dinner at an Italian restaurant and saw the movie "The Number 23", which we found to be interesting, though not flawless. We contemplated staying until midnight to watch "Rocky Horror Picture Show" with live actors. But it would have been a long wait, and we were all tired already, so we decided to reserve that experience for another occasion.
Feb. 25
Began the day by doing some computer work at Panera, then headed to Winter Park to do laundry, clean out the RV and work out at the YMCA. Then we started driving north toward Alabama and our next performance.
Feb. 26
After recording our 34th podcast, we continued driving into Georgia - or rather Kimberly drove, while Dennis did the editing. In the afternoon, we arrived at the Georgia home of Judy, Walter and Mary Alice, another FOTR family who live in a spacious RV that they park long-term on rural property where they even have a vegetable garden. We plugged in and called it our home for the night too, having Judy and Mary Alice over in the evening (Walter was gone to Orlando) to play Apples to Apples.
Feb. 27
Spent the entire day doing computer work, except for a brief bike ride. We've discovered that our new recording studio is defective, and therefore so is the recording we made yesterday of our podcast. So we had to do it all over again, using the old studio, which we still have around - it was replaced under warranty, even though it still operates despite its problems. And then we had to do the editing all over again.
Today Walter came home from Orlando, and we all had a jointly produced dinner at their place.
Feb. 28
After spending most of the day with our Georgia hosts, we drove to Alabama and the site of tomorrow's gig.
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