Typical Day on the Road
July 2003
<- June 03 - July 03 - August 03 ->
July 1
Touring the cave where Tom and Becky got lost in "Tom Sawyer". Went on our first geocache expedition. A hike took us up to Lover's Leap and on to a little-traveled trail where we used our friend's GPS and some clues from an Internet site to find a well-hidden box of "treasures". What fun! Think we found a new hobby. Zephyr sliced his finger with a scout knife; thought he might need stitches, but a butterfly bandage secured it. (Fortunately one of our friends is a nurse.)
July 2
Performing at the library in Hannibal, MO. (Our third time.) Then went to Molly Brown's birthplace and museum with 4 FOTR Members (Families on the Road - a Yahoo! Group) from Mass., Wash., Mo. and USA
July 3
Exploring Cameron Cave with lanterns and toasting marshmallows with our friends at camp. Frantically getting Zephyr's costume ready for the fence-painting competition. His finger is healing fast.
July 4
Zephyr rode in the parade with the other fence painters who will be in the National Contest. We all witnessed the unveiling of the new statue of Mark Twain as riverboat pilot. Then rushed back to camp to add the finishing touches to Zephyr's Tom Sawyer costume. And of course fireworks at night on the Mighty Mississippi River.
July 5
Rode the paddleboat down the Mississippi and had lunch with the other contestants before heading off to see our friend from Massachusetts compete in the Tomboy Sawyer contest. Zephyr took SECOND PLACE in the National Fence Painting contest against boys from Ohio, Wisconsin, Missouri, Illinois, Florida, Hawaii and a few other states. Kimberly snuffed out Dennis and several other men for third place in the over-30 contest. Our friends also enjoyed the Frog Jumping contest and getting splashed in the water fountains.
July 6
Reluctantly our friends all went separate ways. We had breakfast together and the kids took a spin on the bumper boats at "Sawyer's Creek". Then we began our two-day marathon drive to Virginia.
July 7
Still driving . . . made it to Colonel Sanders' hometown, in Kentucky, last night.
July 8
Show time! 3 shows today - 2 at libraries in Independence and Wytheville Virginia and one at a mall in Bluefield, West Virginia. We generally shun performances at malls, but this one wasn't bad.Not much time to do anything else today.
July 9
Performed at two libraries in Manassas, Virginia after driving 8 hours following our evening performance last night. A tornado touched down 20 miles away from us during our 2nd show. It began to lightning and thunder and the skies dumped truckloads of rain down upon us when we were beginning to load up our props and sets. So we hung tight in the library until it passed.
July 10
Two more shows at two more libraries - Woodbridge, VA. Then we and our fellow campers were told to evacuate the campsites and seek shelter. So spent most of the evening in the laundry room listening to the weather report -- tornado and thunder watches in the area. Three or four were within 10-20 miles of us. But thankfully, it amounted to nothing -- not even much rain.
July 11
Toured Manassas Battlefield for a couple of hours.
July 12
Back at Manassas for a 6-mile hike of the Battleground. Zephyr is working on a badge for Scouts and another Jr. Ranger badge. Nothing can compare to a classroom in the wilderness-- we saw where the battles took place, walked the paths the civil war soldiers marched, smelled the smells and we all managed to get a tick or two embedded in our skin.
July 13
Camped out at Borders and Kinkos in Harrisburg, PA
July 14
Performed in Pocono Pines, PA today. Our second time at the library there.
July 15
Camping in Harrisburg, PA
July 16
Boys went to Hershey Park and spent the day riding rollercoasters and other such rides. This included the "Roller Soaker", a combination coaster and water-fight ride that leaves you drenched to the bone. Kimberly stayed at camp and tried not to enjoy the solitude too much.
July 17
Camping in Harrisburg
July 18
More camping in Harrisburg
July 19
Still camping
July 20
Camping. Dennis and Zephyr have been spending time at the pool every day, working hard on preparing Zephyr for his swimming requirements for scout camp.
July 21
Performing at the library in Marysville, near Harrisburg. Our second time there. Went to pick up our mail at the post office before our show - but it wasn't there. Hmmm! It supposedly was sent a week ago, should be here by now. High-tailed it to New Jersey after the show.
July 22
Started off the day with a show in Ramsey, N.J. (After stocking up at a nearby Trader Joe's---the first one we've seen in a while!) And we were asked back to perform in October. Yippee! Dashed back to the Harrisburg area after the show. The mail still has not arrived.
July 23
Performed in New Bloomfield, PA this morning. After the show a youngster walking down the street recognized us from our show in Honey Grove last year (he moved to New Bloomfield since then). We were amazed! This was our second show for the New Bloomfield Library, but we'll never forget performing at the Carson Long Military Academy here in 1992. We did Shakespeare for a bunch of teenage boys in uniform. (And to our amazement, they loved it.)
Also did a show in Blain today.
July 24
Performed in Westfield, PA. Tiniest performance space in our history news from the billboard Dennis and Kimberly performed on in San Francisco). Lucky for us we weren't scheduled to perform in this area on Monday when the tornadoes hit. They just got the electricity back yesterday!
July 25
Performed in Kane, PA. Drove through tornado-torn territory to get here. Discovered that the tornado wiped out the nearby Kinzua Bridge, the 8th longest (?) bridge in the world.
July 26
We were invited to help "stir the neighbors' pool" by our friends in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. We dutifully accepted and enjoyed a BBQ and getting acquainted with our friends' neighbors. Kimberly did a command performance of her notorious stunt of squeezing through a tennis racket in the splits. She even coached the neighbor in going through it---not in the splits, but it still made her day.
Dropped Zephyr off at Scout Camp. A troop from Maryland is "adopting" him for the week. We've never met them - just exchanged email.
July 28
Zephyr is at scout camp. Dennis and Kimberly are camped nearby, surrounded by Amish farms. Workers can be seen in the fields, pulling machinery with horses.
July 29
The Goza Family still at separate camps. Zephyr fitting in with his adopted troop very well, and enjoying his experiences at camp. He qualified for the highest level of swimming! Though mom and dad won't know this until next week, since he is not able to call or email them.
July 30
Dennis and Kimberly still childless. Dennis can use the computer without being bothered by anyone waiting for his turn. (But it's difficult to get email done. The only modem is in the game room; there is supposed to be 15 minute limit---just about enough time to sign on and sign off---and the lady in the office monitors you and scolds you if you go overtime.) Three Amish youngsters came through the campground driving their buggy full of produce and baked goods for sale. Didn't notice them until they had just about sold out their stock, but did manage to buy some delicious corn on the cob.
July 31
Still separate camps. The parents started really missing their son. At the same time (they later learned) he started getting really homesick.
<- June 03 - July 03 - August 03 ->
