Typical Day on the Road
June 2004
<- May 04 - June 04 - July 04->
June 1
Drove to Searcy, Ark. to take care of a few errands. Then on to Augusta, where we spent the night. Noticed a nail in the front left tire, too late to have it replaced. (We'd been planning to get new front tires anyway, so we'd rather not spend the time and money getting a flat repaired.) But it seems to be holding air just fine, so we left well enough alone and didn't remove the nail.
June 2
Performances at 10:30 at the Augusta Library, and 2:00 at the Wynne Library. Both shows had full audiences for such small spaces. Then we drove on to visit Dennis's parents. Thunderstorms threatening to follow us here too. Conducted an interview by telephone with a newspaper in Cape Girardeau, Mo., where we're performing Saturday.
June 3
Still visiting Dennis's parents, in Arkansas.
June 4
Headed to Cape Girardeau, Mo. Arrived in time to see the new Harry Potter movie, which opened today. ("The Prisoner Of Azkaban"). Quite entertaining.
June 5
Performed at the Cape Girardeau Library, then went out into the country in quest of a geocache (see previous entry), which was quite well hidden. Later in the evening, we were threatened with still more thunderstorms.
June 6
Still in Cape Girardeau.
June 7
Back at the home of Dennis's parents in Arkansas.
June 8
Spent the night in Searcy, Ark. in preparation for tomorrow morning's performance.
June 9
Our first appearance at the Searcy Library. Actually, our first TWO performances. The turnout was so good that a second performance was added. This will bring our total to 66 performances for the summer, breaking our record of 65 set last year.
Drove on to Jonesboro afterward and checked into a motel to do some repair work on the set.
June 10
Still in the motel in Jonesboro, Ark. Took the van in for an oil change and new front tires.
June 11
Still in Jonesboro, Ark. Tried to get some mail off, but realized that the post offices are closed today because Ronald Reagan died.
June 12
Visited Dennis' brother, who was having a cookout to celebrate the birthdays of his two sons. Several relatives were present, as well as the mother of the girlfriend of one of the sons. (She came over from Croatia to see her daughter graduate from Arkansas State University.)
This dealer in Yellville, AR only sells RED cars. Notice even the vehicles driving by are red!
June 13
Arrived in Eureka Springs, Ark., one of our favorite towns in the state. Checked into the KOA, which is our favorite KOA in the country. (Not at all like the one in Lodi, California!)
June 14
Our first three-performance day of the summer: libraries in Eureka Springs, Berryville and Green Forest, Ark. Then back to the campground.
June 15
Drove into Eureka Springs to take a walking tour of the hilly streets. (It's hillier than San Francisco.) A very picturesque little village in the mountains with many interesting shops and tourist attractions. They call it "Little Switzerland".
June 16
Struck our tent in the rain and drove from Eureka Springs to Fayetteville, where we performed (twice) for the Fayetteville Library, our fourth time here. This will be our last appearance in this building--they're building a brand new library!
June 17
After a trip to Kinko's and some other bits of business, we drove to Conway (Ark.) for tomorrow's show.
June 18
Afternoon performance at the library in Conway, our second time here. Then we drove into Little Rock, and had a swim at the YMCA.
June 19
Little Rock, Ark. Kinko's, YMCA, then spent the evening at Barnes and Noble. In other words -- just a typical "day at home" for us!
June 20
Stocked up at the Wild Oats supermarket in Little Rock--one of the few we've found outside of California. Had another trip to the Y. Then drove down to El Dorado to spend the night.
June 21
Return engagement at the El Dorado Library. We did two performances this time, and again had a good turnout. Then we started heading north, and ran into a sudden thunderstorm just south of Little Rock. A welcome relief from the heat.
June 22
Returned to the home of Dennis's parents. Resumed working on a new story that we are going to be offering soon.
June 23
Our 9th engagement for the library in Jonesboro, Ark. Two performances-- one at a community center, and the other at the mall.
June 24
Keeping our shoes off for a spell in the farming country of Northeast Arkansas. Dennis is sweating over the keyboard, and putting his new recording studio to good use as he composes and records music for the new story. Kimberly is making masks and props. Zephyr is complaining about his school work. We're all rehearsing and fighting mosquitoes.
June 25
Drove to Poplar Bluff, Mo. for tomorrow's show. Noticed that the teenagers with cars formed a LOOOONG procession circling through a parking lot and back into the street, over and over again. Haven't seen so much cruising since "American Graffiti." Also noticed that the youngsters seemed to have something against mufflers.
June 26
Performed at a senior center in Poplar Bluff. Premiered our new Japanese folk tale.
Drove on to St Louis, and decided we just didn't want to wait any longer to watch Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9-11" (which opened yesterday). Found a cinema in a very ritzy mall, not the kind of neighborhood where one might expect to find a great deal of interest in this particular film. Nonetheless, it was showing on two screens and selling out virtually every time.
Moreover, the locals were quite appreciative; they didn't give the film a standing ovation the way audiences in some places reportedly have been doing, but they responded enthusiastically. The strongest burst of roaring applause came not at the end, but in the segment dealing with former Missouri senator John Ashcroft who, Moore points out, ran his last race against an opponent who had been dead for a month, and the voters of Missouri "preferred the dead man".
We always expect the unexpected from Michael Moore, but this far exceeded our expectations. It contained little in the way of revelation for us, as we already have done a considerable amount of research that confirms the facts presented. But it's one thing to read about these matters; it's quite another to see them presented so starkly in such extraordinarily assembled and edited film footage. It pounds you in the gut, it sets your teeth on edge like nails on a chalkboard, it jerks your tears better than all the soap operas combined, and it's stitch-rippingly hilarious. Oh yes, and it's also irrefutably patriotic. Whether or not one approves of Moore's message (if he even has one), there's no disputing that he is an absolute master of his craft, and there is no doubt in our minds that he is going to add another Oscar to his trophy case that is rapidly becoming quite cluttered.
June 27
St. Louis. Ran some errands and visited the YMCA in Kirkwood.
June 28
Pretty much the same as yesterday, but a day later.
June 29
Our first three performances ever for the St. Louis library system. Drove downtown early in the morning for the first one at the Central Library. It's a magnificent old building such as they don't build 'em like anymore--so old that they have signs engraved in stone that don't say "public library", but "pvblic library".
Two more performances for the day: the Davis branch and the Barr branch of the St. Louis library.
June 30
Our final two performances for the St. Louis library. The first was at the Schlafly Branch, in what is probably the trendiest neighborhood we've yet seen in town (When we pulled in, Dennis commented that we were entering "the Seattle section of St. Louis" ), and it drew our biggest audience of this series.
One of the attendees was a man who sat on the floor with the kids and who we thought initially had brought some group with him. But he turned out to be a local character who just likes to come to the library and see shows. He kept a running dialogue (or monologue) going throughout the performance and it was a little distracting at first, but he obviously was enjoying the show, and by the time it was over, he was practically a part of it. He lingered a while afterward, and chatted with us, informing us that he was homeless, and that he had been diagnosed as bipolar, among other things. While being perfectly upbeat, he related some of the sad experiences he's had, including a daughter who recently committed suicide. He also said he had a master's degree (a claim borne out by his articulate manner of speaking), and he certainly seems to be a living refutation of the popular assumption that the indigent are just plain lazy. He didn't say what subject his degree was in, but he did say that he studied music at Arkansas State University (which Dennis also attended briefly), and he demonstrated his musicianship by rendering an impromptu tune on our glockenspiel and by singing a couple of songs, apparently of his own composition. We gave him a copy of one of our cassettes with stories on it, and he was quite happy about it. Before he left, he wrote down an address at which he receives mail, and asked us to send him a postcard from every state we visit. We didn't make any promises, but we just might try to do it.
Finished St. Louis with a performance at the Carondelet branch, and learned that in accordance with the Midwest tradition of Americanizing foreign names, the locals pronounce Carondelet to rhyme with coronet rather than Chevrolet.
Headed out of town, but stopped for awhile at a Barnes and Noble until the traffic and the heat diminished, and then on to Hannibal.
