Typical Day on the Road
June 2006
June 1
Reno again, or still. We started out on a round of errands, but once again we had problems with our engine, at least for a while -- then it started running okay. Tried to find a place to look at it, but without success. So we continued to Homeland Fabrics, formerly known as 2 Dollar Fabrics, and still sporting a sign to that effect. This is our favorite place to shop for fabrics for costumes and sets (although we prefer the company's main store in Las Vegas), but this time we were looking for material to make new drapes for our new RV. Speaking of which, Dennis tried to drive it to another store, but was unable to get out of the parking lot; the engine stalled about 5 or 6 times. It was then that he discovered the place just around the corner, in the same building complex as the fabric emporium, a place called Nevada Auto Diagnostics.
It was quite a long shot that they might be able to see us at all. The facility seemed to be primarily a Nevada smog test station, and we weren't certain if it would handle repairs at all. Or that it would handle motor homes. Or that there would be room for us in the schedule, as it already was getting close to noon, and garages generally fill up early (often even days or weeks in advance). But we inquired anyway, and presto, the answer to each question was affirmative. They had us drive the vehicle into a bay right then. It died once during the journey of about 100 yards, and died again while they were checking it out. But that was the last time, and so they were at a loss to diagnose the malady properly. Vehicles have a very perverse way of acting up until you take them to a shop, and then behaving splendidly under professional scrutiny.
Nonetheless, the mechanics kept at it all afternoon, trying over and over again and making some minor adjustments -- including replacing a vacuum hose and cleaning some carbon deposits off the whatchamacallit. They never pinpointed the problem, but whatever they did seemed to have made some difference, because the RV ran fine thereafter.
We also asked the manager about any place we might be able to sell the van -- perhaps on consignment. He said he knew a dealer with a consignment lot who might be interested, and to whom he would speak about it, and to check back with him tomorrow.
June 2
Drove to Safari RV, where we had an afternoon appointment to get the wiring done so we could tow our trailer. We've been rediscovering one of the reasons we've been hesitant to buy another RV; it's considerably more difficult to find places to get them worked on. Some tasks (like the trailer wiring) require specialized RV shops -- many of which repair only specific RV features, and won't touch anything lurking under the hood. And, on the other hand, many auto garages won't touch a motor home with a 10-foot wrench -- even if, as in our case, the engine is identical to that of a non-RV vehicle. And don't even get us started about how far in advance you have to schedule your breakdown in order to get it serviced by many of these places.
Anyway, after asking around at several RV and trailer shops, we finally managed to get this appointment for our hitch today. So while the mechanic was busy with that, we were busy spending even more money in the store, one of the best-equipped RV stores we've seen. We also had the mechanic reverse the ball on our hitch; after much deliberation and much eyeballing the height of the trailer vs. the height of the vehicle, we decided that the best option was to remove the hitch that came with the motor home, inserting the one from our van, and turn it over. Unfortunately, when we got it back "home";, we discovered that it still wasn't a good match; the trailer, when hitched up, tilted downward noticeably at the tongue. So we figured we'd have to buy yet another hitch, one that was fairly straight rather than curving (downward or upward, depending upon which way you turn it) and also a little longer, as we require more clearance on tight turns than we did previously.
Back to Nevada Auto Diagnostics, where we were given the address of the dealer to take our van. But we drove to this dealer and knew right away that there was no chance of a deal. All the vehicles for sale here were classics: Corvettes, Mustangs, pickups from the Fifties, imported miniatures, and a few fancy jalopies we'd never seen before. But the manager was quite friendly and helpful, and referred us to yet another place, which he assured us would buy our merchandise immediately. So we took it to this location, just down the street, and the manager there, after scratching his chin a bit and hemming and hawing about the high mileage and the body rust, offered us 700 bucks to take it off our hands. We figured that even though the engine and transmission still were topnotch, we'd have a hard time fetching a higher price on such short notice. The van certainly is worth much more, but we don't have time to wait around and sell it to John Q. Public. So reluctantly, we accepted the offer, made the transaction, and said goodbye to the van that has been our workhorse for nearly 3 years, inspiring Zephyr's first two novels in the process.
Tonight was opening night for the Reno Silver Sox, a new minor league baseball team -- the city has had several such teams over the past few years, apparently finding it easy to acquire one but difficult to keep one. In any case, the Sox unfortunately lost their very first official game (to Long Beach) but there was a big fireworks display afterward, anyway. We were able to watch it from the yard where Kimberly's parents live, and it seemed an appropriate commemoration of the passing of the vehicular guard.
We spent our first 7 years on the road in an RV (actually 4 years in one and 3 in another) and then the next 7 years in 6 widely different vehicles, frequenting motels and campgrounds. And now we've come full circle, except that things are quite different now. For one thing, our son was in diapers when we first set out from San Francisco, and his biggest concern was getting his two cookies every morning. Now he's bigger than his dad, is a budding rock star, and is contemplating girls and driver's licenses and what to do with his time if he decides to retire from the family business. But one way or another, the show goes on.
June 3
Returned to Safari RV and purchased a different hitch, a straight one this time. But when we brought it back, we saw that it still wasn't long enough for our needs.
The Silver Sox had another game tonight, this time featuring an appearance by Wheel Of Fortune host Pat Sajak, who is one of the owners of the league. His appearance must have helped the team's fortunes, because they won this time.
June 4
In the continuing saga of the trailer hitch, we exchanged the one we bought yesterday for a slightly longer, rather fancier, and considerably more expensive model. Not exactly what we wanted, but the best compromise. Trouble is, it came without a ball, so we had to buy a wrench to remove the one from our old hitch. But even if the proper tools, we were unable to make it budge. So rather than running it back to Safari, we ran to a closer store and purchased a new ball. With it in place, we at last had our towing mechanism operating smoothly, with a new hitch (and the help of Kimberly's dad) and without a hitch.
We also returned to our storage unit today and spent some more time exchanging and organizing belongings -- but not nearly as much time as we needed to.
June 5
Said goodbye to Kimberly's parents, and the city of Reno, and KTHX, and headed to Idaho for our next gig.
We crossed briefly through the lower tip of Oregon, where we filled our gas tank, or rather had it filled -- in Oregon and New Jersey, self-service is not allowed. Yet strangely enough, the prices tend to be much lower in each case than in the surrounding states. (A recent news item noted that a New Jersey senator had attempted to introduce legislation that would allow -- not require, but allow -- self-service in that state for the first time in 57 years. His office received far more outraged emails over that than any other piece of official business. Even though the measure would have saved consumers a few cents per gallon, they were vehemently opposed to such a change, even though it was optional!) The price here was $3.02 for Regular, compared to $3.29 or higher in much of Nevada. We also encountered our first mosquitoes of the summer, and they were quite vicious.
Arrived in the outskirts of Boise rather late in the evening, having switched back to Mountain Time yet again. These time zone changes are making us dizzy!
June 6
Yes, the date is 6-6-6, but the earth didn't explode. We're in Eagle, Idaho, a suburb of Boise. We needed to get some Internet work done, so we went to the Rembrandt Coffee House, which is every bit as Bohemian as the name suggests. The building appears to have been a church originally, and its arched windows are an excellent complement to the artwork adorning the walls -- including signed prints by Dali and Erte, among others, being offered for sale or as part of a charity auction. This coffeehouse is such a comfy hangout that we spotted a couple of locals taking a nap on one of its sofas.
Visited the nearest YMCA for a much-needed workout, and discovered it has an Olympic-size pool, the biggest we've seen in some time. It also has two genuine old-fashioned diving boards, such as one rarely sees anymore -- thanks, no doubt to insurance and legal concerns.
June 7
Two performances at a school in Eagle, then we decided to get an oil change and a radiator flush at the local Econo Lube. But it ended up getting more than we bargained for: the reason our coolant was so murky was that transmission fluid was leaking into it internally, and the radiator needed to be replaced. (Vehicles have a way of inventing new problems we've never heard of before, just for our entertainment.) And then of course the transmission needed to be flushed as well. The end result was that every penny we were paid for our previous vehicle went into repairing this one.) Or as we put it, the RV ate the van. And it was a process that consumed the entire afternoon.
The bright side was that we were able to plug our power cord into one of the shop's outlets, and stay inside the RV getting work done while the mechanics did theirs. The manager of the shop was a cordial fellow from Southern California -- he grew up in the San Fernando Valley, near our official address.
June 8
Still in the Boise area, and we dropped in on yet another memorable coffee house: The Library. It appears to have been a residence in its previous life, and the layout featured many nooks and crannies, crammed with books, table space and knick-knacks.
After putting in most of the day on our computers, we began heading north, hopefully to cooler weather. We stopped outside of town to make use of a place we found online having a free RV dump, and thus we emptied our tanks for the first time -- and filled up our fresh water tank as well.
June 9
A few more hours of driving, and we arrived in Wenatchee, WA, where we had not been in about 7 years. We're visiting Kimberly's cousin Jeff, his wife Andi, and their daughters McKenzie and Simone. McKenzie, age 10, had a great time water-fighting with Zephyr. (And Zephyr's dad got in on the act as well.) McKenzie is an aspiring thespian who is currently rehearsing for a production of "The Tempest" and Zephyr helped her run her lines. Jeff is a biologist who works with endangered species, and he's rather frustrated because the current climate in D.C. is decidedly inhospitable toward his efforts.
June 10
Still visiting relatives. Today there was a party, with a cookout that had to be moved indoors temporarily because of the rain, but it eventually cleared off.
Tonight, we made yet some more converts to "Apples to Apples"; one of our favorite games.
June 11
Said goodbye to our hosts and started driving west across Washington on Highway 2. It was an itinerary of incredible scenic splendor, of the type this state is noted for.
We passed through Leavenworth, a Bavarian village that appears to have been lifted out of the Alps. Even such normally mundane structures as banks and gas stations were "in character"; with the Bavarian theme. And beside the road were some mountain goats that people could stop and pet. Moreover, on this particular day, there was some kind of festival in progress, and an oom-pah band was playing in a village square.
The countryside around the village was very mountainous and waterfall-ous. In fact, when we saw a sign for Deception Falls, we had to pull over and investigate, and we were mighty glad we did. After a brief hike down the hill, we encountered one of the most beautiful and pristine rivers we'd ever seen, roaring with its rapids and winding through many twists and turns, and even making an abrupt perpendicular jag at one point. We stuck our feet in it and found it to be icy -- even the spray from the falls was enough to turn June into December. We lingered and admired the water for a long time; here, as in perhaps no other location we've seen, is illustrated the paradox observed by the Chinese poet Lao Tzu, and reproduced on a plaque nearby, that water is at once the weakest and strongest thing in the world.
Another marker commemorated the completion of a railroad in this vicinity more than a century ago, a line that joined the east and west, and was undertaken by crews working day and night. In fact, the task was completed at 11:30 on a January night, and the laborers reassembled the following day and posed for a reenactment of the final spike so the photographer could immortalize it.
On to Snohomish, a suburb of Seattle, for our next gig.
June 12
Today, we began a weeklong residency at Cascade View Elementary in Snohomish, a school where we have performed twice previously. We began with two performances, then did our first couple of workshops each. Kimberly is conducting workshops in theatre, Dennis is doing writing and mask-making, and Zephyr is handling fiction writing and storytelling.
After school, we went to the post office to pick up our mail. Then we went to where we'll be staying for the next few nights -- an apartment in the country next to the home of Sylvia, the mother who booked us for these gigs. Her sons, Max and Seth, attend the school.
June 13
Day 2 of our workshops, which are part of quite a number of special activities planned for the end of the school year. Among them is a visit from Trucker Vic, a truck driver who's maintained contact with the students for 12 years, sending them postcards from wherever he is on the road. His wife is also with him, and he has his big rig (the truck only, no trailer) so the students can take a tour of it. We learned that as a child, his family was acquainted with baseball great Roberto Clemente, and he had some autographed photos of Clemente on hand.
June 14
Another busy day being school teachers. But at least we had our own teachers' lounge, having brought our RV to park in the lot and retreat into as time allows.
After school, we drove into town to do our laundry, and then we went to the Snohomish Library to get caught up on Internet work. And then back to our cozy, comfy, temporary home.
June 15
The penultimate day of our residency. After work, we again headed to the library for a while, then back "home"; where we were invited over for dinner with Sylvia and her family. Her husband Greg came home later, and we all played "Apples to Apples"; except for Zephyr and Seth, who were busy working on Zephyr's new video project.
June 16
Finished up our final workshop at Cascade View, said our goodbyes, and headed into Seattle, one of our favorite cities. We arrived at Seattle Pacific University, where Zephyr attended the first session of Camp Wellstone, a weekend symposium designed to teach people how to work for positive change -- it's named in honor of Paul Wellstone, the late senator from Minnesota.
June 17
Zephyr attended Day 2 of Camp Wellstone, which he is rather enjoying despite its intensity, and despite his exhaustion from this week's activities. He put in 10 more hours today. Mom and Dad, meanwhile, got out their bicycles and headed out toward a coffeehouse where they hoped to get online.
Seattle is one of those cities, like San Francisco and Pittsburgh, where, no matter which direction you go, you're headed uphill. So the ride toward the coffeehouse was a climb halfway to the stars. In fact, they had to get off their bikes and walk them, at an angle so oblique that their foreheads practically bumped the pavement. But the ride down the other side was (Wheeee!) a real roller coaster.
Well, it turns out the coffee house would have been an excellent spot to spend most of the day, except that it was closed on weekends. So it was back on the bikes and a return trip (via a less steep detour this time) to the neighborhood from which we came, and then on over a little drawbridge over a channel of the Sound, and presto, we were in the colorful, bohemian, mystical magical Fremont District, where we hoped to get online at the library (one of the branches of the Seattle Library at which we performed 5 years ago).
It was not a good day for bicycling in Fremont, but it was a good day to be there, as this was the weekend for the annual Fremont Fair. The people, of many assorted varieties, were so thick that it was difficult to penetrate the crowd with our wheels (which we of course walked rather than rode), but they were well worth watching. The diversity perhaps was best summed up by two individuals we passed in quick succession: a man wearing one of those haughty T-shirts that say "Vegetarian: Ancient Indian word for village idiot who can't ride or shoot";; followed by a representative of PETA distributing literature. (Although, to be sure, the PETA types far outnumbered the gun-totin' meat-chompin' types.)
And then arts and crafts booths, street performers, a parade, a man in a fly costume (among many others), a picketer warning that the end is still near, and even a handful of courageous Republican activists trying in vain to recruit new members from among the throng. What a gathering!
June 18
Zephyr's last day at Camp Wellstone, which ended at 3:00 this time. And since he heard about the bands playing at the Fair, he of course had to go hear some of them. So this time we all got on our bikes and went back; and even though it was rather crowded, it was not nearly as dense as yesterday.
We browsed among some of the booths and attractions that we missed yesterday, and discovered, lo and behold, there was a rather large display of artcars, including some of the same ones we encountered at the Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo a few weeks ago. We said howdy to a couple of their owners, including one that we talked to in Amarillo. Her car is called the Vain Van, and it's decorated with items that lampoon the cosmetic stereotypes of feminine glamour. (The top of the car is adorned with giant hair curlers.) On the side of the vehicle is a slate on which passersby may write their own thoughts about beauty.
She took us inside the car owners' private tent to show us a painting that one of their number had rendered of the Cadillac Ranch, which they regard as a mecca.
Today is Sir Paul McCartney's birthday, which is worth mentioning because it's a rather special one: his 64th. He probably never imagined that he'd someday actually reach this age when he recorded "When I'm Sixty-Four"; at age 25 -- or certainly not when he wrote it at sixteen!
June 19
After doing some checking and stocking up at Trader Joe's in Federal Way, he headed out to the boonies and checked into a campground surrounded by mountains, close to Mt. St. Helens, which famously erupted a quarter of a century ago, but now appears quite serene. We began working on our podcasting venture, which now is up and running. Yep, our "low tech" little company is getting to be pretty high tech these days.
June 20
Began our summer library performance schedule, our first summer on the West Coast in many years. Today, we performed at the libraries in Packwood and Randle, two rustic little towns that look as if they were once logging camps. Nice libraries and appreciative audiences, although it appears to be the local fashion for parents to drop their kids off at such events and not stick around for it themselves. That's a shame, because adults who see our shows love them as much as the kids!
Everyone is apologizing because the summer weather is so cool, but we think it's heavenly. Normally, we really bake during our summer tours in the Midwest and even on the East Coast.
June 21
Two more performances at smaller libraries, this time in the coastal villages of Westport and Raymond. The library in the latter town was by a swimming pool, so after the show we went over to cool off. The hot weather is finally beginning to creep in, just in time for the official beginning of summer.
June 22
Morning show at the library in Chehalis (which, we understand, can be pronounced Cha-HAY-liss or Sha-HAY-liss). We've never performed here before, but we have been in this town before - in fact, it was a sort of homecoming for our trailer, which we purchased here last April.
Evening show in Enumclaw (EE-num-claw), which is not part of the Timberland Library system that has engaged us for most of the summer. It's an independent library that's been trying to book us for some time, and we're glad they did - this was the biggest audience we've had of the summer so far, not counting the school performances.
After the show, before we loaded our bikes back into the trailer, we decided to unwind by cruising on them around town a bit, as it's a rather pleasant town for biking, especially with snow-clad Mt. Rainier looking on from not far away.
June 23
A day off from performing, so we took advantage of the time to catch up on business, for which we chose Puyallup. We parked in the YMCA lot, so we could ride our bikes to the other errands, including the same Internet coffee shop we visited previously. Then, when all of our chores were done, it was back to the Y for a workout.
June 24
Spent the day in Lakewood, stocking up at Trader Joe's, visiting Barnes & Noble, and doing more computer work. We're close to Olympia, and we hear in the news that a theatre in New York will be mounting a play (cancelled under pressure by another theatre) about Olympia peace activist Rachel Corrie, who was killed by a bulldozer during a demonstration a couple of years ago.
June 25
Headed down the coast to the vicinity of tomorrow's first show. Found a campground by the ocean and spent the day inside under the air conditioner - except for Zephyr, who was donning costumes and green makeup to pose for photos depicting a character from his books.
June 26
Two more performances for the Timberland Library system: South Bend and Ilwaco. After the second, we drove south a few miles to cross back into Oregon at Astoria. While there, we took advantage of the lower gas prices with full service included, but no, that's not the reason we went. We were exploring Fort Clatsop, an encampment of the Lewis & Clark expedition.
The fort we visited was not much to see just yet, because it was a reconstruction of a reconstruction. The actual reconstruction burned down last fall, but it was a replica of the exploring party's settlement featuring period crafts and artisanship performed by enactors in period costumes. It was apparently one of these activities, candle-making, that resulted in the place's destruction. A cinder from the fire used apparently was not extinguished completely, and after everyone had gone home for the day, it crackled and popped and a piece of it fell down between floorboards where it ignited tallow used in the candle-making process and presto, instant inferno.
But folks have been generous in donations for a new edition, and work is well underway - the shell of the structure is in place, even if the innards are not finished. Even so, there was a young man inside making rustic bed frames out of rough logs. And there were a couple of other costumed presenter as well. One of them offered quite a bit of information about Sacagawea, or Sacjawea, or Sakakwea, depending upon which Native American language is used. (Her name is normally presumed to mean "Bird Woman", although it also could mean something like "Canoe Pusher".) Whatever one calls her, she deserves at the very least to have her face on a dollar coin, because she was arguably the backbone of the expedition. Which is all the more astounding considering that she was a teenager caring for her infant child at the time.
Lewis and Clark landed their canoes here.
June 27
Today we had three shows for the first time this summer so far. The first two were at the Centralia Library. Between shows, Dennis did some banking at the nearby branch of our bank, the same branch from which he withdrew funds last year to purchase our trailer from Bulldog Trailer in nearby Chehalis.
Then we rushed off to Lacey to do an evening performance, a gig we'd been anguishing over for weeks. Why? Because, against our better judgment, we'd agreed to make a rare exception to our policy against doing shows outdoors. We tried a few outdoor performances way back in our early years in business, and we never were happy with the results. Our set is not designed to handle wind very well, and even the slightest breeze (of which there is always some) rustles it annoyingly - and has even been known to blow it over. Either the audience or the performers generally had sun in their eyes. There is always extraneous noise to compete with - including airplanes that always manage to include outdoor stages in their flightpaths. And then, the straw that broke the camel's back was the time we were doing a show at a street fair in front of a stage where a band was about to perform, and during the middle of our performance, the trumpeter began warming up on the stage behind us.
But the library in Lacey, in conjunction with the Rec. Dept., has a tradition of presenting entertainment on a series of summer evenings at a little municipal park. And somehow, we were included in those plans when the Timberland Regional Library system engaged us for a block of summer library performances. We tried in advance to make arrangements for another venue, but basically it came down to doing this one outside or not doing it at all. And since we always hate losing a performance, we hesitantly agreed to the park show.
And then we received the paperwork for the summer, and learned that this performance series in Lacey can attract audiences of 600 or more, which brought us a whole new bout of teeth-gnashing. Our productions are designed to be played in intimate venues with a maximum audience of 250-300. The physical nature of our style makes it virtually impossible for us to use microphones without destroying them. We figured that, depending on the acoustics of the place, we really might have to do some yelling at the top of our lungs, and not have any voices left for the following day.
Then to top it all off, we were contacted about a week ago by the Rec. Dept. to let us know that the performance was scheduled to be videotaped by a local cable channel, like the other performances in the series! And they had the understanding that we'd already given our approval - which we never would have done, since our policy against being videotaped is even stricter than our policy against outdoor shows. We left their representative a voice message right after she called us, letting her know that such an action was strictly verboten, but she apparently never got the message, and (for reasons we don't understand) we didn't receive the emails she sent us about the matter. So the net result was that we didn't reach an understanding with them on the issue until this afternoon - which represented a last-minute cancellation for the video team.
In short, we arrived in Lacey with a recipe for disaster. But fortunately, things went off much better than they could have. The crew were quite helpful and on top of things, so we were able to figure out an optimum setup that included two mics onstage. (We sacrificed some of our normal physicality so we could hover close to these during the show.) The bandshell also had a bit of an amplifying effect; and apparently, the audience was able to hear us fine, even way back on the hill. The sun and wind were not nearly as fierce as they might have been, either. All in all, not a bad show; and when it was over, we breathed a collective sigh of relief. And then uttered a collective vow never never never to do another outdoor performance.
June 28
Two more notches in our Timberland Library belt: Montesano and Hoquiam.
Between shows, we filled our propane tank for the first time in our new RV, at a cost of about 25 dollars for some 7 gallons. We purchased it at a gas station whose owner is a collector of old guitars and other stringed instruments, and had a rather fascinating assortment of them exhibited inside the station. The woman working at the station said that it was only the third RV tank she'd filled, and her inexperience made us a bit nervous. In fact, she didn't re-close the bleeder valve completely, and after we arrived at our second library, we discovered that propane had been leaking out - but we rectified the problem easily, even with our own limited expertise.
After the shows we did our laundry, then headed to a YMCA to work out some kinks.
June 29
Had an afternoon performance at the North Mason Library in Belfair, and had a healthy turnout. Then, after stopping for a while in Federal Way to browse at the Borders Bookstore, we continued driving a little farther north on the bumpiest section of freeway in the galaxy, the stretch of I-5 between Tacoma and Seattle. When we first toured this area 7 years ago, it felt as if we had square wheels. And it hasn't improved any, except perhaps to get worse. Anyway, we spent the "night" - which amounted to just a few hour - in our portable hotel room in a lot at the Seattle-Tacoma Airport, because one of us had a plane to catch at an ungodly hour.
June 30
The day began very early - about 4:00 a.m., when we began making our way over to the airport terminal to put Zephyr on a plane for San Francisco, where he'll catch another one to Burbank. Yep, he's off on another one of his jaunts to spend a few days with some friends. He'll be returning on July 4th, and we'll resume our summer performing schedule the following day.
Meanwhile, Mom and Dad headed down to Kent, where we picked up mail at the post office. This included Zephyr's new California ID and the title for our vehicle. We also received some copies of a magazine published in Jonesboro, AR featuring an interview with Zephyr - the librarians there were kind enough to mail us some copies. (Thank you!)
Then it was back to the community of Lakewood, where we were a few days ago. This is the location of a Panera, the only one we know of in the Seattle area (and it apparently opened only recently) and the first one we've seen in some time. So we spent much of the day doing computer work, until exhaustion from the long day set in.
Learned something interesting this week. NPR is doing a feature on the Highway System which is turning 50 and according to one of the articles it is known as the 51st state. hmmmm. Wonder if those of us who live on the road fulltime should start a campaign to elect Senators?
