Typical Day on the Road
March 2007
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Mar. 1
Two performances this morning at a school in Ozark, Alabama. At the first show, there was an ASL interpreter who, we were surprised to learn, was deaf. We asked him how he could understand what we were saying during the show, and he replied "body language". This was especially amazing considering that he was standing to the rear of the stage, and much of the time our backs were turned to him.
When the second show was over, we learned that school was going to be dismissed early because of a storm threat; we were told that it was probably pretty serious, because this school doesn't dismiss early very often. We didn't want to go out of the area if we didn't have to, since we have shows here tomorrow morning as well. So we went into town and listened to the radio, hearing that there were in fact tornado warnings for the region. We stayed near the crossroads of two highways so we'd be prepared to get out of town quickly, driving at right angles to the storm's path. But from what we could gather, there was a danger no matter which way we went. So we prepared instead to abandon the vehicle if need be and take shelter elsewhere.
We finally determined that the funnel clouds would bypass us, but we'd still be in for some rough weather, including hail. So we took shelter under a car wash - where we shortly were joined by several other vehicles, including a police car.
The hailstorm lasted only a few minutes, and produced nickel-sized pellets, but the power was off all over town for several hours. The rain and wind also abated, but we could see dark clouds, some with the greenish tint that accompanies twisters, passing only a few miles away.
As we continued listening to the radio, we were stunned to hear that a tornado had struck the high school in Enterprise, less than 15 miles from us, and that several students and teachers had been injured. As further reports came in, there were rumors of casualties, later confirmed.
We also heard that more severe storms were on the way. They appeared to be passing on either side of us, leaving a "safety sandwich" with us in the middle. We decided to spend the night sheltered by the car wash from further hail or debris. And we figured in the unlikely event it came down to a life or death situation, we could barge our way into the abandoned building next door to take cover. (The funny thing is that this building had been a bank.)
We were very impressed with the team of DJ's who pulled some very long hours today and tonight at radio station KMX. They were professional and dedicated, and very helpful in answering questions from anxious listeners who called. One of them casually commented that his house was right in the path of the storm, and might not be there when he went home. But there he sat, calmly and efficiently providing assistance and consolation to the rest of the community.
Mar. 2
Much to our relief, the school where we were scheduled to perform this morning was still there, and still fully functional. (And so were we, more or less.) So, with less than a full night's rest, we tackled our first 4-show day in quite some time. It began with two morning performances of "Quizzical Quests", followed by two afternoon performances of "Shakespeare Shazam" at a different school.
Then we drove into nearby Dothan, where we put in some online time at Dakota Coffee Company, a colorful and roomy coffee house that was open until midnight. It also was, like the entire neighborhood, a popular haunt for teens.
Mar. 3
Spent another day in Dothan, mostly at Dakota Coffee. Although first we hit a local Camping World outlet to buy several items we'd been needing for the RV (including a kitchen faucet to replace our broken one). One of the salesmen was a 77-year-old retired dentist and current RV-er who went to work here just for the fun of it. It's great to encounter people who love their jobs. We also contacted a bike repair shop hoping to get our bicycles tuned up in order to do some serious riding tomorrow; but the shop couldn't work us into the schedule until next week, when we'll be gone.
In the parking lot of the plaza where Dakota Coffee is located, trucks were loading up supplies to take to the victims of the tornado in Enterprise, and bloodmobiles were also around taking donations. In the supermarkets, it's difficult to find jugs of water, because they've all been snatched up. We normally obtain our drinking water by filling jugs from a machine, but such machines can be a rare species in this part of the country. So for the past few days, we've had to just buy jugs full of water. And at the moment, it's taking quite a bit of scrounging to find any.
Mar. 4
Eufaula, Alabama. We cancelled our plans to do a 20-mile bike ride (having one of us drive the RV while the other biked) from Dothan to Eufala because the road wasn't bike-friendly enough. After stocking up on groceries (a Winn-Dixie was the best we could find) we headed to a nearby campground for a few days.
Mar. 5
Still holed up at the campground, near a sawmill where the distant whine can be heard steadily all day.
Mar. 6
Still at the campground. Today we caught up on laundry, and were reminded that we're in the tobacco belt, where people think nothing of smoking their cigarettes indoors, where the stench will saturate other people's clothes.
Left the campground and headed to Columbus, Ga., the nearest place to get online. Settled into Fountain City Coffee, a cozy café with long hours and lots of outlets. But we left in time to get an evening workout at the YMCA down the street.
(Here's the answer to this week's trivia question, as posed on Podcast 35: Dr. George Washington Carver proposed about 300 different uses for the peanut. But some of these were borrowed from other sources, and some are repetitious. Still, he himself developed at least 100 different products from the crop. Quite remarkable.)
Mar. 8
Another day in Columbus, mostly taking care of computer work. Although we have to note that there is a fine paved bike path running along the river, all the way past the Civil War naval museum, and on to Fort Benning. We were hoping to get tune-ups for our bikes while we were in town, but the folks at the bike shop told us no way - they're seriously backed up because of Wheels O'Fire, an annual event in which about 300 cyclists of all ages tour the countryside in routes up to 68 miles long.
Mar. 9
Two performances of "Shakespeare Shazam" for 7th and 8th graders at a middle school near Seale, Alabama. We were taking care of errands in Columbus this morning, thinking we had plenty of time because we'd gain an hour crossing the border. But then the school called to point out to us that while the state is theoretically supposed to be on Central Time, this community is on Eastern Time since so many of its residents work across the border. (No problem, we still made it in plenty of time.)
On to Montgomery for the night.
Mar. 10
In Montgomery, we visited the spot where Rosa Parks was arrested 52 years ago for refusing to give up her bus seat to a white man. A small, seemingly insignificant action that had profound reverberations. (We learned, however, that the incident was not quite as casual to Parks as is often believed; she already was a bit of an activist, and her refusal to move was prompted in part by a previous incident in which the same driver had ejected her from the bus.) A plaque stood near the spot commemorating her brave stance (or rather brave un-stance) but the amusing thing is that the other side of the plaque pays tribute to a white man, country music legend Hank Williams. Maybe they got a special two-for-one sale on plaques that month. Anyway, a museum honoring Parks also stands nearby.
On to Prattville for an evening performance. Prattville is a town that seems to have a historic history, with historic brick buildings in the heart of town along a picturesque creek with a dam.
After our performances and a couple of workshops in a cavernous community center, we began our drive toward North Carolina.
Mar. 11
Spent most of the day driving, and actually made it to Winston-Salem in the evening. Met up with some of Zephyr's friends that he's always on the phone with at night and on weekends: Wylie, Nash, and Trina.
Mar. 12
After a workout at the YMCA, we dropped Zephyr off at Wylie's house where they could indulge in band practice, while mom and dad headed to our "office", Panera, to do some work.
Mar. 13
We began the day with overdue dental appointments for all three of us, at the office of Dr. Catherine Watkins, who was recommended by one of our friends here. She's a very amiable dentist who said that she did theatre herself when in college. None of us had any major problems, although Dennis has to return next week to have a couple of fillings replaced, one of which has been bothering him for months.
This afternoon, we took Zephyr to meet his friend Trina after school. She attends an all-girl school in Old Salem, and the entire neighborhood, including the high school and the adjacent women's college, is composed of restored buildings dating back 200 years or more in some cases. A stretch of several blocks has become a living history center, with costumed interpreters giving demonstrations in shoemaking and other traditional crafts. We took a stroll along Old Salem Street, dropping into a couple of shops to browse, and into a bakery to pick up some pumpkin bread. This bakery apparently was operated by Moravians, the religious sect that settled the city of Salem in 1766. (Salem merged with Winston in 1913.)
Mar. 14
YMCA, Panera, and Zephyr again practicing at Wylie's house. Much confusion, miscommunication and hair-tearing about coordinating the schedule for the next week or so.
Mar. 15
Returned to Panera in the morning to do more office-type labor (no, we're not getting paid to plug the franchise, but we should be) and back to Old Salem, where Zephyr could hang out with Trina and friends after school. We parked in the lot belonging to Salem College, and after some time, along came two security officers (both female like, it appears, everyone else involved with the school) to investigate a car that had stalled and been left in an awkward spot behind us, partially in the street. One of the officers asked how long we were going to be there, and we replied perhaps a couple of hours (since Dennis and Kimberly were going to take a bike ride while Zephyr was socializing). She pointed out that it was private property, and we asked if that meant she didn't want us there, and she said no, it was okay, as long as we were only there for that length of time. (Apparently she was a victim of Camper Panic, an affliction that seizes many people whenever they see an RV parked somewhere and assume that it's going to be there overnight, even if it happens to be the middle of the day at the time. This affliction tends to cause its victims to refer to any type of RV as a "camper".)
After Dennis helped push the stranded car out of the road (its driver had returned), we headed out on our bikes, expecting to take a brief leisurely tour. And initially it appeared to be even briefer than we'd expected, since the trail we'd thought was there turned out to be only a short stretch. But upon exploring a bit, we happened upon an excellent trail that at first paralleled a river, and then circled a rather large lake. It was a wooded trail with a fair number of hills that gave us quite a workout and used up every bit of the two hour span that we'd liberally allotted for it.
Mar. 16
Until now, the weather in Winston-Salem had been quite warm, but after a night of heavy rain, we awoke this morning to find it quite chilly and still rather rainy.
Zephyr spent last night at the home of his friend and bandmate Wylie. Tonight we picked both of them up, along with the band's bass guitar player Noah (whom we met for the first time) and Wylie's brother Nash, to take them to the home of Bob, father of Wylie and Nash, who lives out in the country. He has a nice, roomy house (he's a contractor) and offered to let them have band rehearsal there all weekend. And he also offered to let us plug up the RV so we can have Zephyr's home there all weekend and we can get some work done ourselves. It's a rustic, quiet spread except for the nighttime noises we pick up from the speedway a few miles away. You can hear the roaring of the motors and the bellowing of the announcer until about 10:00 p.m., after which you can only hear the geese.
Mar. 17
St. Paddy's Day, but we did nothing to celebrate - the leprechaun didn't drop in, as he always did when Zephyr was younger. Zephyr himself was celebrating with a marathon band rehearsal, and his parents were celebrating by being attached to their laptops all day. Although we did take a chilly bike ride, past Pudding Ridge, where diehard golf fans were golfing in the chill, and on to the Little League baseball fields where a diehard team all bundled up was in spring training.
Mar. 18
Had a late lunch/ early dinner at the home of Trina's parents. Then we brought her back with us to Bob's house so she, along with Nash and Wylie, could be guest voices on our weekly podcast. And they all did a splendid job!
Mar. 19
This morning we took Zephyr to the home of Daniel, the band's drummer, so they could have a practice session. Daniel lives in Greensboro rather than Winston-Salem, so it's been difficult to get the whole band together. Zephyr's friend Cassia (he met her in September at Not Back To School Camp in Oregon), who is visiting from Massachusetts, was also there to greet him, despite a recent bout with strep throat.
Mom and dad took off to do some errands for a couple of hours, then went back to pick up Zephyr and treated the three youngsters to lunch at CiCi's Pizza.
Then it was back to practicing for Zephyr, and back to Office Depot for mom and dad.
In the evening, we all met up again at our "office", Panera, to work on the band's website.
Mar. 20
Zephyr again practiced with Daniel this morning, and said goodbye to Cassia, who is heading back to Massachusetts.
We took Zephyr to Guitar Center, because he is determined to buy a "half stack", an expensive amplifier, because he's convinced he needs it for the band's performances (both of them, so far). So we loaded this cumbersome device into our trailer and then headed back to Office Depot, where we at last were able to pick up flyers and postcards.
Back to Winston-Salem, where we met up with Zephyr's friend Trina and her parents Marshall and Alix. We all went out to an excellent Thai restaurant to celebrate Alix's birthday. The restaurant was downtown, and we learned that the Reynolds Building down there was the prototype for the Empire State Building.
Mar. 21
Another morning at the office, and in the afternoon we dropped Zephyr back at Wylie's house for more guitar practice and horsing around. This evening we tried to order a banner from Kinko's to use at the upcoming PTO convention in Valley Forge, but ran into all kinds of snags.
Mar. 22
Dennis had a grand ole time this morning, getting two fillings replaced at the dentist's office. But Dr. Watkins is an excellent dentist, and the procedure was not at all unpleasant. The fillings were made of cerec, a relatively new type of material that looks like the tooth itself, and is also used in crowns - which can be made and installed in a single visit, whereas they previously have required two visits. With state-of-the-art technology, a camera takes pictures of the tooth, and an image of it is created on the screen of a computer, which then creates a model of the filling, and the information is then transmitted to a machine that carves out the filling. Dentistry certainly has changed.
Meanwhile, Trina stopped by to hang out with Zephyr, and when Dennis was finished, we took them back to Wylie's house, where they could practice more.
In the evening, we took a whole RV full of kids to see a movie.
Mar. 23
Took Zephyr to his guitar lesson, one of several he's having while he's here in Winston-Salem. Stopped at the bike shop across the street to see if the headlight mounting brackets we ordered last week had arrived s anticipated. (Ours have been broken for ages, and we can't find any in captivity anywhere, in any of the bike shops we've visited - not even the one in Portland with numerous bins of scrap parts that we were allowed to paw through.) But nope, the package has come yet, even though it was mailed from the supplier several days ago.
Did some shopping especially to find some food to leave with Zephyr, who's staying behind for a few days while mom and dad head on to Pennsylvania. (Hope he'll remember to pick up the bike parts next week.)
This evening we attended opening night of "Beauty and the Beast" at Little Theatre of Winston-Salem with Trina and her mother Alix. It was a show that exceeded all expectations - generally fine performances, well directed and superb costumes and sets (created, we understand, with a very limited budget). We've seen many little theatre productions before, but this one was several notches above our previous experiences. Emily Mark, who portrayed Belle, was a singer of professional caliber; as was Wells Albritton, a friend of Zephyr's friends, who portrayed Le Fou, the bumbling sidekick of Gaston. It's by no means an easy role, and he pulled it off with aplomb, both in terms of singing and acting. And he's only sixteen!!
Mar. 24
Shuttled the entire band and all its equipment, except for Daniel and his drums, back out to Bob's place in the country for another weekend of intensive rehearsals. Trina and her mother and aunt came by to say goodbye, and then Kimberly and Dennis left Winston-Salem behind and hit the road again, leaving Zephyr for a few days to prepare for his upcoming gigs.
We made it to Fredericksburg, Virginia for the night.
Mar. 25
In our first full Zephyr-less day, we finished driving to the Philadelphia area, after stopping in Virginia at a Trader Joe's (our first one in a couple of months, and we've really missed them) and stopping at a Flying J to dump and fill our tanks.
Made it into Exton, PA., where we are to pick up our banner for the convention, by late afternoon. Although it was sunny and somewhat warm, the evidence of the blizzard a couple of week ago was still visible in the parking lots: piles of blackened snow compiled by the plows, and slowly dripping away.
We found a bicycle trail nearby, so we got our bikes out and explored it, but discovered it to be unbelievably short.
Mar. 26
After a warmish day yesterday, last night was quite chilly, and so is today. The clouds appear as if they might deliver more snow.
After spending the morning doing computer work at Atlanta Bread Company, we went to Kinko's to pick up our banner, which ended up costing us nearly twice as much as what we were originally quoted, but it looks pretty good.
We then headed for the Valley Forge Convention Center, where we began setting up for the PTO convention tomorrow. We had a goodly distance to cart our things, and it was a bit of a workout for the two of us (this is our second day with Zephyr missing), but we decided to put up our set, the oversized book, behind our table.
Later, after much deliberation and comparison shopping, we decided to buy a portable DVD player to show our promo video to attendees tomorrow.
Mar. 27
Having spent last night parked in the lot of the Valley Forge Convention Center, we were ready to finish our load-in starting at 7:30 this morning, to be prepared for the beginning of the PTO Convention at 9:00.
On one side of our table was Yojo, a big, furry costumed character. Well, actually, the fellow who wore the costume was on the other side of us, with pictures of himself in the costume, but he wore it later for an appearance on the little stage nearby. On the other side of us was Jim Flanagan, a retired principal who now writes books and tells stories. He also did a presentation later on the stage.
As did we - it was rather a challenge, not only because we were performing without Zephyr, but also because under the circumstances, we simply had to use microphones, necessitating some serious adjustments in our staging. But we pulled it off, of course, and kept building the audience. (We performed a segment from our story "The Fourth Question", giving Dennis a chance to wear the dragon costume, and a segment from the Japanese story "Following the Buzz", giving Kimberly a chance to wear the tennis racket.)
It was a rather successful event for us - we elicited quite a bit of interest in our shows, and collected quite a number of contacts.
Mar. 28
First up, we headed to Panera to get online and email the answers to some questions we'd been sent by a writer who is working on an article for Muse magazine. We've been interviewed many times over the years, but these questions were just about the most interesting and thought-provoking we've encountered yet. And it's a magazine for kids!
In the parking lot, we were approached by a professional storyteller who saw our trailer. He now lives in Philadelphia, but formerly lived in North Carolina, and also was very familiar with the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tennessee, which he urged us to attend.
Took a pleasant bike ride through Valley Forge National Park, about 11 miles. (We already did a more thorough tour of the grounds a few years ago, when Zephyr was with us.) Visited General Washington's house, where he and Martha and a few assistants lived during that historic arctic winter. A woman in period costume commented on the facility and the events, and answered questions. The accommodations appear rather Spartan by today's standards, but were quite comfortable especially when compared to the pitiful log structures the troops lived in. The house is also right beside the picturesque Schuylkill (SKOOL-kle) River.
Mar. 29
Today we took our longest bike ride yet: from Plymouth into downtown Philadelphia, mostly on a genuine bike path that bordered the Schuylkill River. On the way, we saw our first snake of the year, which is only fitting since Spring has sprung, but in this part of the country, it was rather surprising to see one of the little fellers out this early.
Once we got into Philadelphia, we headed for Independence Hall, where we had our picnic lunch on the grounds, very close to the spot where the nation took root. While we were there, we couldn't resist returning to visit the famed Liberty Bell, but we found that security around it is (not surprisingly) much heightened these days, with baggage checks just like at an airport. And you no longer can get close enough to touch it, as we once did.
We headed back out of town as the traffic was beginning to get thick, stopping at the Central Library, (where we'll be performing this summer) to say howdy and make certain we'll have adequate parking arrangements for our show. As we pedaled along the river, we saw high school rowing teams practicing.
When we arrived back at our vehicle, we saw (thanks to Kimberly, who uses her high-tech gadgets to keep track of time, distance, average speed, peak speed, and everything but the total number of wheel revolutions) that we had traveled 34.9 miles. So we rode around in the lot to make up the extra tenth of a mile. Now we won't be exaggerating when we say it was a 35-mile trek.
Mar. 30
Laundry, Panera, YMCA, then a drive to Lancaster. Whee!!
in Greensboro, North Carolina!
Mar. 31
Our first group bicycle ride. Kimberly learned online of this one originating in Lancaster (pronounced LANK-a-ster and not LAN-CAST-er, o ye outlanders). There were actually several different groups departing from the same spot at the same time, and each ride was at a different level of difficulty. Ours was the "D" route, the most wimpy of the lot, but it was brisk enough, consisting of about 22 miles through farmlands, where we could see Amish farmers out plowing and Amish children out doing chores, and where we were bowled over by the aroma of cattle. (Next time maybe we should bring along a clothespin?) Some of the riders were retired folks, including a gentleman in his eighties, but they were all in fine shape, and the tour went at a pretty respectable pace.
We then drove on to Hanover, where we hit the sauna, the Jacuzzi and the showers at the YMCA, then headed to Panera to get computer work done. After Panera closed in the evening, we decided to watch "Memoirs of a Geisha" for the first time, using our newly acquired DVD player. During the entire film, we were rather annoyed by the nearby noise of young men (and a woman or two) revving the engines on their hot rods, which they were cruising up and down the main strip for hours and hours and hours - apparently THE Saturday night pastime in Hanover. The police, evidently unable to put a stop to the activity, just sat and watched.
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