Typical Day on the Road
March 2004
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Mar. 1
After stocking up at Trader Joe's in Reno (the first one we'd seen since November) we headed over Donner Pass to get to our next shows, in Sacramento. We were concerned because the weather report said there was snow in the Sierras. And there was-- but it was very light compared to what we'd already been through. Nonetheless, CalTrans crews were on hand to make certain that we had chains installed on our tires; and if we couldn't or didn't want to do it ourselves they'd be happy to do so for only 20 dollars. (Could this be a scheme cooked up by the new guhvanuh?) So we wore chains over the peak, though there was hardly a snowflake on the road. And then on the other side, after we were allowed to remove them, we drove through an area where there really was snow, and they might have come in handy.
Mar. 2
Our first California show in nearly a year. Feels strange to be back "home". We performed for the Sacramento Library system in the little town of Courtland, about 20 miles south of Sac., in a gym, for a number of school students.
Had dinner at Fresh Choice with Kimberly's brother, his wife, and their two kids.
Saw a Chinese restaurant called Kim Son, which we eventually recognized was a variant of Gim Sahm, or "Golden Mountain", which was what Chinese immigrants in the 19th Century called California. We know this because our production last year included a story about these laborers who constructed the railroad in the Sacramento area. It took us a moment to make the connection because not only was the dialect different on this sign, but also the Chinese characters were reversed-- i.e., Son Kim, or "Mountain of Gold".
Mar. 3
Performed at Rancho Cordova Library, one of our favorite venues. Zephyr's cousins Joey and Jenny (along with their parents) came to the show and served as two of our volunteers to learn a part in the performance. Afterward, drove to the good ole Bay Area.
Mar. 4
Two performances in the morning at a school in Union City. We performed in the gym, and one of the glass backboards was shattered. We learned that it happened yesterday when a member of the Golden State Warriors was demonstrating fancy-schmancy slam dunk, etc. Sorry we missed it.
Mar. 5
Two performances at a school in Modesto in the morning, then in the afternoon we returned once again to the Lodi Library, where we've performed several times. Dennis spotted a van on the street that he thought looked familiar, and upon closer inspection he verified that, yes, it really was the first van we bought-- back in 1988 when we started our business. It still has the dent on the rear door where Kimberly backed into a tree in Marin County. (We sold the van in Sacramento, just a few miles from Lodi.)
In the evening, we had dinner with Tim, the wonderful librarian from Rancho Cordova who has booked us several times. He treated us to dinner, along with his wife Katy and Kim, a former worker at the library who is now attending college in southern California.
Mar. 6
Afternoon show at the Nevada City Library, another one of our perennial venues. (We performed there during our first year of business, and have returned several times since then.) Another wonderful audience, as always.
Drove on to Chico, and dropped in at the Barnes and Noble store.
Mar. 7
Chico, Ca. Spent most of the day at Kinko's catching up on some office work. Isn't that how EVERYBODY spends Sunday afternoon?
Mar. 8
Still in Chico. Drove to the Chevy dealership first thing in the morning to see if they could stop the chirping noise under our hood-- we feared it might be a bad pulley. But as soon as we arrived at the shop, the noise stopped!
Drove on to Yreka (wye-REE-ka), a colorful little railroad town in extreme northern California. Dennis once read somewhere-- perhaps Ripley's Believe It Or Not-- about a shop called Yreka Bakery, which is an unintended palindrome. Didn't see it anywhere, but there were a number of interesting little businesses in "Old Town" Yreka, including a thrift store, where Dennis bought a slide rule-- yes, a SLIDE RULE.
Visited the railroad museum and had a workout at the Yreka "Y".
Mar. 9
The van noise resumed this morning, so we took it to a shop in Yreka that we used a couple of years (and two or three vehicles) ago, and had a good impression of. They said there was no bad pulley-- it was just the belt, which apparently had some kind of fluid or residue on it, but was still in good shape. They also found a coolant leak, and replaced a hose.
Spent the day, and the night, at a nearby campground. Caught up on the laundry, and Dennis did some more painting on the trailer, which gradually is beginning to look presentable again.
Mar. 10
Performed at a school in the little town of Montague, just a few miles from Yreka. It apparently has been a major railroad hub--in the Railroad museum we visited in Yreka, there was a miniature train display with the tracks running through a very detailed model of Montague.
Drove on into Oregon. Stopped in Ashland, a wonderful little hippie refuge and the home of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Picked up a festival schedule, thinking we might be able to attend a performance next month when we pass through town again. After strolling down the main thoroughfare in search of coffee, bakery goods and smoothies (which we found) we were off again, headed toward Eugene.
Mar. 11
Spent the day at Kimberly's Grandma's in Eugene, Oregon. She seems to be recovering from her recent bout of pneumonia rather nicely.
Mar. 12
On to the Emerald City, Seattle. Did an evening show at a school for an extremely large audience-- probably at least 500. Had to use a microphone for the second time. After the show, we went to the home of some friends who are putting us up for a few days.
Mar. 13
A day of staying "at home" in fabulous, overcast, drizzly Seattle.
Mar. 14
Ditto. This was "pie" or pi day. (3-14, get it?)
Mar. 15
Sent out 37 confirmation packets for the summer, costing about 60 dollars in postage. That was the grand achievement for today, and it's actually a project that Kimberly has been preoccupied with for the last 2 or 3 days.
Mar. 16
Morning performance at a school. A chilly morning , as one so often encounters in the Seattle area, and the gym where we performed was unheated. For the first time ever, we wore sweatshirts underneath our short-sleeved performance shirts (We've often had a problem with being too hot during a show, but never with being too cold!) But the youngsters gave us a very warm reception. By sheer coincidence, this was the school that our young friend Kyra used to attend, so she and her mother came to the show.
Mar. 17
St. Patrick's Day. We carried on our family tradition of having a treasure hunt for Zephyr (only this time there was treasure for two kids) with rhyming clues concealed in various places. (When he was younger, the clues were left by "The Leprechaun".) Like the other holidays, we've celebrated this one in quite a number of locations around the nation.
Mar. 18
Morning performance at a school in Puyallup, then up to Tukwila (site of tomorrow's shows) to take care of errands. In the evening, we were pelted with rain and sleet-- guess winter's not quite over here in the Northwest.
Mar. 19
Three performances of our poetry show at three different schools in Tukwila. At the first, we arrived first thing in the morning to find some of the kids in the gym riding unicycles. First time we'd seen that at a school!
Mar. 20
Spent a quiet Saturday "at home".
Mar. 21
Took an outing with our friends to the Chittenden Locks in Ballard, where boats transfer between the ocean and Lake Washington, and vice versa. We'd been here once before a few years ago (see previous story) but this time we took the guided tour. On the way back, we passed by the home of Bill Gates, of which all the locals seem to know the location. It sits on the side of a hill overlooking the lake, and dwarfs all the other rich folks' houses surrounding it.
Mar. 22
Drove up to Snohomish to present a performance at a school, and a workshop afterward.
Mar. 23
Had planned to start heading south today, but had so many little odds and ends to take care of that we decided to linger one more night in Seattle.
Mar. 24
Finally, on the road again. Didn't make very good time, because we were delayed nearly two hours by a double-fatality accident just south of Olympia that brought traffic to a complete standstill. Fortunately we were able to exit at a rest stop and wait there instead of on the freeway. Stopped for the night in Salem, Oregon.
Mar. 25
Finished driving to Albany, where we performed at the library-- our third or fourth appearance here. We would have had one more performance here, but our last scheduled appearance, two years ago, had to be cancelled because of a vehicle breakdown en route. (One of only two performances we've completely missed in about the past ten years or so). After the show, we paid a visit to the local YMCA.
Mar. 26
Performed our poetry show at the Carnegie Library in Albany. Then we drove to Eugene, where we again stopped in to visit Kimberly's grandmother.
Mar. 27
Still in Eugene, one of our favorite cities. But after all these years, we still get lost here. Dennis was out running errands and accidentally ended up downtown. But he didn't complain, because he discovered a wonderful music store with all kinds of used (including some very old) instruments, many of which he'd never seen before and couldn't even identify. But one of them was a sitar.
Mar. 28
Still in Eugene, visiting relatives.
Mar. 29
Still in Eugene. Took the van to have the transmission fluid changed again and learned, much to our relief, that the transmission seems to be in great shape. (We got a different report a month ago in Albuquerque.)
Mar. 30
Finally left Eugene and headed toward Coos Bay. Stopped for the obligatory tea and gingerbread at the Gingerbread Village near Mapleton. It's a yearly tradition (in fact, Kimberly used to come here when she was a child living in Eugene). The service is often slow (one year we waited 20 minutes and then left without being served) but the gingerbread is heavenly.
Mar. 31
Coos Bay, Oregon. Stopped in at the library, where we've performed several times, and checked our email. Then went to have a glamorous time at the laundromat.
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