Typical Day on the Road

May 2003

<- April 03 - May 03 - June 03 ->

 

May 1

10:00 shopping for Mother's Day in Rocklin, CA
1:00 practicing knots and getting ready for a Scout Camporee this weekend in SF Bay Area
4:00 performing "Act!vated Poetry" at Rancho Cordova Library, Sacramento, CA
7:00 Stuffing our faces with pizza, then stuffing teddy bears with stuffing and buying stuff for them at Build-A-Bear with Kimberly's brother and family. (Sacramento)

May 2

1:00 Laundry in Dixon, Ca. Whoopee.
4:00 Picking up some Scout supplies, Pleasant Hill, CA
7:00 Settling in to camp at one of our favorite campgrounds: Lake Chabot, at the top of a long winding road in Castro Valley, CA

May 3

10:00 Camporee was cancelled - too much rain for the park rangers to get the thigh-high grass mowed
1:00 Climbing the walls - literally. We met up with our friends' Scout Troop and are belaying, climbing and dangling in our rope harness on the 35 foot high walls - Walnut Creek, CA
4:00 Reading at Borders, Pleasant Hill, CA
7:00 Eating dinner with our friends (16-year-old Kyle, who just made Eagle Scout, was the 3-year-old ring-bearer at our wedding)

May 4

10:00 Riding BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) to "the city" San Francisco, CA
1:00 Hiking up Twin Peaks, and up, and up and up
4:00 Swinging a bat at softballs. Playing softball with a bunch of actor friends. San Francisco, CA. (Our side lost on a dramatic 3-run homer in the bottom of whatever the last inning was.) Cookout afterward.
7:00 Riding BART to our "home" at Lake Chabot

May 5

10:00 Enjoying the eucalyptus trees at the campground
1:00 Rehearsing our new show at the campground
7:00 Roasting potatoes, corn and soy dogs on an open fire.

May 6

10:00 Setting up for a performance at a pre-school in Berkeley.
1:00 Using the computers at the San Leandro Library. Took a tour of the remodeled building---quite impressive.
4:00 Still working out the kinks from Sunday's softball game.

May 7

10:00 Performing at a school in Hayward---the one that rescheduled after our van broke down in March.
1:00 Nestled in at Kinko's in Union City, catching up on a great deal of Internet work. (Been surprisingly difficult to get our lap tops on line in the Bay Area)
4:00 Driving past Kimberly's old high school in Hayward, CA (Hello! Moreau)
7:00 Wishing Paul Bunyan and Babe had straightened out the road to Lake Chabot Campground - but where else can you stay for under $20 a night in the SF Bay Area

5/8/03

10.00 Zephyr cooking "Egyptian Eyes" /" Cowboy Eggs" on an open fire for breakfast
1:00 Just beginning a 7-mile hike in the hills of Lake Chabot
4:00 Just made it back, checking for ticks and falling into our camp chairs
7:00 Getting publicity materials ready for our summer shows

5/9/03

10:00 Making our way to George Lucas' hometown to perform at one of the schools
1:00 Performing "Star-Spangled Stories" for the last time at a school, San Rafael, CA
4:00 Crossing the San Rafael bridge, Zephyr is studying First Aid (such a good Boy Scout)
7:00 Laundry's done, stuffing it in the van, Alameda, CA

5/10/03

10:00 Striking camp and battening down the hatches
1:00 Checking an odd noise coming from the back of the van - it was our garden hose falling out of the spare tire on the trailer hitch, all is well.
4:00 Just performed the finale of "Star-Spangled Stories" at the multicultural fair at the San Leandro Library. The San Francisco Bay Area was a fitting place to retire "The Iron Dragon" a story told by Chinese Immigrants who settled in the Golden State.
7:00 Traffic started to back up and a Kinko's appeared, so we made a pit stop in Vacaville. Grabbed a burrito and some ice-cream to celebrate a successful "Star-Spangled" year and continued heading east.

5/11/03

10:00 arriving in "The Biggest Little City in the World" Reno, NV
1:00 our annual visit to our storage unit. Putting away the props from "Star-Spangled Stories" and finding what we need for "Eureka! Tales of Discovery"
4:00 finishing up at storage
7:00 mothers day dinner with Kimberly's mother and grandmother, Reno, NV

5/12/03

10:00 Buying bread at Eric Schatt's Bakkery in Bishop, CA. We planned our route just so we could be here in the morning.
1:00 touring Manzanar -one of the camps where the Japanese-Americans where put during World War II, between Independence and Lone Pine, CA on 395
4:00 rehearsing ASL (American Sign Language) for the new show, in a desert on 395
7:00 discussing props for the show, eating dinner which we just microwaved at gas stop, while looking at all of the windmills on the windmill farm heading east on I-10 - Cabazon, ca

5/13/03

10:00 passing the 1st rest stop in AZ on I-10 the windmills have become Sonora cacti
1:00 tying knots, waving at ostriches and getting poster ready to mail to help publicize our summer shows - somewhere between Tucson and Phoenix
4:00 Escaping the heat in Tucson. Kimberly and Zephyr are at Kinkos. Dennis is at the Post Office.
7:00 Trader Joes, Tucson, AZ

5/14/03

10:00 (changed to new time zone - lost an hour) washing the graveyard of bugs off our window, Las Cruces, NM
1:00 got a new tire and did some prop shopping in El Paso, TX - waving "HI" to Mexico
4:15 switch to Central Time Zone - no 4:00 for us today. Entering Van Horn, TX
7:00 Dennis is working on posters again, Zephyr is "Imagineering" (pretending he works for Disney) and Kimberly is studying Illustrator while she drives - ?, TX (last sign said 77 miles to Ozona)

5/15/03 (Full Texas Story)

10:00 taking an un-scenic route looking for the Alamo, San Antonio, TX
1:00 found the Alamo at last. This was our third visit over the years. The first time we went Zephyr was 2 and two years later we went with the cast from "A Christmas Carol".
4:00 720 miles on one road in one state is too many! 50 miles to go until Houston. Can you say monotonous.
7:00 looked at a van a friend from the Internet found for us on the Internet (love modern technology) and did some more prop shopping. Houston, TX
9:30 watched the Lunar Eclipse in Lake Jackson, TX

5/15/03

10:00 washing sets, costumes and material to make more sets and costumes - Lake Jackson, TX
1:00 there was a lot of stuff to wash, just about done
4:00 checking in to our "home" for a week in Freeport, TX
7:00 no phones in our "miniature 3 story apartment" (we can get online in the laundry room), nothing to do but work on the show, and get distracted by the ocean. We are so close to the Gulf of Mexico that all of the buildings here are on stilts!

5/16/03

Sewing costumes and sets, building props, rehearsing the new show "Eureka! Tales of Discovery" and swimming. Freeport, TX

5/17/03

Sewing costumes and sets, building props, rehearsing the new show "Eureka! Tales of Discovery" and swimming. Freeport, TX

5/18/03

Sewing costumes and sets, building props, rehearsing the new show "Eureka! Tales of Discovery" and swimming. Freeport, TX

5/19/03

Sewing costumes and sets, building props, rehearsing the new show "Eureka! Tales of Discovery" and swimming. Freeport, TX

5/20/03

Sewing costumes and sets, building props, rehearsing the new show "Eureka! Tales of Discovery" and swimming. Freeport, TX

5/21/03

Sewing costumes and sets, building props, rehearsing the new show "Eureka! Tales of Discovery" and swimming. Freeport, TX

5/22/03

Sewing costumes and sets, building props, rehearsing the new show "Eureka! Tales of Discovery" and swimming. Freeport, TX (do you sense a pattern here?)

5/23/03

10:00 Check out time, Freeport, TX
1:00 drive tour of Galveston, TX - unique town, lots of fisherman standing waist deep in the ocean casting their lines, a couple of surfers are trying to catch the wimpy waves
4:00 at the library checking email
7:00 Getting ready to see "Greater Tuna" a play Dennis and Kimberly saw 15 years ago in San Francisco - the same original cast is here in Galveston performing

5/24/03

10:00 still in Galveston
1:00 at the library again (like their high speed Internet access)
4:00 rehearsing at a park near the library
7:00 shopping for props in Galveston, TX (props is the short word for "properties" or things the actors use on stage)

5/25/03

10:00 going through security at the Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX
1:00 at the Space Center - we met up with another Family on the Road (FOTR) and are seeing all of the exhibits with them. Zephyr is enjoying the play area with the 5-year-old, and chasing the 14-month-old around.
4:00 going to dinner with our fellow travelers and new friends
7:00 heading east - hoping to make it to New Orleans by tomorrow for a quick drive by tour, we are due to check in to a motel in Memphis for a week starting Tuesday to finish putting the show together
* 9:00 pulling in to an auto garage for the night, the van is sputtering and we want to get it looked at first thing in the morning Beaumont, TX

5/26/03

*8:00 mechanics opened at 7:00 and said we are good to go after replacing the fuel filter - we're thankful they we're open on Memorial Day
10:00 rehearsing in Orange, TX (on the border of Louisiana)
1:00 buying ice tea in Baton Rouge, LA
4:00 Dennis is pulling the engine apart to try to fix whatever it is that continues to make us stall - the rotor? ignition coil? pcv valve?; Kimberly doing what she always does when we have engine problems (making the best of the time by cleaning out the van); Zephyr enjoying the incoming storm and cooler weather. Amite, LA - plans to go to New Orleans have gone out the window (oh well, it's only been 8 years since we've been this close - maybe next time!)
7:00 Kimberly is talking to her dad to see what he thinks is causing the engine to misbehave. He thinks it might be dirty gas tanks or the fuel injectors. We're pushing on hoping to make it to Memphis to get the van to a shop. At mile marker #28 on I-55, Mississippi

5/27/03

10:00 engine continues to sputter as we continue to head north, we're planning lots of stops today to let the van rest . On I-55, 180-mile marker, MS
1:00 Wal-Mart has decided not to take our check after we spent an hour-and-half shopping Batesville, MS (this rarely happens in this electronic age, we happened upon a Wal-Mart that doesn't yet use the check authorization network)
4:00 leaving Wal-Mart with our things Southaven, MS
7:00 made it to Memphis!! We are relieved the van got us here. Now we can get back to working on the show.

5/28/03 - Memphis, TN

10:00 van is in the shop but the mechanic can't find anything wrong. We've asked them to check again and are waiting to hear back. Ughh! Memphis, TN
1:00 mechanic said they couldn't find anything wrong. We told them to look again. Dennis is cutting customers out of posterboard for the "Ice Cream Cone" story; Zephyr is painting zalabia; Kimberly is sewing felt candles on to Vasalisa's house
4:00 rehearsing Vasalisa for our new show. The mechanic is replacing one of three fuel pumps on the van - let's hope that fixes the problem.
7:00 Kimberly is sewing the set for the 1904 World's Fair (to be used in the "Ice Cream Cone" story).

5/29/03 - Memphis, TN

10:00 Dennis picking up the van; Kimberly is designing; Zephyr is doing math
1:00 Zephyr is using an art program to make books for Baba Yaga's set; Dennis is making Baba Yaga's mask; Kimberly is stitching together a tree top on the set
4:00 Dennis looking for more things to make props at the hardware store; Kimberly is sewing a fabric jar for buggy critters to put on the set; Zephyr is making a gargoyle for Baba Yaga's house
7:00 rehearsing "The Golden Pitcher"

5/30/03

10:00 Dennis taking van in to transmission shop for routine service (don't want to take any chances this summer with our busy schedule)
1:00 Dennis and Zephyr making props for the show, Kimberly sewing the large oversized book/set (yes, we pack her beloved sewing machine with us)
4:00 Zephyr sewing jumbo sized ice cream, Kimberly sewing the set
7:00 still working on props and the set

5/31/03

In motel room putting show together. Kimberly logged a solid 15 hours behind the sewing machine, in addition to the 12 or more yesterday.

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