Typical Day on the Road

October 2006

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Oct. 1

Zephyr returned to volunteer a few hours at the haunted attraction near Olympia, and saw that considerable progress has been made, even without him, since the last time we were here.

Oct. 2

Drove south to Vancouver, Wa. Dropped in at the YMCA for a brief workout before continuing on to Portland.

Oct. 3

Portland, Or. We did some shopping for fabric, in preparation for the upcoming opening of our new shows. We went to a place that we'd heard about several weeks ago, a store called Fabric Depot. It bills itself as the largest fabric store in the West, but we think that must include the whole western hemisphere. It's a huge offering of fabrics and craft items, as well as a sewing school. The prices were generally a bit high, but we found some excellent sale prices.

Oct. 4

After a brief drop-in at an Internet café in the scenic town of Hood River, Or., we drove to nearby Odell for a performance and some workshops at an after-school program. Then we started driving back through Portland and farther south. This time, unlike our drive in last night, we had a view of the Columbia River in the daytime, even catching a glimpse of Multnomah Falls and a couple of classic riverboats.

Oct. 5

Sweet Home, Or. Two daytime performances and an evening performance at the same school. There was a mix-up about the times, so we ended up arriving an hour early this morning, which is certainly better than arriving an hour late. This evening's performance was attended by Kimberly's aunt and uncle, Virgie and Chuck.

Oct. 6

Back in Eugene, visiting Kimberly's grandmother, who has not been feeling well.

Oct. 7

Still visiting relatives in Eugene. Kimberly's cousin Matt came by and was kind enough to repair a plumbing problem for us on our RV.

Oct. 8

Kimberly and Dennis rode the fantastic bicycle trails in Eugene again.

Oct. 9

Said goodbye to the folks and headed out of Eugene toward the coast. Made the mandatory stop the Gingerbread Village restaurant in Mapleton, for our mandatory gingerbread and ice cream. This place has been a local landmark for 40 years, and Kimberly used to come here as a child when she lived in Oregon.

On to Florence, where we made the mandatory stop at Sea Lion Caves, featuring the world's largest sea lion cave. Today, for some reason, the beasts that are often mistaken for seals were nowhere in the cave, nor were they sunning themselves on the rocks, as they so often do. Instead, they were all taking a dip.

Coos Bay, OR., where we spent most of the day doing computer work at the library where we've performed many times.

It was Kimberly's birthday, and we decided to go out for dinner this evening. We had a promising restaurant picked out in Coos Bay, but discovered that it was closed for a couple of weeks. So we went into nearby North Bend, where we checked out a Mediterranean restaurant (menu looked good, but the place smelled like meat), and looked in vain for an Italian restaurant that we'd seen listed. In the process, we stumbled upon a French restaurant called Caffe 2000, where we asked if there were any vegetarian entrees to be had. They said they'd be glad to whip up something, so we stayed, and we were very glad we did We don't know exactly what we were served, except that it was mushrooms and sauce in a French pastry shell, with some kind of exquisite vegetables on the side, as well as an excellent salad and soup. The place has a quaint, but unpretentious décor that seems to hearken back to the Forties or so. On the walls were paintings by the daughter of the chef. This place turned out to be the perfect find for a birthday dinner - and to think we found it by accident while searching for other places.

Oct. 11

Had a scenic drive down the coast, the rest of the way to Brookings, OR., where we had a return engagement at the library. (We performed here back during the summer.) Zephyr presented a well-attended Young Author program in the afternoon, and then in the evening we performed "Alias Don Quixote" for an appreciative crowd.

Oct. 12

A gorgeous mountain drive from Crescent City, Ca. (where we stayed last night) to Ashland, Oregon, through forests and rocky cliffs and a ruffling river.

Ashland is one of our favorite destinations, a small town with a very big heart, and lots of culture packed into a rather tight area. It is, of course, home of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, as well as many artists of various stripes, assorted bohemians and hippies of all ages. The shops and restaurants lining the streets are as cosmopolitan as any you'd find in a major city, and yet all the residents seem to know each other by name.

We settled into an Internet café, one of many to choose from (this one was inside a bookstore) and did some work for most of the afternoon. We got in touch with John Javna, a local author, publisher, philanthropist, activist and generally incredible character, who dropped by to visit us for a while. He gave us an entire box full of copies of his latest book to distribute to people for free as we travel the country. And we're happy to do so, especially given the book's socially constructive content.

After a brief workout at the YMCA, we made the long, curvaceous, hilly drive to Klamath Falls, home of tomorrow's engagement.

Oct.13

Yes, it was Friday. We performed in Klamath Falls OR., then went on a little bike ride, then headed back to Ashland.

Oct. 14

Ashland, Oregon. We began the day with a backstage tour at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, a tour conducted by a perennial actor with the Festival who was an excellent tour guide. We went backstage at the Bowmer Theatre (where we saw "Comedy of Errors" a few years ago) and the Elizabethan Stage, which was America's first Elizabethan Theatre. And we saw the Display Room, which had 11 chandeliers that have been used in various productions, and other interesting props, including a miniature building that converts into a vanity for a scene change. Our guide showed us around with a depth of knowledge, zeal and good humor. He answered some very tough questions (some of which might have been essays for a PhD thesis) quite adroitly.

We also went back down to Science Works, the children's museum started by our friends; and Zephyr helped them get together a haunted house they are planning for Halloween.

Oct. 15

Drove down to Mt. Shasta, where we were intending to take a bicycle ride. We did, over a very hilly road, and ended up at the starting point for the tour of Lake Shasta Caverns. So we decided to take the tour, even though it lasted for 2 hours. It began with a boat ride across Lake Shasta, the second largest manmade lake in the country. It's 400 to 1200 feet deep, and FIVE old towns are buried under its waters. It also features the second largest dam in the nation. We were told by our guide (a perky young lady named Estrella, which is Spanish for Star, which is what she preferred to be called) that sturgeon in this lake grow to be up to THIRTY feet long, which really sounds like a fish story.

Off the boat, we boarded a bus to crawl up the mountain at a grade of 17 percent, coming at one point very close to the edge with a drop of 800 feet below. It looked as if a hiccup would have caused us to go plunging down the side. The bus deposited us at the entrance to the caverns, and we spent the next hour or so marveling at formations such as stalagmites, stalactites (some broken ones revealed a cross-section somewhat like that of a tomato) relatively rare anomalies called halactites, columns, and formations in the shape of dragons, elves, castles, etc.

Once we exited the caverns, our guide pointed out some edible botany on the path back down the hill, including some bay leaves, of which we snagged a few.

Back across the lake to where our bicycles were parked, and we rode them back to our RV, a distance of about a mile and a half - mostly uphill this time, and the rain that had been threatening to appear did so only in a cameo role.

Oct 16

Redding, CA. Put in some time at the library and the YMCA, then began looking for an Internet café. Had a difficult time finding one that was still open, and on the way we stumbled upon the Sundial Bridge, a curious structure across a shallow river with quite a few rapids and one fisherman wading in it. We were uncertain about the bridge's name. Was it supposed to look like a sundial? It didn't, exactly, though it did look somewhat like a harp with those long, thick cables extending from the tower down to the bridge proper. (Actually it looked like the Vulcan harp that Mr. Spock used to play.) Was it supposed to tell time with the aid of the sun? We saw no indication of how that might happen, and there was no plaque explaining it. Whatever the case, it was something to gawk at.

Oct. 17

Two performances, at two different schools in Orland, CA. We were quite impressed by how well the school had prepared the students for our appearance by studying our website. And we were impressed by the interesting questions the students asked us during the question-and-answer session after our show.

Oct. 18

Two more performances for the same school district - one school in Orland and one in Princeton. We are so impressed with how our contact, Anna, prepared the students for our show and also how she provided us with lunch - something we certainly don't always get!

On toward Sacramento. We stopped in Colusa in an attempt to get online at an Internet café, but were unsuccessful, so we just forged our way through rush hour traffic to the home of Kimberly's brother Chris, where we spent the night.

Oct. 19

Our bazillionth return engagement at the Rancho Cordova Library, to which we're always happy to return. Hiya, Mr. Tim! Today we had a repeat performance of "Alias Don Quixote".

Oct. 20

Yet another performance at Rancho Cordova, this time presenting "Song of Mulan" and "Emperor's New Clothes". In the evening we met Kimberly's brother and his family to play Laser Tag, our first time ever to participate in this high-tech form of recreation. Our team played against a bunch of teenage girls, and we defeated them readily, although one of their team scored the highest overall. (Zephyr was second and Dennis was fourth.)

Oct. 21

Kimberly's parents came to Sacramento from Reno and took all of us out to breakfast. Then we started driving toward San Francisco. We stopped in Vacaville at a factory outlet center to do some clothes shopping -- a rather unusual activity for us. And we actually bought a few things!

Oct. 22

Performed at the Jewish Community Center in San Francisco, our first time ever. We were only a few blocks away from the former site of St. Benedict's Church, where Dennis and Kimberly were married -- and from whom we rented office space during our first two years in business. We had an appreciative audience, although it was rather small because the Center had a full day of activities, including a "big ticket" performer who had a show going on at the same time as ours! After the show, we chatted a bit with Karina, who was Zephyr's babysitter back when he was a wee tot, and who arranged this appearance for us at the JCC, where she's been active for years.

Then we drove down to Golden Gate Park, where the plan was to take a bike ride. But everyone except Dennis was too tired to carry through on this plan, so he pedaled solo the length of the park, including the infamous Panhandle, and also all along the Great Highway by Ocean Beach. We were just a few blocks from the little cottage where we used to live all those centuries ago.

Oct. 23

After taking care of some errands in South San Francisco, we rode BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) into the city, where Zephyr met up with his friend Libby in Union Square. It was the first time we'd been in this part of town, where the theatre district is located, in several years.

Oct. 24

Spent most of the day at the Livermore Library (where we performed back during the summer) catching up on computer work. Then we headed to Tracy, site of tomorrow's performances.

Oct. 25

Three performances at one school in Tracy, beginning at 8:30 a.m. (which of course made our teenager very chipper). The last performance was our finale for "Alias Don Quixote" which it seems we've been doing forever. We'll put it into mothballs for the third time, and - who knows, maybe we'll resurrect it a fourth time someday.

In the afternoon it was back to the Livermore Library.

Oct. 26

We pulled into the Santa Clara Co. Fairgrounds in San Jose, where Zephyr has arranged to work at a haunted house during the next few nights. We were hoping to be able to stay on the premises during this time, as RV parks around here are expensive. There is such a park on the premises, but we found out from talking to a security guard that it would be 25 dollars per night, which isn't bad, but then we'd have to unhitch our trailer somewhere or it would be an extra 10 per night! Fortunately, when the owners of the haunted house finally came, we were told that we could park out back by the attraction for free, and there was even a source of water and electricity. So Zephyr, who's put in plenty of time in haunted houses on the East Coast, had his first night of scaring the wits out of people on this side of the continent.

Oct. 27

We biked into downtown San Jose, a distance of about 2 miles, to put in some time at an Internet café. At least Mom and Dad did. Zephyr went to a nearby movie theatre to watch "Saw 3", having not yet learned his lesson from the first two. Later, he put in his second night at the haunted house, and Mom and Dad put in their second night of figuring out what to do with a telephone that was suddenly unattached to a teenage ear.

Oct. 28

Still at the Santa Clara Co. Fairgrounds in San Jose. Today we biked to a laundromat and did a load of laundry each. Passed by the other side of the Fairgrounds, where a gun show is in progress. Yeee-ha, line up them tin cans, boys.

Tonight, while Zephyr was sweating it out in the haunted house, his parents biked downtown to see a performance at ComedySportz, which is a franchised organization that presents competitive improvised comedy in various cities across the U.S.

Oct. 29

We had our first overnight guest in our "new" RV: Zephyr's friend Libby, who came to help out in the haunted house. So now we had two teenagers dressed in macabre makeup and costumes.

The parents intended to spend a quiet night at home, but a Hispanic radio station that was sponsoring the haunted house set up camp on the grounds and started blasted our eardrums with salsa speakers seemed to be pointed directly at us. So we decided on the spur of the moment - and a rather sharp spur it was at that - to again bike downtown and attend a movie. We saw "Man of the Year", except for the first few minutes, as we arrived late. But we may see it again sometime - we were thoroughly entertained, even though the ending was a bit weak.

Oct. 30

Libby's mother came to pick her up in the afternoon, and Zephyr of course went back to work in the haunted house this evening. Dennis and Kimberly again bicycled (at separate times this time) downtime to indulge in some wi-fi.

Oct. 31

Today is the big enchilada, or rather the big pumpkin pie. We began the day with a 7-mile (each way) bicycle ride from the Santa Clara Fairgrounds to Rosicrucian Park, the world headquarters of the Rosicrucian Order (officially known as the Ancient and Mystical Order of Rosae Crucis, or AMORC) a non-religious spiritual society that traces its roots back to antiquity.

The park takes up an entire city block, and takes you back in time to ancient Egypt with its architecture and sculpture. The reason we went there was to visit the Egyptian Museum, a fascinating collection of relics 4000 years old or more - including several mummies (not only human, but a fish mummy, a gazelle mummy and a cat mummy or two.)

Then we biked back to the Fairgrounds so Zephyr could finish up at the haunted house. Only it wasn't just Zephyr this time. Tonight, of all nights, the staff was short-handed; it seems that many of the volunteers took off to go celebrate Halloween. (Is that like a priest not coming to church because he wants Sunday off?) So they recruited Kimberly to be a spectral spinster. Yes, she was heavily made up to pull off the role, looking as if she's jumped into a vat of flour. Dennis couldn't resist taking a tour of the attraction himself to let the rest of the family scare him in different ways than usual.

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