Typical Day on the Road
October 2003
<- September 03 - October 03 - November 03 ->
October 1
Tonowanda, NY (near Buffalo) - Performed 4 shows at 2 schools today - did both shows: Poetry and Stories at each one. We booked these shows when we met the principals back at the NAESP convention in Anaheim, California last April. Turning very cold - could get some snow. Finalized the deal on our new conversion van.
October 2
Moving day!! Spent the day taking care of all of the red tape that goes with getting a new vehicle and moving all of our stuff from the long -term temporary contraption we've been driving to our new office on wheels. (picture) Dennis had to go to the DMV, where he was supposed to present SIX forms of I.D.!!!!!
October 3
Performed in Watertown, New York in the morning and at night we did a show for middle school students during their "Reading Lock In" event. They had storytellers, movies, ice-cream, gym time, swimming, a dance and all kinds of fun activities to do all night long. And every 15 minutes they Dropped Everything And Read (D.E.A.R.) Wish we weren't so tired from moving into our new van; Zephyr would have loved to join them all night.
October 4
Binghamton, NY. Took care of business at Kinko's, then moved into the bookstore for a while.
October 5
Back to Kinko's for a bit, then down to Wilkes-Barre, Pa., where we met our friends for dinner at Olive Garden.
October 6
Marlton, NJ. Kinko's and Borders, etc.
October 7
Performed 3 shows at a school in Blackwood, NJ
October 8
Returned to two St. Mary's Children's Hospitals to do our show for the children. The first was in Queens-- our second time to perform in New York City and for the Children's Hospital. The second was in Ossining. The staff and both places were tremendously hospitable and gave us tons of cookies.
October 9
Bordentown, NJ. Had the muffler, catalytic converter and tailpipe replaced on our new van - which started making noise the day after we bought it!
October 10
Dennis asked all of the students to sing "Happy Birthday" to Kimberly after our show in Marlton, NJ. She's not sure she'll forgive him for that. Later, the Gozas went out to dinner at an Italian restaurant.
October 11
Still in N. J. Tried desperately to find a garage that would look at our left rear wheel, which was making a noise (we feared bad bearings, maybe a bad axle - and thus big bucks, and possibly a delay that would mean missing our show Monday, particularly since today is Saturday of Columbus Day Weekend.) After being brushed off by several places, and escorted across an intersection by a police car (we were traveling so slowly Kimberly had trouble keeping up with Dennis who was walking), we got an Exxon station to look at the van - they discovered that the nuts were loose on all four wheels - but particularly that one, which was about to fall off!!! (They apparently were not tightened properly after a brake inspection, part of the rigorous process required by the state of New York before a vehicle is sold.) We were on our way by noon, only a few bucks lighter,thank heavens.
October 12
Checked into a campground in New Jersey.
October 13
Our first show at a KinderCare. Branchburg, NJ. Hope to do more!
October 14
3 shows in Oxford, Pennsylvania. Just a few miles from the scout camp where Zephyr spent a week back during the summer.
October 15
Performed at a Catholic school in Paterson, NJ and returned to Ramsey for another show at the library (we were there this summer as well). But unlike last time, we did NOT leave a bag of laundry behind.
October 16
In celebration of teen reading week we performed at the library in Stamford, CT. We were right downtown, so parking a van with a trailer was quite problematic. Small turnout (It's hard to bring in an audience for poetry, especially teens, especially on a weeknight.) but the audience that did come was quite responsive.
October 17
Two shows for students in Rocky Hill, CT (booked by another principal we met in Anaheim, CA). On to Hartford to do some work at Kinko's. And it was mandatory, of course, that we go across the street to get a cup of tea from Tisane.
October 18
Camping in Connecticut. Zephyr was able to test out his new fog machine. (Yes, he bought a fog machine purely for his own entertainment) Some of the other campground patrons were rather mystified to see all the fog.
October 19
Back in Hartford. Kinko's and Borders.
October 20
Two shows at a school in East Hartford. On to Boston, where we used our national zoo/museum pass to attend the Boston zoo. But we were able to stay there only about an hour - it closes early in the winter.
October 21
Two shows in Milton, Mass. Then back to Hartford.
October 22
Spent the day in Hartford, then drove to Pennsylvania for a Hometown performance tomorrow--no, no, not OUR hometown. Hometown is the name of the town. It's near Jim Thorpe.
October 23
Performed in Hometown, after watching the first snow we've seen this season, then stopped in Harrisburg to take care of business at Kinko's. Took Zephyr to a nearby movie theater, where he watched "Pirates of the Caribbean" for the THIRD time. Drove on to Honey Grove, a Pennsylvania village in the hills far away from anywhere else. No motels or campground nearby, so we were looking for a parking place to spend the night in the van. Kimberly pulled into a yard, which she thought was a parking lot, and became stuck in the muddy grass. The yard belonged to a mobile home, but there was nobody inside. (We learned later that it probably was a vacation cabin.)
After we tried various futile maneuvers (including unloading a number of things from the back of the van to make it lighter), Dennis decided he'd better head down the hill into "town" to look for a pay phone-- the cell phone was not getting service where we were. By this time it was nearly 10:00 p.m. Taking two flashlights, the cell phone, a walkie-talkie, a bottle of water, a jar of cayenne pepper to fend off any varmints, and a white T-shirt to slip over his coat to make him more visible to approaching motorists, he started the hike of about a mile. There were no streetlights, no cars, and no varmints--just a rushing river somewhere close to the road and a whole sky full of stars. Under different circumstances, it would have been a very pleasant stroll.
When he got into the village (it was not really a town, because there was no post office or grocery store - just a music store, a farm machinery dealer and a mortuary), he quickly saw that there were no pay phones - and that his cell phone still was inoperative. So he had no choice but to knock on some doors. The first one yielded no response. But at the second, a woman came to the door, so he handed her his I.D. and his membership card in Allstate, and asked if she would call a tow truck.
Instead, she and her husband drove him back up the hill in their van, attached a chain to our vehicle and pulled us out themselves. Very grateful for the good samaritans, we drove on to the school and spent what was left of the night parked on its lot.
October 24
Did our show in Honey Grove, then drove on to Lititz, a town where we first performed 11 years ago. We remembered that there was a chocolate factory in town, and it seemed that the whole town smelled like chocolate. We intended to trace the source of the aroma this time, but we had no time because of an emergency that came up. Dennis was eating a (soft) muffin just before the show, and one of his gold crowns fell out. Actually, it wasn't completely out. It was barely hanging by - something, and it didn't come out with gentle pulling, so he thought he'd better leave it alone until he could get to a dentist. (There was no pain, because he'd had a root canal on that tooth many years ago.) So he performed two shows with the tooth threatening to pop out on stage or fall down his throat at any moment. One of the parents arranged an appointment with a dentist in nearby Lancaster, so we rushed there after the show. Unfortunately, the dentist was unable to replace the crown, because the tooth was too far decayed--he said it would require more extensive work than we had time for. But getting it repaired is not urgent. Drove to Allentown (a town celebrated - or mourned - in one of our favorite Billy Joel songs) for the night.
October 25
En route back to Massachusetts. Stopped in Tarreytown and Sleepy Hollow, N. Y., especially for Halloween. Toured the home of Washington Irving, then attended a nighttime Halloween event at Sleepy Hollow with musicians, jugglers, storytellers, and even a headless horseman.
October 26
Returned to Massachusetts.
October 27
Two shows at a Catholic school in Andover, Mass. Then took the van to a nearby shop for some minor maintenance. Went to the nearby Wild Oats Market, the first one we've seen east of Albuquerque. Met up with our friends from Massachusetts, who were traveling in their motorhome, and we began a trek together to Indiana. Made it to the NY/PA border.
October 28
Driving, driving, driving. Kimberly and Zephyr rode in the motorhome with our friends while Dennis tagged behind in the van. Stopped for the night at a campground just north of Pittsburgh.
October 29
On to Akron, Ohio. Took the kids to Inventors Hall Of Fame, which we'd visited a couple of years ago. They especially enjoyed the exploration area where they created a number of projects with hammers, wood, odds and ends. And several short stop motion animation films.
On to Columbus, for a return visit to the fabulous COSI science museum. The city, of course, was named for a brutal, inept navigator who discovered that he was lost; and there's a supposedly very authentic replica of the Santa Maria anchored in the river, which Dennis finally was able to get a look at on a fruitless stroll in search of a post office.
Zephyr who waited two years to get back to the "Adventure Into the Unknown" exhibit, set about to solving some of the hidden secrets which involve a cryptic language, requiring deciphering a hieroglyphic style language.
Earlier we met up with our Ohio friends for breakfast at Cracker Barrel.
October 31
Zephyr's favorite holiday. He's been preparing for months, collecting pieces for his Jack Sparrow costume. (You know, Jack Sparrow - Johnny Depp in "Pirates of the Caribbean" ) and even practicing the accent and mannerisms. After doing two performances at a suburban school, we rejoined our friends at the Indianapolis Children's Museum in time for its 40th annual Haunted House - our fourth consecutive year to attend it. Afterward, we went to our favorite trick-or-treating neighborhood. It's become quite a popular spot, with carloads of kids from other neighborhoods joining us. The booty-gathering was cut a bit short by a sudden deluge that left us all looking like drowned rats.
<- September 03 - October 03 - November 03 ->
