Typical Day on the Road

October 2005

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Oct. 1

Staying in Greenbelt, Md. Drove into D.C. early in the morning to claim a parking space in front of the National Theatre, for our second engagement there. Discovered that people were setting up for an event in the little park across the street. We learned that an AIDS walk was scheduled for this morning, and this was apparently the end point or at least the focal point. We were concerned about this making it difficult for people to get to our performances, but at least we counted our blessings that we weren't scheduled for the preceding weekend when the massive anti-war demonstration was going on.

We had a reasonable turnout, and even though bands were performing across the street during the event, and they could be heard quite easily in the gallery where we were performing, they always seemed to be quite during our shows.

After our performances, we couldn't resist taking a stroll down to the White House (only three blocks away). After the goings-on last week, we were hoping maybe to spot some residual activity. But the only crowd assembled there was a crowd of camera-wielding tourists.

We were too exhausted to do much more walking, so we drove back to our campground. And then, despite our exhaustion, we did some leisurely riding of our bikes around the campground.

Oct. 2

Checked out of the campground at Greenbelt, then started heading south for our next engagement in Virginia. Stopped at a Trader Joe's, then continued on to Roanoke, where we took care of some office work at FedEx Kinko's.

Oct. 3

The first day of a three-day residency at a school in Rocky Mount, Va. Today we presented three performances. But our day began even earlier, with a 7:00 interview at a local cable station. Actually, it was just Zephyr who went to the interview, while Mom and Dad were setting up for the shows. He volunteered to do it (otherwise, there's no way anyone would have been able to rouse him at 6:00 a.m.!)

Oct. 4

A four-show day. First there were three performances during the school day, with students bused in from other schools like yesterday. And then we had an evening show as well, open to the general public. (We presented different stories from those performed during the day.)

Oct. 5

The last day in Rocky Mount, with three more performances at the school. It felt strange to leave our set in the same place for three days; that's a privilege we rarely enjoy, as we often have to set it up several times in one day. On the way out of town, we stopped at the YMCA to relax in the pool for a bit. And then we headed back up to Roanoke. It's a bit out of our way for our next show, but the Fedinko's there is our only opportunity to get some online work done in the meantime.

Oct. 6

Spent mot of this rainy day at FedExKinko's in Roanoke. It's next door to a Fresh Market store, which just opened yesterday, and is drawing such multitudes that it's difficult to get your foot in the door. Outside the door, a jazz trio is playing.

Oct. 7

Headed on to Floyd, Va. for tonight's performance at the June Bug Center. Floyd is a very active town to be no bigger than it is - a blend of aging hippies and more conservative types that has a net effect of being the type of community that you thought was extinct; the people sit on chairs on the sidewalks and have conversations, just as they used to in the Stone Age before television. There also seems to be tremendous local support for the arts; on this same night when we had our performance, there was a country music jamboree, and also a band performing in a dance hall attached to an Internet café; and all three events, evidently, were well attended.

We spent some time at the Internet café, where we met some friends from North Carolina (whom we met a couple of weeks ago in New York City - see 9/15) and they came to the theatre to see our performance.

The June Bug Center was given the nickname of its patron saint, a woman who was a member of the McGraw family of McGraw-Hill fame. It's a performance arts center that offers performances as well as classes in theatre, dance, music and other disciplines. We presented "Alias Don Quixote", and our guest stars were youngsters from the community who have been involved with the center - as well as Zephyr's friends Wylie and Nash from North Carolina.

Oct. 8

Since Floyd reminded us so much of the mythical town of Mayberry on the old Andy Griffith Show, we decided to see the real thing - Mt. Airy, N. C., where Griffith grew up, the town that inspired Mayberry. We pulled into the Visitors' Center first, where we saw a display of quite a number of items pertaining to Griffith's life and career, including the white jacket he wore on his other hit series, "Matlock". Another room in the house was devoted to another Mt. Airy personality, country singer Donna Fargo. ("The Happiest Girl in the Whole U.S.A.") And still another exhibit was dedicated to Chang and Eng, the "original Siamese twins" who also lived in this area, and left a number of descendants.

Elsewhere in town, you can have lunch at Snappy Lunch, a diner on Main Street where Andy used to eat (and which he mentioned on the TV series). It's the place for you if you'd like a pork chop sandwich, but we'll pass. You can take a tour in a squad car just like the one Andy drove on the show. You can spend the night in the house where Griffith grew up. And yes, there really is a Floyd's City Barber Shop with "two chairs, no waiting".

Oct. 9

On to Greensboro, N.C., where mom and dad caught up with Zephyr who went to a movie with several of his homeschool friends who live in the area. They all went to see the movie "The Exorcism of Emily Rose" which they unanimously agreed was a stinker.

Oct. 10

Today would be Kimberly's birthday, if she hadn't stopped having them so many years ago. We're still in Greensboro, so Zephyr got together with the members of the band that they've been putting together, and they actually recorded part of a song, with Zephyr singing lead. It may not have been "awesome", as they say so often, but at least it was quite passable.

Oct. 11

Started making our way back north, stopping in Norfolk, Va. to get some office work done. Having an incredibly difficult time finding anyone to service our trailer axle, which is due for a lubrication.

Oct. 12

Made our way across the long bridge/tunnel traversing Chesapeake Bay, a bridge that snakes under the water at several points to allow ships to pass over its back. Our toll was 16 dollars.

Oct 13

Continued north through Maryland and into Delaware.

Oct. 14

Performed at a school in Smyrna, Delaware, and taught a mask-making workshop to some of the youngsters afterward. Picked up mail, then we continued on up to Frightland, a haunted attraction similar to Field Of Screams. Zephyr has been in touch with management and arranged to volunteer there this weekend, beginning tonight. He got his face spray-painted as a zombie, and worked on the haunted hayride portion of the attraction.

Oct. 15

Zephyr returned to work at Frightland, and didn't get out until 1:30 A.M.!!

Oct. 16

Took a brief ride on our bikes around Fort Dupont State Park in Delaware. This turned out to be possibly the best biking area we've encountered yet. The fort was an active military installation from the Civil War through World War II. During the latter, it was among other things a POW camp. The military aspect of the facility seems to be a thing of the past now, and the property has been put to other uses over the years. The buildings now, though in good repair, are mostly boarded up; others are used for housing and other purposes which were by no means clear to us. In addition to the mostly deserted paved streets, we had the opportunity to try out our bikes on some off-road trails for the first time, and we thoroughly enjoyed it - especially since we rode by some of the ruins of military buildings. We felt like explorers in a jungle! We were sorry that we had such a brief time for this bicycle tour, but we had to get Zephyr back to "work" one more night at Frightland, or else the universe would have imploded. Fortunately, it being a Sunday, he was not there nearly as late tonight as last night.

Oct. 17

Drove to Medford Lakes, NJ for tomorrow's shows, after stopping in Marlton to stock up at Trader Joe's.

Oct. 18

Two performances at a school in Medford Lakes. This is the most picturesque town we've seen in this state, and one of the most picturesque we've seen anywhere. It reminds us somewhat of the Lake Tahoe area - very rustic, with many of the houses and commercial buildings constructed as log cabins. Even though we were rather tired after performing, we couldn't resist taking our bikes for a spin on some of the many bicycle paths. This is just about the most bicycle-friendly town we've ever seen. In fact, at the first school we performed, we noticed dozens and dozens of bicycles parked outside, and once school was dismissed, there was an explosion of bikes all over town.

Oct. 19

Took a bicycle tour of Princeton, and it was our first time actually to get a glimpse of the university. Stopped to walk through the Mercer House, sitting on the property of an important Revolutionary War battle. Formerly, our guide told us, there had been a tree on this property, a majestic old tree about which many legends had evolved. Some say it was under this tree that Mr. Mercer was wounded, others say that he died under it, et., etc. All of the legends are untrue; it was just a very old, but quite ordinary tree. But that didn't prevent people from making a landmark event of its collapse, and offering advice on how to restore it, and even holding a memorial service for it.

Oct. 20

Hackettstown, N.J. Dennis and Kimberly spent the day on their computers at Panera. Zephyr went to the theatre next door to see the movie "Serenity", which he loved. Then on to an evening show at the library, after which Kimberly taught an ASL workshop. We had some online friends meet us at the show (from FOTR - Families on the Road). You can check out the pictures and read about the show at their site: Free Range Family (scroll down towards the bottom - lots of slow loading pictures)

Oct. 21

Cranford, N. J. Returned to perform at Solomon Schecter Day School, where we did a show a couple of years ago. After the performance, the students participated in some kind of traditional Jewish ceremony, which we found fascinating to observe. One teacher told us that one of her second-graders had asked if we felt uncomfortable about being there when we're not Jewish ourselves. What an amazing display of consideration for one so young!

Oct. 22

Wilkes-Barre, Pa. Met our friends for dinner at The Olive Garden. Today, the fall colors seem to have appeared suddenly out of nowhere.

Oct. 23

Dropped Zephyr off at our friends' house while we went to catch up on some more work. He went to see the girls' soccer game, (They won.) and then came back to the house so he and the other kids could make a movie in the basement. Then we came back in time to have dinner and take him off their hands.

Oct. 24

Returned to a school in Milroy, Pa. where had performed several years ago. (Four? Five? We couldn't remember.)

Oct. 25

Lewistown, Pa. Arrived to perform at a school, and nobody there seemed to know that we were coming. Apparently, there had been a lack of communication somewhere along the line; but after consulting our records and conferring with the officials, it was decided we would go ahead with the program.

Oct. 26

Hartford, Ct. Spent the better part of the day at the Kinko's, and at Tisane, the rather excellent coffee and tea shop across the street (we've plugged it before) which also has Internet access. Then continued driving to Massachusetts, stopping along the way to correct a wiring problem that had caused our tail lights to stop working.

Today we heard the disturbing news that the American casualty count in Iraq has passed 2000.

Oct. 27

Performed at a school in Swampscott, Mass., then drove into nearby Salem. Took Zephyr to the Museum of Myths and Monsters, with whom he's been trying to land a (paying) job working at their haunted house over the weekend. But they haven't been very responsive, so he stopped in to chat with them in person. Still doesn't look very promising that he actually will be able to work, but they have no doubt now that he's serious and even fanatical about it. After picking up our mail at the post office, we headed to Winter Island, where we'll be camping for the next 5 days.

Oct. 28

Hopped on our bicycles and headed into town (only a couple of miles from the campground) expecting to make a day of playing tourist. But we stopped by Witch Village (the museum operated by practicing wiccans - we wrote about it three years ago) to see if Zephyr could work at the haunted house there, since we still haven't received word from the other place. Not only were they eager to put him to work, but they said they also could offer his parents jobs for the weekend! We decided we'd take them up on it, since (a) it would give us a good opportunity to watch all the festivities from a different perspective, and (b) we'd have to escort Zephyr to work and back anyway. (Parking is always tough in the heart of Salem and impossible at Halloween, so we were planning to bicycle to his job and back.)

So just like that, we punched a time clock and started working, for the first time in years, for someone besides ourselves. Zephyr (who happened to bring one of his own costumes along, which met management approval) was stationed inside Witch Village, where he could frighten the wits out of unsuspecting patrons to his heart's content. Kimberly was trained as a cashier so she could sell tickets to the various events. (In addition to the haunted house constructed inside the Witch Village museum, there was another haunted house at a museum beside it, as well as a wax museum in which a third haunted attraction was to be stationed, and also walking tours of the adjacent cemetery and other haunted sites in town. These attractions were all under the same management.) Dennis was given a Security jacket so he could escort the walking tours - a task he found quite agreeable, as he (a) loves to walk (b) loves history and (c) loves Salem.

After a couple of hours of training, Dennis and Kimberly took a break to run some errands - including rounding up some munchies - but wild zombies couldn't have dragged Zephyr outside. We also stopped by Salem Cycle to purchase lights for our bicycles so we could ride them "home" after work. The lights for all of our bicycles came to over $150; but Salem Cycle was an excellent bike shop with a very helpful staff. And we love their logo of a witch riding a bicycle with the broom attached!

Then we resumed work in the evening, as the crowds began to grow thick. The activities wound down around midnight, and as we rode our bikes back to the campground, we found ourselves wishing we'd brought along our winter coats.

Oct. 29

This morning we learned the true meaning of Winter Island: we awoke to find snow falling on our campground. It slacked off about noon, just in time for us to hop on our bicycles (after bundling up against the cold this time) and pedaling back into town for the second day at our new jobs.

It was an even busier day than yesterday, and the evening was especially busy. Kimberly was again placed outside at the ticket booth, but she doesn't thrive very well in the cold, so she was pleased later when she was able to get transferred to the gift shop in Witch Village, next to an electric heater. Dennis continued making the rounds with the walking tours, even though the snow picked up again, and fell quite heavily for a time - enough to cover the ground completely. About sunset, the snow turned to light rain, and the walking tours continued to draw big crowds. And Dennis continued to be their security, though he decided to duck into a gift shop at one point and purchase an umbrella. And Zephyr, of course, found life to be sheer bliss inside the haunted house.

Oct. 30

What a switch from yesterday! The sun came out and the precipitation was all gone - not a trace of snow left on the ground, and we're back to wearing T-shirts. It reminded us of the old saying to the effect that if you don't like the weather in New England, just wait a minute.

Today and tonight were even busier than yesterday and last night. This time, Zephyr was able to work in the other haunted house, Hall Of Illusions, which he liked much better than the first. It featured 3-D effects (guests were issued those funny little glasses) and Zephyr was even able to wield (oh joy, oh bliss) a CHAINSAW!! He was in Hog Heaven.

Dennis continued escorting the tours, and is beginning to feel qualified to be a tour guide himself, having heard the spiel dozens of times. There are also several other companies in town that offer similar tours, and some of them, like ours, issue candles for the guests to carry. (The candles are inserted into plastic cups to catch drips and shield off the wind.) Our group frequently crosses paths with the other groups, all of whom seem to be doing a booming business this weekend.

We were able to leave work a little earlier tonight - shortly after 11:00 instead of shortly after midnight - but it still had been a long day especially for Kimberly and Zephyr, both of whom came in about noon. (Dennis spent a couple of hours running errands before reporting.)

Oct. 31

The big day has arrived. At first, things were very slow, since it was a weekday. Had virtually no customers for the walking tours all afternoon. But the evening was by far the most frenzied yet. It was another warm day, and relatively warm night, so the crowds came out with a vengeance. The streets were closed to traffic, as there is no way anyone could have driven through all the bodies in costume. There was Batman after Batman and Darth Vader upon Darth Vader, and one ghoul after another. One of the funniest was a man posing as fitness guru Richard Simmons, jogging down the street in his shorts, T-shirt and frizzy hair, exhorting everyone to work out in a peppy voice. A few unicyclists also managed to find a path through the mob.

In the midst of the multitude was a small group bearing signs warning that the end of the world is still near, and urging everyone to repent. One sign featured a long roster of designated "evildoers", including atheists, Catholics, Mormons, gays and Buddhists. (Is there anyone these folks DO like?) Their presence caused a few verbal confrontations, but nothing serious - the police presence was strong, not only from the Salem department, but also from surrounding communities like Peabody and Marblehead. There was even a mounted patrol from Boston.

The walking tours became virtually impossible to navigate through the crush of people. And security personnel seemed short-handed tonight. On one tour, Kimberly joined Dennis as an escort, since we were supposed to have two security people on each tour and nobody else was available. Kimberly was glad to oblige, since she'd been stuck in the information booth most of the night, and didn't feel very informative. Throughout this long weekend, many tourists have seen us in our yellow jackets, and asked for directions to the train station, or the Dunkin Donuts, or the nearest ATM, or the best place to eat; and we did our best to help them, but it took us most of the weekend to learn our way around ourselves.

Zephyr was again back in his paradise of terror all night. At about midnight, everyone in the crowd magically turned back into a pumpkin, and we biked back "home" one more time.

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