(18) Lowell, Massachusetts

Saturday, November 1st: We woke up and drove 428 miles(2808 miles total) to Milford, CT. It was a long drive because we weren’t on real highways as we drove up the Eastern Shores of Virginia and Maryland and then all the way across Delaware. Once we hit the New Jersey Turnpike things were much better and the ride went well. A group of people went to Uno’s for dinner which was great after the long day.

Sunday, November 2nd. We drove another 163 miles(2971 total miles) to Lowell, Massachusetts. Caroline and I went to the mall in the afternoon. It was humorous because we drove about 10 miles and went to the Pheasant Mall in Nashua, New Hampshire. We hadn’t even crossed the state line of the highway when we turned off into New Hampshire. I walked around a bit to stretch my legs and almost bought a zip up hoodie at target but didn’t. That night we loaded in at UMass Lowell. It was a very interesting venue because it was our first all student crew. They were music students, mostly performance and music business majors. It brought back strong memories of college when I’d get to work with the musical theatre and drama students in the shop. Unfortunately, it made everything take a little bit longer than expected. We started at 7:00pm and most people were cut at 11:00pm. Eric and the Production Manager decided to stay an extra house to finish up some lighting work so I took the rest of the crew home and came back for Eric. We left the theatre just after midnight and were in the hotel by 12:30am. The house for this theatre was not square which was causing Rudy some issues with the mix for the show. So Rudy and I planned on coming back in at 7:00am so that he could listen to the show with no other work going on. That night when I got back to my room, it was very cold. I tried to meet with the thermostat but it wasn’t working. I called the hotel front desk and they said I had to wait about 15 minutes for the radiator to kick on. I turned the thermostat up higher and waited and nothing happened. Finally, I went to the front desk and asked for a new room. After moving all my stuff I kind of fell asleep by around 3:00am.

Monday, November 3rd: I woke up at 6:00am to put my stuff in the vans and head to the venue with Rudy. We had 2 shows at 9:30am and 11:30am and then a load out all of which seemed to take forever. This was mostly because I was tired and was having trouble focusing. Eric and Rudy were drove the truck to Burlington, Vermont, 198 miles(3169 total miles), while I rode in the white van. It gave me a chance to relax, sleep, read and enjoy some time with other people in the company.