(46) Bremerton, WA

Saturday, February 28^th: Today we had our longest drive of the entire trip. It was a 575 mile (11,543 total miles) to Mizzoula, MT. I would like to note here real quick that the miles I count are only on the days that we drive long distances. At the end of the tour I’m going to look back through our log books to figure out an actual total mileage for the entire tour. I was in the red van and it was a pretty simple easy drive. There is not much to see in Wyoming or Montana. That night I did my taxes and watched “Star Wars: Episode 3” on TV.

Sunday, March 1^st: Jill and I hopped in the truck around 8:00am and drove the 531 miles (12,074 total miles) to Bremerton, Washington. Bremerton is located just on the other side of the Puget Sound from Seattle. On the way there, we crossed the Cascade Mountain Range which runs through Washington State. On the way up the range, it was raining on and off. When we crested the range it was snowing huge flakes and as we descended the other side it turned back into rain. We arrived before the vans, who got lost about 3 blocks from the hotel and almost drove onto the Ferry that takes you across the Puget Sound! That night, Carolyn, Eric, Jonny and Rudy came over to my room and we watched a couple more episodes of “Lost.”

Monday, March 2^nd: The morning was spent doing work and making phone calls. At noon, I took the white van and drove over to Bay Ford in Port Orchard to pick up a new oil cap for the van. It was good to get out of the hotel because the weather was beautiful. It was perfect spring weather, warm temperatures with a bit of a cool breeze. This is what I remember the temperature being like the whole time I was in Seattle doing my internship with Seattle Opera. That afternoon, we drove the 4 blocks over to the theater. To load the scenery into the venue, I had to pull the truck down a very tight alley next to the theater. The alley way was not flat at all and the loading area was not level with the alley. There was a doorway that we could roll boxes through, but if it was too large to fit through the door, it had to be lifted up onto the loading area. The larger pieces were carried around the front of the building and taken through the house. The venue had almost no wingspace, so we got very creative making everything fit. Unfortunately, we weren’t creative enough and we couldn’t get the movie screen to fit. Luckily, Caroline noticed that the venue had a large rear-projection screen which they let us use for the show. I did some paint touch up on the toy chest and then we were finished for the night. We headed back to the hotel for some sleep!

Tuesday, March 3^rd: We had two shows at 10:00am(72) and 12:30pm(73). Because we were using the venue’s rear-projection screen and we were flying it in, which is very different from what we normally do, we had a small rehearsal with Dave and Margo to decide how it was going to work. After the shows, load out went very quickly and we were back at the hotel by 3:10pm. We had a tech crew meeting to discuss upcoming venues and schedules which seemed to take forever. By the end of the meeting everyone was burned out and ready to end their work day. For dinner I wanted to go across the street to this Teriyaki restaurant, but it was closed by the time I got there so went to Safeway with Lindsay and Dave. That night, Carolyn and Eric came over and we watched two more episodes of “Lost” which were both REALLY exciting! I was very worked up afterwards so I took some time to clean up my room and get packed up for the next day.

(45) Gillette, WY

Thursday, February 26th: This morning was a morning of relaxation. I bundled up and walked over to the Wal-Mart to pick up some lunch and other stuff like that. It was a nice little walk around the corner and I was out of the hotel for a good hour. After I came back, I kept up my relaxing morning by handing out in my room and reading. We had a venue meeting and then headed off to load in at the Cam-Plex Heritage Center. The first thing I try to do at load in is check to see that everything was hung correctly. As I was checking through their hang, I noticed that one of the electrics was hung on the wrong pipe. We held off opening the truck until they had moved the electric to the correct pipe which only put us about 15 minutes behind schedule. The rest of load in went very well and I had plenty of time to sit and read while Eric finished up the lighting focus.

Friday, February 27th: We had a 9:30am(70) show which went very well, except of the fact that we had the wrong curtain time. Our schedules had said 9:15am but when I talked to my contact a couple of weeks before he had told me it was 9:30am. At 9:15am(our original curtain time), Caroline was giving the 15 minute call and one of the local guys said the show was at 9:45am. Apparently a school had asked them to change the time for some unknown reason. Luckily it was later rather than earlier! After the show we went back to the hotel and I took a van of people to Wal-Mart to get lunch. When I got back to the hotel it was time to get down to more work. I won’t write it all out here, but it was an afternoon of quenching fires. First was issues we were having with our venue in Stockton. They didn’t have all the soft goods we needed for the show, so I took some time to call places in Sacremento, Berkeley, San Francisco and Santa Clara looking for soft goods to rent. These called included calls to a number of people whom I had worked with in the Bay Area. Then I had a call with my contact in Cerritos, California about questions to the light plot that would let us load in the night before the show instead of the morning off(it is scheduled right now as a 5:30am load in!) Then Rudy and I took the vans to get oil changes. We went to Wal-Mart, again, and they told us it would be an hour and a half so we went around the corner to another quick change place. There they told us that we didn’t have an oil cap on one of the vans and they didn’t have one we could purchase. We then went to three different auto parts places, including the Ford Dealership, looking for the part. Finally we headed back to the hotel where I ended up called placed in Bremerton, Washington(our next stop) to find a place to order the piece. After a bit of a struggle with the Ford Dealership there, they finally ordered the part for me to pick up on Monday. And the day wasn’t over. At 5:15pm, we headed back to the Cam-Plex for a 6:30pm(71) show. Before the show, Caroline and I had a long drawn out discussion about the understudy rehearsals we were going to have at the beginning of April. Margo, who plays Tock, will be leaving after the first week in April and her understudy, Jamie, will be joining the tour. We had one hell of a time figuring out where and when the best times for rehearsal would be that week since we have 10 shows in that one week. Load out went very quickly and we were back at the hotel in no time.

(44) Mount Rushmore

Tuesday, February 24^th: Eric and I left in the truck around 8am before most people were even out of their rooms. We had to stop at a weigh station a couple hours into the drive. The State Trooper looked at our log books and had us pull onto a portable scale that weighs each axle. They were very nice and let us go without any further questions. We drove all the way to Wall, South Dakota, which is where Wall Drug is, and stopped for gas. We then drove about an hour further to Rapid City, South Dakota and got off the high way so the vans could catch up with us. Caroline had planned ahead and figured out we could go to Mount Rushmore National Monument, which is about 25 miles off the high way. Some of the company traveled away to go to auditions so there were only 8 of us who piled into the Red van. Dave had gone shopping for us and had a nice deli lunch that we ate when we got to Mount Rushmore. It’s a very interesting monument because it’s not one that people know that much about. We had trouble remembering who’s face was carved in the rock(George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln!) It took 14 years to carve and was complete in 1941 when Gutson Bulgrom, the artist and sculpture, died. It was a very nice trip and everyone learned quite a bit about this National Monument. Eric and I got back on the road and drove into Wyoming. We had to stop at another weigh station and this time had to take our log books into the building. When we got in, she asked us for our registration so Eric had to run back out and get it. She asked me what we were hauling. I said “It’s a set for a theater show.” She said “Oh that’s so nice!” She looked at our registration and sent us on our way. We finished off our 505 mile(10,968 total miles) drive to Gillette without any problems.

Wednesday, February 25^th: DAY OFF! Just in case anyone was planning to vacation to Gillette, Wyoming… there is NOT HING here! I spent the day making phone calls to venues and dealing with all of that fun stuff. It was an entire day of work, from sun up to sun down. I did go out to dinner with Dave, Eric, Jeffrey, and Jonny to a place called Humphrey’s. It was a bar and grill place with a camel as it’s mascot. We had some good food and it was really good to get out of the hotel. Later that night, Dave, Eric, Rudy and I played poker. We were waiting for Dave and watching “Tropic Thunder” when all the lights went out in the hotel and the parking lot. We looked out to the Applebee’s that was near by and realized that their sign had turned off as well. The power came back on, went back off and came back on again! Finally we started poker, while watching “Tropic Thunder” and “Hamlet 2”, and I ended up breaking even on the night.

(43) Lincoln, NE

Saturday, February 21^st: We had an 8am load in at the Lied Center for the Performing Arts. I turned the truck on to warm it up, it ran for a minute or so and then turned off. I turned it on again and it turned off again. The “Protect Engine” light was coming on and when it turned off the “Intake Heater” light track to replace the one that was damaged a would turn on. Finally, it turned on and I dropped it into gear and drove to the theater. The local crew was very good and we successfully got the show set up in 4 ½ hours. We had to be ready by 12:30 for our standard mic check. During load in, my contact helped me find a piece of traveler couple of venue’s ago. I took time to cut the piece, drill holes, and attach it to the truss so that it would be all ready to go for the next venue! It was very exciting to have fixed the piece so quickly. I was expecting it to take weeks to find a piece of track or have one shipped to us, but it all worked out great! We had one show and then loaded out. Our 2:00pm(69) show was part of a family fun day in Lincoln, so after the show the cast went out to the lobby to sign books and hang out with the kids. This slowed strike just a little, but it didn’t matter because we were just going back to the hotel. Once we had the costumes and started to pack the truck, we got word that Dave’s valuables were missing. During shows, the cast gives Caroline anything valuable they have with them and Caroline locks them up in the road box. All of a sudden, a huge outburst occurred to find Dave’s valuable. We had to pull the costume racks back off the truck and a number of people were looking in every nook and cranny. Finally, Caroline pulled them out of the bottom of her hamper, where she must have dropped them by accident during load out. We finished up with load out and thanked the crew. This was a very nice and very accommodating crew. When we got back to the hotel, I called Ryder and they sent out a service person who figured out that we were low on anti-freeze and ended up giving me the other half of the bottle that he didn’t use.

Sunday, February 22^nd: DAY OFF! I putsed around all morning because I could. I watched my morning news show, read and took a little nap. Just after lunch time, Caroline, Dave, Eric, Rudy and I went down to the Nebraska State Capitol building and got a tour. Did you know that Nebraska is the only state in the nation that only has a State Senate? Did you also know that Arbor Day was started in Nebraska because there were no trees there? It was a very interesting tour and our tour guide was very excited to find out that we were with a touring kids show. At the end of the tour, we went up to the 14^th floor of the tower at the center of the building. They have an observation deck there where you can see for miles around. If you also didn’t know, this part of Nebraska is REALLY flat! Later in the afternoon, Caroline, Jeffrey, Jill, Jonny, Rudy and I went out for shopping extravaganza where we hit up a number of different stores. That night, I sat around the hotel, watching the Academy Awards, trying to do my laundry and having a compy date with Michelle.

Monday, February 23^rd: I went to the post office this morning and then to Walgreens for a post card (Michelle I hope you get the package and post card before I post this!) Rudy and I hopped in the truck and drove the 237 miles(10,463 total miles) to Sioux Falls, South Dakota. It was a pretty simple drive and we were there by 4:30pm. I tried to do some work but no one was in their office to talk to me. Usually Caroline has her room upgraded because her name is on the card that pays for all our rooms, but this time I lucked out and got the posh room! It was like the honey moon suite! I had a living room with a TV, couch, microwave, refrigerator, table with chairs and a Jacuzzi. That’s right, I said JACUZZI, in the living room! I got dinner from the restaurant in the hotel and sat in the Jacuzzi watching the San Jose Sharks vs Dallas Stars hockey game on the TV while talking to Michelle.

(42) Des Moines, IA

Wednesday, February 18^th: The morning was spent making phone calls and emailing about how to fix everything from the accident. It kinda blew any real work that I was hoping to do, but it was what was important for the day. We had a load in at the Civic Center of Greater Des Moines as well. It was really upsetting to be in such a large and beautiful venue with a fantastic, intelligent crew and not be able to use our largest scenic piece. The Head Carpenter and Technical Director were very nice about calling some local places to find pieces so I could fix my scenery. I did a lot of work during load in to fix what I could for use at this venue. I worked up until the last second which is the first time that has happened since we teched the show in September.

Thursday, February 19^th: We had two shows today at 10:00am(67) and 12:30pm(68). Both shows went over very well and were very well received. Load out was accomplished in a new record of 54 minutes with the drop, although we’re pretty sure it would have been just as fast if we had had the truss. We had a company meeting that evening where we talked about a lot of the issues that had come up over the past 7 weeks since we went back out on the road. After the meeting, Caroline, Jeffrey, Jill and I went to dinner at a friend of Caroline’s house. Mary Farrell is a very eccentric and nice woman who had worked with Caroline at the Des Moines Playhouse. When we got to her house, there was a sign on the front door telling us we should get ready to set sail on the Cruise Liner called the Queen Mary. She had set up a ship façade in her living room. In the dinning room, there were parrots in the trees and on the table runners. We had blue Hawaiian drinks, wine, a great home cooked meal and a really nice evening of conversation. The best part of the dinner was the sweet potatoes which I’ll have to get the recipe for so I can make them in the future. It was a really nice relaxing evening after a slightly stressful last couple of days.

Friday, February 20^th: The company hopped in the vans late in the morning and we drove the 190 miles (10,226 total miles) to Lincoln, Nebraska. As soon as I got settled in at the hotel, I immediately called Michelle and we celebrated our 1 year anniversary. We had a long compy date and opened each other presents. Later that night, I went over to Carolyn and Margo’s room to watch a couple of episodes of “Lost.”

(41) Chicago and Cedar Falls, IA

Sunday, February 15th: DAY OFF in Chicago! A group of people took one of the vans into Chicago for the day. I was amazed at how fast we got into Chicago from Glen Ellyn(where we were staying). I met up with Stephanie Barasch, who is a long time friend from Youth Group. It was the first time I’d seen Stephanie since she moved to Chicago just over a year ago. For those of you who don’t know, I went to school at DePaul University in Chicago for a short time and know pretty well how to get around the city. We met up downtown and walked over to Grant Park where they had an snow sculpture exhibit. It was definitely cold enough t keep the snow frozen. We then walked back up Michigan and got some tea at a little café where we sat for a while talking. We then went down to the Merle Reskin Theater, where DePaul University produces most of their shows. Stephanie’s Brother, also named Brian, goes to school there and was working in the box office. I hadn’t seen Brian in probably 4 or 5 years so it was quite a treat to see how he’d grown up! We went into the theater and looked around a bit while Brian and I reminisced about the Theater School. They were doing “Dancing at Lugnasa” which I worked on when I was in school in Cincinnati. The performers were doing some crazy warm-ups in their typical theater school ways. After that, Stephanie and I took the L(elevated train) up to Lincoln Park and walked over to Clarke’s Restaurant for lunch. This was where I had had numerous meals while in school there. From there we walked over to the Lincoln Park Zoo, which is free. We walked around the zoo and went into most of the houses. Most animals were inside because it was pretty cold outside. While we were there, it started to snow a little as well. We left the zoo and hopped on the bus up Clark St. to Belmont, which is where Stephanie lives. Her apartment is REALLY nice! She has two roommate, one of which owns the apartment. It’s in a really nice neighborhood and is decorated very well. And amazingly she found it on CRAIGLIST! Finally it was time to go. I took the L back downtown to meet up with everyone else and we headed back out to the hotel.

Monday, February 16th: We finally left Glen Ellyn, after what felt like another week sit down. Rudy and I drove the truck 310 miles(9906 total miles) to Cedar Falls, IA where we were staying in the Blackhawk Hotel. This is the same hotel that Rudy and Caroline had both stayed in with their past tours. It didn’t have an elevator, but I was luckily on the first floor. It was a pretty nice place with large screen tvs and bath robes in the bathroom. There was also a nice restaurant attached to the hotel where I got something to eat before leaving for load in. We were performing at the Gallagher-Bluedorn Performing Arts Center on the campus of the University of Northern Iowa. The directions that I had gotten off of Google Maps lead us our into the middle of a corn field and were about 8 miles out of the way! Finally we arrived to find a crew of college students. They were more or less good workers but there is a lot of explaining that goes on when we work with college students. It can make for a very long and slow load in. We finished up and headed back to the hotel for the night.

Tuesday, February 17th: As we were eating breakfast, Eric told me he wasn’t feeling so good. He had traveled away from the group on the way to Cedar Falls to see his family and go to his cousin’s birthday. He said he didn’t sleep very well and was worried that he had picked up a cold over the weekend. We left for the theater and had two shows at 10:00am(65) and 12:30pm(66). We had more microphone issues during the first show and had to change Kevin’s microphone during the show. The microphones that we use are near the bandwidths that are being used for the digital TV conversion that was supposed to happen today. We did a bit more of a mic check in between shows to see if we could get rid of the problem and which helped a lot. Also, right before the first show started Caroline was told there would be tours of kids onstage between the shows. Once the show came down, we learned more about the tours and when they started we were a little overwhelmed. As we were trying to reset for the next show there were literally hundreds of kids in groups of 20 walking on the stage, in the back hallway, going up to the loading gallery and in the audience. Apparently an entire school said that they would only come if they could have a backstage tour. We’re all about giving tours, but this was totally ridiculous! Eric was also getting worse as the day wore on we decided that he would ride in a van that afternoon and that Rudy would drive the truck with me. When strike started I could tell we wouldn’t be making any records. Unfortunately, we also had an accident. As we were taking down the truss, the flyman lost control of the piece and it slammed into the deck pretty hard. There was some damage to the scenic pieces but everything is fixable. The flyman got some rope burn from the lines and his ego was pretty bruised, but everyone else was ok. It was pretty upsetting and difficult to think through the whole thing, but we finished our load out and drove the 130 miles(10,036 total miles) to Des Moines, Iowa.