If there is one thing about touring that I positively love it's the opportunity to explore new parts of the country that I KNOW I probably would never have gone to. The best part? We get paid to do this. I last left you with our explorations of St. Louis and a couple different state fairs. We have travelled many miles since then and experienced the country from big cities like Austin, TX to small towns such as Artesia, NM. Even though we sometimes grumble about driving for hours at a time or having to load in at 7:00AM there truly is a silver lining in every situation.
Case and Point: We had an 8 hour long drive from Fort Worth, TX to Artesia, NM and that's not including 10 minute breaks we have to take every 2 hours and 1 hour meal breaks (not to mention filling up on gas when needed). That's a long time to be sitting in a large van staring at the same flat patch of road. But I'd say about 4 hours into the drive the monotony broke and we saw the grandest, somewhat most intimidating forest we have ever seen. Wind Turbines as far as the eye could see seemed to grow from the ground and surround us. These massive 60ft energy mills littered our drive, and we marveled at this man made forest. I know it may seem simple and to some a wind turbine is nothing out of the ordinary. But for a girl who grew up in the city the majesty of these monsters made me relate a bit to Don Quixote "A giant. Canst thou not see the four great arms whirling at his back?".
A serendipitous moment on this tour was when we stayed in Austin, TX and realized that ACL music festival was taking place the weekend we had off. Unfortunately we weren't able to see any of the main concerts but were fortunate enough to get tickets to a Blues Traveller after show. Now, I only know one Blues Traveller song (Run Around) but I was sure that the rest would be just as entertaining. However the only word I can use to describe the rest of that concert was repetitive. The real treat was the man who performed before them. Martin Sexton...if you don't know him look him up right this second!
Today we had our first show in California. Location: North Ridge Elementary School in Moreno Valley, CA. This type of day is tough. We put up the set in the school's 'multi-purpose room' aka the Cafeteria. All throughout load in there were kids eating their lunches and walking past us to get to the garbage cans. Also the incessant questions never stop. 'What does this do?' 'Are you doing a play?' Putting up the set while trying to politely answer the kids questions can get a bit tedious. The cast got dressed in the 'art room' which we had to fight for since the other options to change in were either the bathrooms or the 'electronics room' which would not have fit six people and their costumes. In total the load in was frustrating....with that said once the show started and the sea of kids started squealing with delight, it was all worth it. I, who has seen this show more than 300 times, couldn't stop smiling. The laughter and glee I heard coming from the kids was simply infectious. But not only were the children delighted by the show but the teachers could not get enough of the witty lines and clever lyrics.
Touring can be tumultuous and stressful, but its the moments that put the whole experience in perspective that you treasure.
This post is dedicated to Kyle's Grandparents who came to see our show in Phoenix, AZ and who actually read my blog. Yay!
 | |
| "Just watch where you poop!" |
Hurray! Keep enjoying "those special moments."
ReplyDelete