The LONG trip to Gainesville

Yes, it really did take three days to get from New Brunswick, Canada to Gainesville, Florida. This is why I have a prescription for Xanax. The only thing that made this trip really bearable was the bus emptied out by half. A lot of the company decided to spend the money to fly home and then to Gainesville so those of us left on the bus got to spread out and enjoy the relative peace. It really made a big difference. We made stopovers in Norwalk, CT and Fayettville, NC both of which are basically complete blurs.

Gainesville was a nice break even though it was cold for them. To us, temps in the upper fifties felt like a heat wave after weeks of brutal cold and snow. James had rented a car so he drove us around so we could shop and run errands and get a bite to eat. We found a fun little Mexican place where they had ENORMOUS margaritas. They weren't all that strong and I mostly just felt insanely full of liquid. The show was good and we had a nice venue. This was Pinner's home stop and actually the theatre he used to be a local at before tour so it was fun for him to come back and show off a bit.

Now the stop you really have to hear about was Statesboro, Georgia. On the way there Clare announces that the hotel we have a contract with and reservations for has no record of us even though Clare has a scanned copy of the signed contract. There's no room at the inn. Bastards. So booking worked feverishly to find us a place to stay in town within a matter of hours. The Howard Johnson. I didn't realize they even still existed. And they SHOULDN'T! I can't even find enough words to tell you how awful this place was. The floor looked like it had never been vacuumed, everything was dirty, I had to ask for new towels because ours had actual dirt on them. There were random hairs in the tub. The beds were awful and we were afraid to sleep on them. We ripped them apart looking for any sign of critters but found none. Some of the others battled roaches. Funny thing is we've always wanted a hotel where we'd get a huge jacuzzi tub and this is where we got one. I showered in my flip flops because my feet weren't touching anything in this god forsaken place. We grabbed a bite to eat at the Sonic next door and headed on to the theatre. The theatre was pretty nice thankfully and we were looking forward to having a decent show regardless of our impending night from hell at the HoJo. Just as Dan was about to make the fifteen minute call the fire alarm went off. Now we use hazers in the show (fog system) and it has set off fire alarms in several theatres but usually during the day while they are setting up and testing everything. We sat and continued getting ready and waited for further instruction. I know you're not supposed to do that but we just knew what the alarm was for. Well we were told to go out the dock door. So in our various states of undress and readiness we stood outside as the fire company arrived and spent a half hour investigating and clearing everything. We knew that on the other side of the building were hundreds of audience members playing the same waiting game and wondering if there would be a show. We were grateful that it was somewhat warm out and we entertained ourselves checking out the cute firefighters and enjoying the novelty of this event.

The show did finally go on at 8:30 but we had lost a fair number of audience members. We had a good show though. Back at the hotel I slept with the lights on for fear of what would come out if I shut them off. I've never been so glad for an early bus call in my life.

We soldiered on to Clemson, SC which I, honest to god, do not remember the hotel or the theatre whatsoever. I do recall our lunch stop though! We were travelling all of these back roads and couldn't find a thing to eat so we ended up at a Wal Mart. We didn't mind so much because there was a Subway inside and we could do a little shopping. As I entered the store we saw Jeremiah, the kids' tutor leaving the store and yelling about something and we had no idea what had happened. We went in anyway and I noted the store was so empty it looked as though it were closing time even though it was 12:30 on a Sunday afternoon. I needed a new nightshirt as mine was threadbare and hole-ridden then I found a pair of snow boots on super clearance for $5. Close to time to go back to the bus I jumped on line to pay behind a bunch of my travel companions. "Sorry, you can't buy that now", said the checkout lady. What? Why!? Apparently South Carolina has a blue law until 1:30 p.m. on Sundays that says you can't buy anything that is not food or another necessity (i.e. underwear and socks). Someone asked if this was because the State thought everyone should be in church and she said "Basically, yes." REALLY!? We had spent most of our lunch break shopping for things we couldn't buy. We threw our stuff down on her lane and walked out. At the exit Jeremiah was back and yelling at the greeter about everyone who walked in the door with a purse or bag. Apparently the whole deal with him when we came in was he brought in his backpack and they told him he couldn't do that. He decided he was being discriminated against for being a man with a bag when women could come in with purses. I disagree but this place was all back asswards so I could sort of see why he was mad. This nonsense was quite the topic of conversation back on the bus. Alas, we were heading back to Florida so we had something to look forward to after the rough week we'd just had.