On the Road Again

Remember the time I had a nervous breakdown!? Good times. I’ll get to that in a minute.

We closed SOM last Saturday night it what was among the saddest closing nights ever. This was just such a good group and everyone got along and there was no drama. And Gail and Ashley and I got really close. The last few shows were good. We had been SRO all week and the audiences were very receptive and warm. Between that last two shows on Saturday the theatre threw a big closing night BBQ by the gazebo and the board and other volunteers came out and cooked and grilled up so much food. Me and the girls took the opportunity to present Rex with his gift that we made. Rex is going to be a grandfather for the first time this spring and he’s both excited about it and terrified by it. We bought baby onsies and a transfer kit from Michael’s and Ashley made our designs. One quoted his big number from The Pirates of Penzance and said “Is there not one maiden breast?”, another had clouds and rainbows and said “My Grandpa takes my breath away” and the third was a cartoon T-Rex body with one of Rex’s 70’s headshots on it – one with makeup and long feathered hair. That last one was so amazing that Meg and I made ourselves shirts with that one. He loved it and captured a little of it on video that you may have seen on Facebook. Of course, during the last show we also wrapped up the fan fave “Jam and Bread” Jam video series with number 8 and it’s pretty damn silly if I do say so myself! The last scene was barely held together with all the tears from me, Ashley, Gail and the children and then curtain call was just a mess. Brucer wrote me a lovely note and gave me a hand hammered gold star pin from an artisan in town and Ed also wrote a note and presented me with a delicious cupcake from Bread & Roses, both as congratulations on getting my card. I am so fortunate to have worked with each of these men twice now. Gail and Ashley’s cards made me cry. I seem to make 2 really close friends with every contract that become besties. After the show we all went to the Admiral’s Inn for one last hurrah and to say goodbye. Rex grabbed me so hard to congratulate me on my card that I still have a bruise. He’s very enthusiastic…like a puppy but stronger. My producer gave me a big hug and kiss and said pretty things to me about my career and said I am welcome back anytime so I hope he meant that…as long as they get a new company manager! I mean all things considered, I had an amazing six weeks with these people and they changed the course of my career. Adinah talked to her agent about me as well so I’m hoping to have at least two meetings when I get back in October. Mike is convinced I’m going to be on “the Broad WAY” (he says it like his 87 year-old grandmother who’s from Brooklyn) and make him a man of leisure. He doesn’t believe me when I say it doesn’t work that way. I just want to work!!!

It was a whirlwind 6 days at home filled with doctors and vets and errands and cleaning and repacking and, as usual, getting sick. This time it was a cold that I am still trying to shake with lots of Zinc and fluids. I wish I could figure out a way to not get sick every damn time I finish a contract. It’s as predictable as death and taxes and really sucks, especially when it mars spending time with Mike. Luckily he’ll be coming down to Florida for this one. Granted it’s at the end of the contract but still. People always ask me when they’ll get to meet him and if he’s coming and it’s makes me so sad when we can’t make that happen. I did get to have a lovely evening with Mike, Becky, Bob, Bryden and Mark over at Becky’s house. We had a tasty and healthy dinner and got to catch up. Before I turned around again and Mike and I did go to a movie and make dinner together Friday.

Now comes the nervous breakdown part. So I get in the car Saturday morning all packed up and ready to go. The weather is beautiful for the first time in a while and I start my trip with a latte and breakfast from this sweet little cafe by us called the Corner Brew Cafe. So I'm in a good mood. My GPS tells me I should arrive at my first stopover in Raleigh at 2:30 so I figure on stops and stuff and am thinking more like 4:30. I'm making good time...until I hit Northern Virginia. Mike lived there when we first met and his family was there until a couple of years ago so I've been there many times and the thing that has always made me nuts is the traffic. Even when it's flowing, which is rare, the people drive like total maniacs. Well I'm on I-95 when I hit traffic in Manassas and it's a parking lot. I ask my GPS for a detour, get off the highway and follow it only to find apparently everyone else had the same idea because it's just as bad. Now I have to pee so I go find a place to stretch my legs. Then I'm stuck in side road traffic and it takes me forever to get back onto the highway. Even though no one is moving, I have cars refusing to let me merge on from the entrance. I'm hoping karma gets them for that. They got nowhere SO much faster not letting me on. Then I'm stuck between exits for over an hour and have to pee again. I go through this routine a few times and watch my arrival time on my GPS tick, tick, tick up to 5:30. Lunch stop, more traffic, lane closures for a brush fire, an accident. As my friend Melissa says when she has a day like this, "God hates me". Exhausted and frustrated I finally turn onto the highway that will take me in to Raleigh which is one of those local highways that has the occasional traffic light and some businesses dotting it. I was cruising along and had to hit my brakes because all of a sudden there were two labrador retrievers on the side of the road, almost on it, playing with a rope. Um, what? I'm barely past that, maybe two miles and I approach what appears to be a used car business up on a hill to my right and I'm in the right-hand lane. There was a big old blue van parked backwards on this steep hill and as I come to it the van comes rolling down the hill backwards and into the road in front of me. I'm honking and yelling and swerving, wondering what the hell this driver is doing when the van comes to a rest in the road behind me and I notice in my rear view mirror that there IS no driver. Now I'm stressed, it's getting dark which is exactly what I tried to avoid by leaving so early in the morning, and I'm hungry. I just want to check into the hotel, drop off my stuff and go find food. Except it turns out my hotel is downtown and as I exit toward it I see barricades and cop cars all over the place and people walking all over the place. Yes, there was a huge festival going on called "Raleigh Wide Open". Indeed. Every turn I try to take is blocked and the streets are all one way. I can SEE the hotel, I just can't GET to it. I ask a cop what to do and he gives me directions. Still lost and turned around I call the hotel and keep the girl on the phone while she directs me to the parking tower. I can't pull in to the driveway because on the street closures so I park in the garage and have to drag my crap through the parking garage and across the street. At this point I'm in tears. I check in and I'm on the 15th floor. The whole hotel is vibrating with the noise from a performance venue that's below me on the plaza. I look down and there's some circus performer chick doing tricks with giant rings to what sounds like 70's porn music. I called down to find out how long this was going to go on and was told til 11:00. Great. I need to be asleep by 10. I couldn't drown the sound out with the tv and a fan combined. I head out to find food and the surrounding area is filled with a street fair and tons of tents and people. Thank god for a Jimmy John's that was still open. I threw my sandwich in my purse and beelined it back to my room. I relax as much as I can, eat, shower and take some Ambien to help me get to sleep as soon as the noise stops. I get into bed hoping to nod off anyway and am just starting to when I hear a huge explosion. Always great for a 9/11 survivor. I leap out of bed and rush to my window and am seeing flashes of light on the other side of the parking garage opposite me but no one is alarmed on the ground. They are watching. They are ending the festival with a huge fireworks display literally a block away. It was 11:30 before it all finally ended and I could lay back down.

The view from my room

Yup, good luck with that

I got up at 7:00 to get on the road and was determined to have a better day today and frankly that wasn't asking much. It was rainy when I left but there was no traffic and I made good time. I relaxed and took my time. I stopped after a couple of hours for eggs and turkey sausage at Cracker Barrel. I talked to Shelly and caught up with her for the first time since before Maine. I started seeing billboards for this place called South of the Border that I recalled passing several times on tour. It's a big cheesy tourist attraction with a Mexican theme that's located just south of the North and South Carolina line. I decided to check it out for shits and giggles. Curiosity satisfied. It's totally stupid. I made a stop shortly after for gas and to pick up some more pins/keychains I missed on tour and I located a Flying J travel plaza. We used to stop at these all the time on the road, so much so that the kids' parents got t-shirts. Colin, our Artful Dodger, was obsessed with this cherry soda called CheerWine that can only be found on the South. I took a pic of myself posing with CheerWine in front of a Flying J sign for Colin and his mom, Missy and posted it on her Facebook page. Back on the road I'm thinking I've been stuck in a car for two days, I want to hit the gym when I get to my stopover in Jacksonville! Yeah, that'll feel good! What does that billboard say?? A Russell Stover's store in ten miles!? I grew up on their chocolates! Oy. I stopped. As Shelly said, either it was a test and I failed or it was a sign. I ate some chocolates and I also went to the gym. Split the difference. I only had one traffic snag and it was just miles from my exit and lasted about 20 minutes of no movement stuck between exits in a massive downpour. But that was the biggest problem of the day thankfully. I arrived at 5:30, settled in to my awesome hotel, worked out, went out and found food (happiness is Chipotle). On the way I was on a side road and a mama duck and her babies waddled out from under a large opening in a fence and into the road in front of me. As they passed by and into an apartment complex I followed and got out to film them as they headed across the courtyard. I could hear the babies "cheep cheep" but you can't hear it on the video. I am now happily freezing in my room blogging and watching "Iron Chef America".

Ummmm, what!?

Well, I need to get up early again tomorrow and see where my voice is and if it'll allow me to belt my face off. There's an audition in Orlando I want to hit on my way to Coral Springs and the cast housing if I am well enough. Here's hoping! I miss everyone already especially my honey and the "kids".