Computer glitches and pokiness...my dad is here and we're off to do some adventuring...~w

I made it home safe and sound despite the thunderstorming in Kentucky. I think the weather may have followed me here though. My cat was very happy to see me, and my yard looks like a jungle. Sometime i'll have time to work on it i suppose, but...

My Dad arrives today! I'm off to play...~w

I met some really cool High schoolers in Mount Vernon, IL. They really enjoyed the show and were fun to chat with afterwards. One senior just accepted an offer from Warren Wilson College and will be headed to Asheville herself in August. She was eager to hear about the town. Another young man had just moved to Illinois from Charlotte and besides talking about his old home, he also was really interested in discussing writing and poetry. They really made us feel welcome there.

We made it to Lexington, KY and met up with Michelle who has a voice again!! She also had dinner waiting for us when we arrived as a thank you. I must say i'm very happy to have found this Extended Stay for only $45 during derby week. The cool thing about this chain is they never hike up their rates for special events. All the other $30-50 rooms in town are now going for $100+. They did make us sign a note when we checked in saying that we would leave today and would be unable to extend our stay since they are already booked for the rest of the week. I'm glad i don't have to play the hunt for a hotel room game every week any more.

Now, i'm going to pack up the last of my things to head home and wait for my Dad to show up for his visit this weekend. Whew!~w

It's late, but in case i'm running slow in the morning i wanted to post that we've made it to Mount Vernon, IL. The shows were lovely in Champaign and my sister's roommate made us pizza for dinner before our last show. It was fun, but now i'm sleepy. More shows in the morning.~w

Our 3 shows yesterday at Durgan Elementary went very well. (Especially if you consider that at 8:30pm the night before we did little more than run lines and discuss a few points in the show since we had never worked together before). I didn't catch his name, but there was one kid who stood out. We had talked about snakes and dioramas in the morning and then he made sure we saw where he was sitting during the show in the afternoon. I had him be the moon for the "grand finale" poem and he brought more creativity to the role than i'd seen in a long time. He's just one of those kids that is bubbling with joy and fearless about trying something new. Amazing.

After the shows we drove to Champaign, IL and arrived at a reasonable 3:45pm to check in to the hotel. I had sushi & tempura for dinner with my sister last night, topped off with a "snowstorm" from Jarling's Custard Cup (yum yum). She's studying for finals so we didn't get much more chatting time than that. But, that's okay, i had a show to rehearse and suddenly my exhaustion was catching up with me. I turned in early and finally got a really good night's sleep. Today our shows are spread out...10:30am, 2:30pm and 7:00pm, then we drive to Mount Vernon, IL. It makes for a rather long day.~w

Despite running late and traffic jams, i arrived safe and sound by 7pm local time in Lafayette, IN. I had time for dinner with the folks i met up with and then ran lines and went over some blocking for the two different shows we're performing tomorrow. Now i just need to wind down and get some sleep so that i'll be bright and fresh in the morning. There's something about driving for 9 hours straight that make me a little wired and batty. I should sleep well when i do go out though.~w

I'm running late...the computer is the last thing to pack though (i think). I'll check in from Indiana.~w