Life is but a dream……….

So here I sit, on my balcony in my room in San Juan Puerto Rico on an 84 degree Fahrenheit day over looking a dozen shades of blue ocean stretching out to the seemingly endless horizon. Could this be real? This is what I asked myself as I awoke this morning to find this vista outside my window. It’s a busy couple of weeks. Last time I typed I believe it was for thanksgiving and turkey day. So that week we played Rapid City, SD, then Spencer, IA and lastly Topeka, KS. While in Rapid City, a bunch of us with bikes on tour took a day trip through Sturgis (the town of the annual Harley festival) and Deadwood, the site of the infamous wild Bill Hicock’s shooting death. Anyhow, we stopped at a place that supposedly had good steaks, the waitress was friendly, and even convinced the chef to bring out the steaks even though it was only lunch time. But, I have to say Big Al’s prime rib did leave something to be desired, but then again I don’t know if anything will even compare to the Prime Rib I tasted at Philly’s Restaurant named the Prime Rib. It’s a standard which I don’t think will soon be surpassed. Anyhow, it was a good set of shows despite my lips being injured. Then, in Spencer, it wasn’t much but flat land, but flat land is ideal for speed in a wheeled vehicle, and I found out that my bike can indeed live up to its speedometer. The other exciting thing I found in Spencer was a niche little bakery/café named Carrolls. I had my standard mocha which turned out to be mediocre (they needed to use better beans with a bolder flavor) and some baked goods that knocked my stomach off its small intestine. Between my repeat visits I had a good sampling of their offerings and highly recommend it. It was neat to sit in their establishment for an hour or so and watch their interactions with the customers; it was a tableau of small town America. They knew their patrons my name and profession and within that short hour I learned all of the news of the town (the unedited version). One down side of Spencer was that it got down to 18F one night and forced water through the flush valve in my toilet, so basically my entire RV flooded, so between shows I had to go out and rent a shopvac to get most of it up, but it still smelled, so in Topeka I went out and bought a carpet shampoo scrub thing and spent the better part of an evening shampooing the carpet of my entire RV. I think most of the smell is out of it. Then we finished the week up in Topeka, KS. It was an OK town, had lot of potential, and was trying pretty hard, and I don’t think I got its best impression. They did have some cool coffee places, name the Classic Bean and the World Cup Café, but between the weather and my motorcycle plate being stolen, I decided that Topeka wasn’t a place for me. I’ll include some descriptions of the aforementioned cafes when I start my new coffee/café review section. Anyhow, the next day I drove up to Omaha to hang out with my friend Holly who had just flown out to start rehearsals for a musical tour she was playing with. That also happened to overlap with my B-day, so it was nice to celebrate it with a familiar face around. On Wednesday I drove to St. Louis to check out the Blue Show of Ringling Circus. I parked the RV at a place called the Casino Queen, which was quite a nice RV park, but I got lost in the ghetto trying to find it, always an interesting trip when I’m driving I suppose. Anyhow, got to the show, and in the words of my friend Tom, it was like a parallel universe but on a much larger scale. I was back stage, and everything that we do, it was just, more. But it was neat to see some of these performers since a fair number of them are retiring or moving to other shows, so in a very real way it was witnessing a closing to the end of an era. That evening also got to check out the circus train, which is a part of the traditional circus experience (if such a thing exists) that I’ve missed out on. But after seeing how small the things are and the different lifestyle, I feel very blessed to be with the unit I’m on. Basically if I were living on the train my room would be an 8x8ft space. The next morning I awoke to a beautiful sunny St. Louis day with the mission of touring the world headquarters of Annheuser Busch, stopping in Evansville, and arriving in Pikeville, Kentucky that night. Well, all of this went as planned. The tour was great, after working 3 summers at Busch Gardens; I had to make a stop at the headquarters there. In Evansville I wanted to stop because 1) the national headquarters for my music fraternity is there and 2) on of my former teacher colleagues and friend now lives there. Once again, it was quite a delight to see a familiar face and she even was kind enough to make a meal! And for anyone who’s even been on the road for any amount of time knows what an unparalleled treat that is. Late that night I finally arrived in Pikeville, KY. Now, this place is quite off of the beaten path. In fact, their biggest claim to fame is their “Hickville Days” festival, yes, that’s right, you read it right. That and the big cut through project which rerouted the river around the town. But, the people were nice and were very thrilled about having the circus in their little town. They had just put in a brand new arena (which was pretty nice I might add) so I think this was the first time the circus had ever been there. Anyways, the weekend shows went by rather quickly, but I daily lamented the fact that there was no espresso machine in the whole town! There was one place that advertised soup, sandwiches, AND espresso. But I just had to shake my head with a frown of compassion for the espresso advertised was that of the gas station variety (i.e. that nasty powdered stuff that they mix with hot water and resembles the taste of a powdered chocolate pop) So, the town has room to grow in its culinary side now that they have the arena built. Ok, enough typing for now, I need to enjoy this weather while I have the free time. Send you all 86 degrees, sun, and ocean breeze wherever you’re reading this from……………

Turkey day...........

Happy Turkey day everyone!!!! (even to those of you in Europe who don't celebrate it) I spent it here with my great aunt Pearl and Uncle Doyle in Sarasota FL, a very WARM and sunny florida. We went to an amish buffet place down here, and I have to say it made me miss that old PA dutch cooking. It was good, simple, hearty food. Appearently they keep some old amish lady in the kitchen that cranks out amazing food all day :-) Anyhow, tomorrow morning I excercise my american capitalism muscle by observing my annual ritual of waking up before the chickens to buy extremely discounted electrical mechandise, sounds like a good time, eh? AND more importantly I'm going to visit the Ringling museum here in Sarasota! till then.........

Circus boy is Birthday boy for a day....................

So, it's that one day a year, the day of your birth which, as far as I know, is celebrated on most if not all cultures around the world. Now, some cultures bring special attention to certain landmarks, we silly humans seem to prefer signifigance when things are in threes, fives, or tens, or even "stages" of life. In any case, this year adds another click on to my life odometer, I've reached 25. Lord willing I will have three more sets of 25 in the years to come, but I'm thankful for each day my heart keeps beating. So this 25th occasion for cake finds in a snowy Omaha. As you all know, this week was loooong circus week. We call it a split week, it's we play an extra town midweek. Now, we did a split up in Canada (between calgary and grande prairie) but that was only 2 shows midweek. This week we did a full run of shows in Rapid City Sd, and then drove the 8 hours on monday to Spencer, IA. We did 5 shows there then had one day to drive another 8 hours to Topeka, KS. Got there Fri. night and did 5 shows between sat. and sun. This would have been a heavy week with good chops, but due to the fact that I injured myself in Nampa by pushing myself to hard (and possibly playing incorrectly) at the end of a 3rd show on a Sat. So, it's been a challenging couple of weeks. But's it's been a humble learning experience and I'll definately take better care of the chops in the future, and pay more attention to what my body is telling me. Ok, I'm here in Omaha and heading out to Outback to celebrate the B-day with my old PA dutch friend Holly. Having a steak with someone named Holly in the midwest, that's so 50's america...........

Coffee is catching on.......

Ok, had a minute to put something up today. I'm at the Cafe Latte agian, and I just got around to reading this blog of coffee places in Spokane check it out good stuff.........I have to say, I may be inspired to start a totally new section just for my coffee forays. Also, my family has been extremely cutrious with questions and all about the circus life, and so I figured a lot of people have the same curiosities. So, feel free to leave quesitons in the comments area and I'll do my best to answer in a circus manner. Have a good TGIF

Blow thou winter wind

Today I type to you from Cafe Latte in Rapid City South Dakota. Rapid City is better know for its proximity to Mt. Rushmore, and Deadwood, Wall Drug, and Sturgis. But, just as well, this is where we are this week, getting ready to jump off into a heavy week of shows......the rundown: Rapid City- 1 fri, 3 sat, 2 sun, drive to Spencer IA wednes 2, thurs 3, drive to Topeka KS Sat 3, Sun 2. So, I'm going to have some tires lips, but at least it will get me ready for our marathon of shows in Puerto Rico. In any case, I was last typing about last week in Nampa ID, a suburb of Boise. It was a productive week, as I mentioned before I got a lot of work done on the house. I had mentioned in one of my earlier blogs that my friend the ringmaster was in a motorcycle accident in Kennewick, so, he is well on the mend. But, since it was the other person's fault, the owner of the bike, one of the sound guys Elliot, ended up getting insurance money for the total value of the bike. So, in looking for a new one he decided to upgrade to the 1200 sport BMW bike, quite a nice bike it is, I've never really fancied the BMWs, but if I'd get one, that'd be the one. So we all took a ride to the loacl BMW/Ducati dealer and drooled over the bikes, and elliot got set up for the new bike. I also discovered this great little coffee shop in old town Nampa. Now, if you ever get in that part of the country, Boise has really done a lot to fix up and revtialize their downtown area. With ina 2 to 3 block radius there is a plethora of coffee shops, micro breweries, and clubs. Quite a hopping little place on the weekends, or so I hear. I was actually just down there to pick up the new mirrors for my bike and maybe do some shoe shopping (I desperately needed a new pair of work shoes) So, I checked out little coffee shop, it was ok, had very much the independent philly vibe (anti-bush stickers, pridefest posters and the such) It was decorated festively for Halloween. I got my standard mocha and also some oatmeal rasberry square. The coffee was average, but the square was intrigueing to say the least. In any case, I didn't get to try all the coffee joints downtown, but I definately sensed good coffee potential. But, in Nampa I found this little mom and pop coffee shop called the "old town coffee shop", or something to that affect. I went in not expecting much, but they had 2 soups, 15 bean and chili, both homemade and they looked delicious. So, once again I ordered my standard mocha and then got that with the 15 bean soup which came with fresh corn bread. mmmmmm....mmmmmm.mmmmmmmmmmm. It was everything that I expected a small town mom and pop coffee place to be. It wasn't exactly a coffee house since it was attached to an antiques shop, but everytijng was fresh and quality. I got to know the owner Bob, who had bought the business in his retirement, and was commenting how happy he was with his current employess, since it's so hard to find quality among today's workforce. He also filled me in on some history of the town, appearently the town is haunted. As the story goes, like so many towns in the west Nampa was a railroad town in the 1800's. The place where the cafe is now used to be a motel witha brothel in the upstairs, and at times, they say you can still hear the occupants walking around and even knocking on the doors. And, to top it off, there is a network of tunnels that run under the whole town. Appearently there were a lot of chinese that worked in the area and there was a law stating that they were not allowed to been seen at night, so they dug a tunnel network and that's how they got around. The network still remains todyay and is largely unexplored. Pretty crazy stuff, anyways, so I like their soup so much, that I went back on sat. morning to try their chili, and afterwards I took a stroll through the little farmer's market and ended up buying some fresh honey and some palate stopping cinnamon pecan buns. (I think I need to get back into my long distance running with all of this food!) The shows went pretty well, for the most part they were well attended and the audience seemed to enjoy it. It had only been 3 years since Ringling Bros. was last there, compared to 40 or 50 in some other towns. But, the people were still excited. Another highlight of the week was our Halloween extravaganza. We did trick ot treat for the kids on sat. between the 2nd and third shows. And no, I was not stingy, I did get candy for the kiddies (but I didn sneak a few pieces for myself) Basically the kids were dressed up for most of the day, and they between the 2nd and third shows they came around to the dressing rooms for trick or treat. And I have to say, there were some awefully cute costumes. After they came to the dressing rooms, we all went out to the main ring and Tom, one of the clowns, announced them one by one for the company. It was a good time, and it really reminded me that we really are our own little community unto ourselves. So, that night was the party for everyone, I didn't have time or monetary means to rig up a costume, but I did contribute to the food by making some peanut butter popcorn. Our last show was on Sunday, that night I went out to eat mexican with some of the other bike guys, and then started packing up that night for the mon. trip. On mon. I go ton the road by about 10AM to start my 1000 mile trip to Rapid City SD. My goal was to reach Jackson, WY that evening. So, after a short stop at the Gas station and Walmart in Twin Falls ID I made it into Jackson st about 6PM, So, after finding out that all and any RV places were closed for the season, I found a coffee shop and typed the last blog entry. Afterwards, I drove around town looking for a place to park and ended finding an RV park place abour 15 miles south of town. A little out of the way, but at least I had electricity. The next morning, got up, paid my bill, and then headed up to the town of Jackson. Now, I faintly remember being through there with my family when I was younger, but it's funny how tihngs change as you get older and visit the same places with different experiences under your belt. Anhow, took a gander at the antler arch, and got some coffee mocha and a croissant at a health foods shop (that mocha was average, at best, there was hardly any espresso taste at all) and then headed to the tourism building where I planned my escape from the Tetons. Thus I began my day of journeying across wyoming. My goal was to pick up a trumpet I was buying in Casper and be in Rapid City before it got too late. So, I headed across the mountain pass (with a top elevation of 9624ft) where I encountered some snow and some fluffy guy ina red suit training raindeer. I didn't ask questions, and just kept driving. After about an hour or so of climbing and then going down hill I reached the other side in what appeared to be an almost desert landscape. It was amazing how quickly the scenery changed. After a couple of hours, it occured to me, I was running out of gas. And here I was, driving across the middle of the oil fields of wyoming and no gas stations in site. FINALLY, with about 2, maybe 3 gallons the pricy petrol left in my tank, I came Hiland....population 10. But they did have an ancient (working) gas station. I didn't a price posted, so I put enough in to get me to Casper. The inside shop was everything a quintessential tourist shop in a town of 10 people could ever be. There were dried, posed snakes for sale, and of of course the ice cream fridge, along with some cowboy hats that had been patiently collecting the dust of the past 40 years. The lady behind the counter was an older frial women, thin, white curly hair, perhaps lower 70's. We had a common understanding due to the fact that we both had a nasty cold. While my credit card was running, out of burning curiosity, I asked her "are there really only 10 people in this town?" She said it was usually more like 6, with sometimes 10 on the weekends. After chatting a bit, I learned that she had been there for 30 years, and the little shops exits mainly for the tourism/gas in the summer. And I imagine it serves a watering hole for all of the oilfield truckers too. It's a different way of life, yet we all live in the same country and pay taxes to the same uncle sam. After another 45 min, I arrived in Casper, picked up the trumpet for the brass professor a the community college and grabbed a bite to eat at the famous Wonder Bar, down town, and proceeded to travel the reamining 4 hours to Rapid City. Well, it was quite the trip, I found out that a strong crosswind and sleepy Nate didn't make for very pleasant driving, but, I had the radio and CDs going....pretty loudly, and that got me there (thank goodness I had looked up the directions to the arena BEFORE I left this time) I arrived around 11:30PM and was hooked of to the power and unpacked by 12:30AM. After which I practiced and then slept....more like hibernated for the winter. That was tues night, today is thurs, more on this week later in the weekend....till then, stay warm and don't play chicken with the wind chill (it will always win).........na razie