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……………