Daytona Beach

Greetings to everyone in cyberland from Daytona Beach. It's a Friday afternoon and I'm typing to you all here from Starbucks (yes, you heard right, unfortunately Daytona doesn't have many other coffee choices to offer) looking out over a rainy Atlantic Ave. where the traffic is rather meduim on this afternoon. We're at the Ocean Center this week which happens to be right on Atlantic Ave. which is right across the street from the Atlantic Ocean.
So, continuing on the PR update, that week first week went by much more quickly than I had anticipated. I felt somewhat sad that I hadn't seen and done more, but after the second week I'm glad that I had spent it resting. As I said before, we did 13 shows in that 2nd week, which included a 9 pack (circus talk for 3 shows on a fri., sat., and sun.) After that long week we had one day off (tues.) before we started in on the 3rd week of shows. Since I had arrived that first night and found out that the Arecibo radio telescope was only an hour away, I had a strong desire to visit this unique place. (you ask why it's so special, well it's only the largest radio telescope in the world in AND the main hub for the SETI project ) So, on that tues. I decided to brave the PR drivers and rent a car to make the trip to Arecibo. Well, believe it or not, it's about the same price or cheaper to rent a car rather than a scooter. AND, since I had just joined the quarter centarian's club, I no longer had to pay the extra fee for being young. All, in all, it was a good day. There's nothing quite like driving around in a different country, just exploring, and only knowing enough of the language to not get too lost. So, I set out to find the observatory.....it was an odd feeling ; driving that is. You see, when I travel with the show it is usually in my RV or on my motorcycle. So, it's very rare when I actually drive a car. So, the car they gave me was a little chevy Aveo. Sporty little car with a tropical flair, and truth be told, I didn't even know they existed until I rented this one. Anyhow, made it to Arecibo ok, got lost in the town, got directions from a pretty girl, and then arrived at the gate to the telescope complex. Unfortunately, as fate would have it, they are closed mon. and tues., so, the guard wouldn't let me in and I then decided to drive around the roads in the local area to see if I could find a good vantage point of the telescope. Well, I found a semi-good view, but more importantly I got a good dose of the local culture. Basically all of the roads around there are single lane and very steep. Most of the houses looked very poor and maybe had a car. It was definately interesting to so the contrast between the cities and smaller villages. On the way back to the expressway I decided to stop at a little bakery that I had spotted on the way in. I was very delightfully surprised by the place. It was definately family owned, and since it was the wimter time and the telescope was closed that day, the customer traffic was pretty slow. The mom behind the counter spoke good english and her little girl peeking from behind the counter had the cutest toothless smile you've ever seen. I decided to order a pastrami sandwhich and try on of the many deserts they had there. Not only was it a pizza/sandwhich place, but also a bakery. So, you know me, I tried one of everything and hgot a "to go" box. The pastrami sandwhich was very good and there's also one thing I noticed amongst the smaller mom&pop places in PR,you don't worry about paying for your food until you've finished eating. It's a form of hopstiality not often found in small eateries stateside. But, I digrss, I drove around a bit more, then headed back to the hotel in San Juan. I did have the car for 24 hours and was going to make a trip out to the Wal Mart to pick some things up, but turns out that there are no 24hr WalMarts in PR! It was the same thing in Canada.....hmmmm, so the 24hr must be an american thing, makes sense since we tend to burn the candle at both ends. Anyhow, just spent the rest of the evening relaxing and hanging out at the pool to rest up for the next week of shows. So, the last week of shows went by rather quickly. The highlight of the week was the little shin-dig that the venue threw for us that thurs., they had a real PR pig roast! I seen and trasted many things, but never in all my life a real pig roast. So, yes, circus boy was excited and definately not disappointed. As you can see on my PR pics gallery it was tasty, and there was sop much food. To top it off, that had some live PR music show up, it just all seemed to fit and was a good ending of sorts for our time there, everything that the trip had meant, everything that we'd been through (there were a few life-threatening circumstances during our weeks there) we all celebrated together as an entire cast, around PR food, with our PR hosts. So, on mon. afternoon we flew back to Ft. Lauderdale and took the shuttle back toour houses in West Palm. It was weird at first being back home, that whole process of readjusting begins anew, but deep down there is a sense of comfort being back in your own space.....we all have to have a little bit of space that's our own. Spent the night in my house, catching up on mail etc., and the next morning woke up early to catch a flight up to Harrisburg to see the folks for Christmas week. Well, after arriving to the airport soaked from the rian and having trouble activating the parking gate sensor with my motorcycle, I think it might have been against my better jusdgement to ride and leave the bike there. But, I made it up to Harrisburg with out and troubles and was mostly dried out by the time I deplaned. It was a nice week of seeing family and friends and even getting to talk to some of you about this blog :-) But alas, I had to work on the 27th through new years, so I caught my flight on Christmas afternoon and arrived back in West Palm early early mon. morning. I was relieved to see that no one had messed with my bike during the week and rode back in a humid my dry night to my my home parked on the West Palm fairgrounds. On tues. we began our run of shows that would carry through new year day. The week as a whole went by pretty quickly, and to our surprise A LOT of people decided to make the circus their entertainment for the holiday season, almost every show was packed (even the 9:30AM new year's eve show was almost sold out!) The amount of people doesn't affect my pay, but I know that week made the concessions people very happy. So, new years was brought in (as you can tell from my earlier entry) with my circus family. The company threw us a few bones for a small feast and refreshments and it was, for sure, a good time had by all. It was intersting to think of where I'd been over the past several new year advents, and I never would've dreamed I'd be celebrating 2006 in a West Palm Beach fairgrounds parking lot with 130+ fellow circus people; but live has a way of teaching us that the only thing we can expect is the unexpected. So, we finished that week and headed NW to Lakeland, FL. It was a quite drive, and I spent most of that mon. (new year's day observed) trying to find a place to fix the valve stem for one my duelie tires. After a frustrating half a day of trying to find a place to fix it, turns out that one tire place, upon a quick inspection, finds that it's just the extension on not the stem itself........well, now I know (I really think it was just a lesson in patience) Anyhow, reached Lakeland, had a few days off, not too much to do or see there, but there are a few good eating places downtown and they do have one homegrown coffee shop, but the hours did not match their website, so I tried to visit and they were closed. Ok, my coffee is finished.....time to go......till next time