Things Are Looking Up Now That We're Out of Clewiston!

I write now from Avon Park, FL which is a small town which smells like Canton, NC....Canton has a paper factory there which makes the whole town smell. I don't think the town of Avon Park smells as a whole, just near our hotel. Tomorrow we have two shows and then we drive to Ft. Lauderdale.

Yesterday we drove from the dreaded town of Clewiston to St. Petersburg where we stayed at a really nice La Quinta and only had 2 people per room which was sooo nice after the Motor Inn Hell. In addition to loving our hotel (which Josh had arranged through Priceline since it was cheaper and nicer than what TheatreWorks had arranged for us), it was also the season premiere night for Lost, my favorite show. Lauren and Brian are also obsessed with it so we watched it together in Brian and Josh's room. I had to do some texting and talking with my mom during commercials since I knew she was glued to the tv too. It is absolutely the best show on tv...EVER.

The drive to St. Petersburg and our first real view of water!

To the left is the Gulf of Mexico.

Colleen and I were driving the cargo van yesterday and we did a dance of joy when we saw the water.

This morning we did two shows in St. Petersburg at the Mahaffey Theatre at the Progress Energy Center for the Arts. It was an extremely nice theatre. We had some Union stagehands there to help us which is both a blessing and a curse. It's nice to have people to help with the heavy lifting but once the stuff is inside, people trying to help us just tend to get in our way. We know where everything goes and how to put it together. At this point, we're becoming a fine tuned machine. There was something of a negative vibe coming from the stagehands which seemed to rub off on us a bit. I think we're all in need of a day off which doesn't happen until Saturday.

The beautiful theatre we played this morning. I wish the lights and been on to really show it off to you.

The view from the side of the stage.

After we were done at the theatre, we drove to Avon Park. On the way, Lauren, Brian and I listened to the Lost Podcast with Jay and Jack, a podcast about the show Lost where they discuss theories and people can call in with comments or theories on the show. It's a lot of fun if you are obsessed like we are.

Our hotel here in Avon Park doesn't have a microwave or refrigerator so we are basically all eating Cup O'Noodles tonight and bagged/prepackaged salads. It's cheap and we eat out all the time so eating in a hotel room is sometimes the preferred meal.

As I type, Mara is on her laptop in the corner with her noise-cancelling headphones on, Josh and Brian are trying to watch an episode of Damages on their computers but seem to be having trouble, and I am thinking of taking a Nyquil and hitting the sack with my sleep mask on. Staying four to a room is not ideal. We need quiet time and that's easier to come by with two people in a room. I'm holding off on the Nyquil since I haven't heard from Charles yet. He usually calls around now when he's on his break at work. We don't get to talk much since we're on opposite schedules. I've yet to talk to him without someone else in the room. I MISS HIM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am up early for morning shows and then sometimes driving to the next town in the early afternoon and have to go to bed earlier to get up for said morning shows. He works from 4pm to 12:30am gets home late after a long local trainride (the express train stops at 11), goes to bed late and therefore gets up late. Blah.

I'm really looking forward to Ft. Lauderdale. It will be so nice to stay somewhere three nights in a row. Almost like home...not really, but in terms of life on the road...it's heavenly.