Myrtle Beach, Bed Bugs, and Heading North

When I last left off, we were headed to Myrtle Beach, SC to stay at Liz's family time share condo and do two shows at Coastal Carolina University. Before I get any farther, I should mention something that I forgot to mention in my last musings.... While we were in New Port Richey, FL, the place where we got to spend our day off at the beach, Lauren and Liz were bitten by bed bugs. YUCK! The both had 30-40 bites all over their bodies. Liz's dad is a doctor and was able to call in a prescription for some extra strong cortisone cream for them. They were so miserable for several days. The Days Inn in New Port Richey was not very helpful when they reported the bed bugs, so Lauren's boyfriend Rob is now representing them as their attorney. They took pictures off all the bites and he is filing reports with the appropriate agencies. Hopefully they will get their money back instead of just a coupon to come back to the hotel some other time. Yep, that's what they were offered. Seriously? Your hotel has bed bugs and you think they'd want to come back again? HA!

Anyway, back to Myrtle Beach. With Lauren and Liz's prescription filled and super strong cortisone hard at work, we were able to settle down for the evening and make dinner in a real kitchen. Most people teamed up with someone else. Brian and I teamed up with some Bertolli skillet meal and it was really good. After a good night of sleep, we headed over to Coastal Carolina University where we were able to put up the set and leave it up since we had shows the next day too. The staff at the theatre was very helpful and the space itself was very clean and pretty. After the two shows, we headed back to the condo to relax. That evening it was a repeat of the previous evening except Lauren and I watched the series finale of ER. I haven't been into the show for years but I did watch it for several years at the beginning so I felt it was only right that I saw how it ended. I was so disappointed. It was a two hour episode which usually means it's a huge story or else they would be getting it done in one hour. Well it was basically just a normal episode stretched out over two hours with no resolution, not even any sentimental things to make you tear up. Blah.

We all piled into the huge jacuzzi tub for a photo shoot. Liz was taking the picture.

Liz gave Brian a cool new funky haircut. It looks really cool when he puts product in it.

The back of Brian's head.

The next morning we packed up and went to the theatre to do two more shows and then head out of town. The shows went well and after a lunch at Chik-Fil-A where many of the kids from our audience headed, we hit the road. Our destination was Rockingham, NC to America's Best Value Inn. We weren't really looking forward to this motel, but were trying to be hopeful. When we showed up it didn't look so bad from the outside. I mean, it didn't look good, but it didn't look completely run down. Liz and I got to our room, a smoking room, and it was bad. It smelled of smoke, the fridge and the microwave were ancient, there was glitter on the ceiling, the wallpaper border was peeling off the wall, ugh, ugh, ugh. Well, at least we weren't in Lauren and Colleen's room. There's was exactly like ours, except that in addition to the smoke smell, they also had the scent of cat urine in the air. That evening, I went out to dinner with Lauren, Brian and Shelley mostly just to get out of the smelly room.

We ate at a Mexican restaurant called Mi Casita where the following sign was posted by the front door....



Thank goodness I'm a costumer!

"Costume designer Virginia Tuller's creations evoke a sense of East meets West with a coming together of old and new. She outfits Electra in feminine khaki war fatigues with a Middle Eastern flair. Clytemnestra wears a sexy, blood-red gown that foreshadows her destiny. " ~OffOffOnline.com

The next morning, we had two shows at a community college which was really nice. They feed us lunch and because of the amount of time between shows, I got to watch several episodes of The Office. I've been watching the series the whole time we've been on tour and I'm up to Season 3. After the shows were over we headed back to America's Best Value Inn (HA! Best Value my ass!) where my sister, Jordan, was meeting me to hang out and spend the night.

Liz, Brian, Jordan and I headed to Fatz Cafe for dinner where we stuffed ourselves silly. After dinner, Lauren, Colleen, and Josh came over to play so board games in our room that Jordan had brought. She had also brought some alcohol with her that she had sitting around the house so it actually made for a really fun evening, even though we were in such crappy rooms. We played several rounds of Apples to Apples and another game that was similar to Cranium. With Jordan spending the night, things were all good. The bad news is that Shelley had bed bugs at this hotel and I think I may have gotten them too. Shelley's bites are really bad. Mine don't seem to be that bad at all which I'm attributing to the fact that I have almost 2 years of allergy shots under my belt. I'm still waiting to see if any bites appear on Jordan.

The next morning, we headed out for the long drive to Lexington, KY where we would break our journey on the way to Waukegan, IL. The hotel in Lexington was one Josh had booked for us. A Hyatt! The beds were so comfortable that Liz and I both were asleep by 10pm. The next morning, we had yet another long drive day to Waukegan where we were to stay for two nights in another Josh booked hotel, a Residence Inn by Marriott. Residence Inn's have little kitchens, living room areas, and a fabulous breakfast. It's like having your own studio apartment. In addition, this one provided a free appetizer and drink hour every evening. The first night we enjoyed a nacho bar and a choice of wine, beer, or soda. And last night we enjoyed a variety of cheeses.

Yesterday we had two shows at a lovely theatre where we were actually allowed to drive the van directly onto the stage to load in our set. It was pretty insane.

Today we are heading to Chicago where we have 4 days off!!!!! I already have plans with Brian to go to Second City, plans with Lauren to go to a concert, and plans with Colleen and Lauren to have deep dish pizza. I'm also going to be meeting up with my friend Bob from Circle in the Square for a coffee and my friend Trisha who graduated from Circle a few years before me but I have come to know from working in the office. Bob lives in Chicago now, and Trisha is on the national tour of Rent which happens to be in town. Liz will be staying with a friend and Josh and Shelley flew back to NYC for a few days, so it will be mainly me, Brian, Lauren and Colleen and we each have our own rooms at a Sheraton. Yeah! Tonight we plan on relaxing and watching Lost and then on Thurs-Sat we will hit the town everyday.

I'm so excited! I've never been to Chicago before. I'm going to take tons of pictures so you'll all get to see what I'm up to!

Let the fun begin!