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| From folkfest St. Pete |
Thursday
Wake-up call at 3:45 am. I was up way to late watching the TV. But free breakfast of waffle, eggs and tea makes me feel better. My hotel is across the street from the airport but the shuttle leaves at 4:30. We have speed racer as our pilot and arrive at the airport at 4:33 having reached at top speed of 80 mph in 20 mph zone. I clear security and am at the gate at 4:45. Plenty early for a 6 am flight. Let’s hope I don’t doze off!
I arrive in Florida on time and step out of the airport expecting a heat wave but amazingly it’s cool with low humidity! Yessss! My father picks me up at takes me home. We walk in my house and it doesn’t stink of mold which is great! I change into short and a t-shirt and walk over to Chattaway Restaurant to meet Jenny for a pre festival meeting and a sandwich under the Jacaranda trees. The weather is perfect and it’s nice to be here. I was worried it would be too hot. After lunch I get my car out of the studio and have to get a neighbor to jump start her. Raven had a dead battery but with a ump she starts right up. The steering wheel is a little moldy so I wipe it down and drive to meet with Pat about First Night. I forget and turn off the car at Pat’s and it’s dead again. Luckily my father lives nearby and comes to jump start me again after my meeting. Pat is going to hire me to work on FIrst Night and might want to start in mid-October instead of Nov. That would be okay with me.
After we get the car started again I drive on the interstate for 20 minutes to charge the battery then drive home. But it’s dead again. I have about 2 hours until I am meeting with Jenny from folkfest again. I need this car to start so I can get back and forth to work this weekend. I get my neighbor to jump it and I drive to the store where I bought a new battery late last year. THey can’t test it quickly but send me to another store where they test it and determine that it’s bad and still under warranty. SO they give me a new one free! Great. So I make my meeting and then drive to my friend Chris’s house. The weather is amazing so we sit on his porch and talk for a while. I am getting sleepy and it’s been a long day. So I head home take a shower and crawl into my bamboo bed and crash. It’s nice to sleep in my own little tree house! Good night.
Friday Sept. 25
I am up early as I crashed hard about 9 pm last night. It’s cold enough for a hot shower so I turn on the hot water heater, eat some yogurt and fruit and I am in my studio by 6:30 am and soon have the internet connected and my big printer running. I print off two of my skeleton painting posters. One I am donating to an art auction and a friend in buying another. I open all my mail and find some checks that need to be deposited. I get the posters all printed and trimmed and head out to meet Jenny to layout all the booths and vendor spaces for the folkfest. We spend the morning getting stages in place, measuring, marking and redoing the master placement list. That has taken all day and I rush home for a shower before meeting my family for dinner. We are celebrating my father’s 75 birthday. I get home and my kitchen floor is flooded. Dang! This happened while I was away and ruined the rug I had on the floor and my neighbor Thaddeus kindly cleaned the mold off all the wood in my kitchen. My brother had sent over a new rug and now this one is completely saturated. I haul it outside to drain and check the refrigerator. It’s not leaking and I determine that it’s the hot water heater that leaking. I turn it off and mop up the water, take a shower then run to dinner. Everyone is there except my niece Estill. It’s great to see my father, Pippa, Randy, Martha and Winfree. We have a nice dinner and I head over to my brother’s house to see Winfree’s hamster. We play with the hamster for a while and I head home to sleep. It’s warmer tonight but the humidity is still low. So Good sleeping weather.
Sat.
I am up and on site at 7:30 to get the folkfest up and running. Everything goes pretty smoothly all day. Except for one woman who fainted out of a massage chair and had to be transported to the hospital. We have a great day. Nice weather, good crowds and great music. I spend the day fixing problems, answering questions and talking to friends. My friends Mark and Gail talk to me about working on some programming for the Saturday Morning Market. That sounds like fun! SInce the Tampa Bay Rays have won a spot in the championship the Mayor is having a celebratory party in the next block which could get crazy. We decide to keep the band running longer to try and sell more more beer. We don;t really have many extra people and are really tired when it’s over at 7 pm. We did sell some extra beer. We button up the site and head home. I stop at the liquor store for cold beer, Champagne and wine. Beer for me. champagne for a gift basket for an art auction and wine for my neighbor for cleaning the mold out of my kitchen! I head home and read my email and work on the gift basket. Then crash.
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| folkfest St. Pete |
Sunday
The weather is overcast and cooler that yesterday but more humid. I don’t think it’s going to rain. I am on site by 8:30 and we get the festival up and running again and have another day of nice crowds. My friends have been coming through to say hello. It’s great to see all of you. THanks for coming out. My father comes for lunch. I deliver the art auction stuff to Beth and talk about First Night with Julie. My brother and his family come by to see the art and I get to see my niece Estill. Hilton and I take photos of the folkfest. Teresa comes out and gives me a Tango lesson! Great fun to see all of you and chat a bit. At 6 pm the festival is over and declared a success. We take it apart and pack up all the gear. I hug Jenny and Grace-Ann from Creative Clay and head for the bank to deposit my checks and get more cash for the trip then drive to my brother’s house. I left my big computer at my brother’s house for safe keep and my niece Estill has been playing with the music programs. She plays me a couple of songs and then she and Winfree and I have a dance party until bedtime. Winfree reads to me before bed. They go to sleep and I have some okra and tomatoes, stuffed grape leaves and a beer out of my brother’s fridge and chat with him and Martha. Then I head home to pack. The kitchen floor and the rug are both dry so I bring them in and have a shower with the last of the hot water. I get my stuff packed nd off to bed.
Mon. Sept. 28
I am up at 7 and busy closing up the house eating the rest of the food Pippa sent over. Thanks Pip! I make sure the water is turned off and all the windows closed. My father drives me back to the airport and security confiscates my tub of yogurt! Sorry I didn’t think it would be a problem. Funny that they left the container off black-eyed peas and collard greens! I make it through security and my flight is smooth to Cincinnati. I have a long layover and eat my black eyed peas and collard greens and a apple and try to get my computer to connect to the internet but it won’t. So I spend the time writing a post event report on the folkfest. ( My Title was Event Guru!) THen I start writing down ideas for programming at the Saturday Morning Market in St. Pete. FInally it’s time to fly back to Rochester. The flight is smooth and the Volkswagen dealership sends a car to pick me up. THe guy comes driving BEYOND and It’s great to see her! I jump in and test the locks but the still don’t work. GRR! THe dealer says the computer and transmission are working great but they couldn’t figure out the door locking problem. Too bad. It’s really irritating. So I pay up, fuel up and drive east towards Albany. At 9:30 I start getting sleepy so I pull off into the Mohawk truck stop and crash with the big trucks.
I sleep until 5 am then I am up so I drive into Albany to the Miss Albany Diner. When the Mad Chef arrives I have some of his homemade English bangers(sausages) and blueberry pancakes. I hang out and drink hot chocolate and read how to work my new phone, while I am waiting for it to get late enough to start phoning friends. I get a hold of Dana. She is moving to Florida and wants help packing up her studio. So I drive to her house in Troy and we have hot chocolate and a talk about the stock market with her friend Rhonda’s 16 year old son. He is interested in math and does pretty well with the concept of the stock market. Alphonso is a good kid. Then Dana and I drive to her studio. It’s the bottom floor of a house and it is full to the rafter with stuff! We wade in a start a garage sale corner and a trash pile. We stop for lunch and drive over for a salad on River street near her old store. It’s a Mediterranean place and the salad is great. Lots of fresh greens, tomatoes, cucumber, chicken breast and pine nuts with a very lemony but subtle dressing. Yumm. Then I drive over to Albany and have drink with my friend Tom at the new Brown Derby Restaurant. THey did a great renovation of a beautiful old building. After I drive out to Latham to see my friend. Michael and his wife Holly and sons John and David.
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| Albany, NY |
I am just starting to take the panel off the lift gate on the back on BEYOND when Michael rolls up. He has better tools and we get the panel off and determine that the lock problem is not anything obvious there. Too bad I was hoping to fix it. We run out to get Chinese food for everyone and Holly and boys are home when we get back. We have dinner and the kids talk about their day. David had to pick and number and learn about it. He picked 42 which is a great number in the book The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy “42” is the answer to the question “What is life , the universe and everything?” Also it is the angle of the rainbow! And if there was a hole through the center of the earth and it was a vacuum and body falling from one surface of the earth to the other would take exactly 42 minutes! Super cool! THen we told jokes and stories. When dinner and homework were done Michael and I drove to a pub for beer and a chat. Looks like he might have some work for me after First Night is over. It would be great to get some scenic painting work and continue to develop my painting skills! Then back home to talk a bit more and then off to bed. I fall asleep to rain falling on BEYOND’s roof.
Wed.
I am up at 6:45 and join Michael and the boys for oatmeal and tea. Holly and their other guest an exchange teacher form Germany are off to teach school. Michael and I walk the boys to the bus stop and then he heads for work and I find and Apple store. My computer won’t eject the disc that’s in the drive. I head into Albany to Audio 300 to visit with my friend Mike. It’s good to see him. A couple of years ago I helped him and his wife get a big motor boat they bought in Tampa repaired and ready to transport up to Albany. He is doing pretty well and his family is good. His son is going to be coming home from being posted in Afghanistan soon which is great news. Then I drove to the Apple Store. I have had a CD that would eject from my computer. I have tried everything to no avail. They give me an appointment but not until 1:30 so I hang around for a while but the line is still long so I go back downtown to meet a friend for pizza. I haven’t seen Tommy for about 13 years. He looks about the same except a few more wrinkles. I wrinkles are going around!
We talk about old times. He is a big boss in the street department now. Good for him. After we eat he has to run of for a meeting with the Commissioner. I wish him well and drive to Schenectady to see mt friend Lloyd. He teaches costume at Union College and I find him hidden away like a troll in him basement costume shop. Lloyd looks really good. He has lost a lot of weight. He says his doctor said lose the weight or die so he has lost 140 pounds in 8 month! Kudos to you my friend. The last 40 will be easy. You have a sparkle in your eyes that has been missing for a while. It’s great to see you smiling and joking with your students. We talked and he showed me the model for the set of The Importance of Being Ernest. He is directing and designing costumes. The set looks super cool and the costumes are going to be great from Lloyd’s description. He is also directing A Christmas Carol off campus and has written a new script for the show. He tells me that he has been building ghost puppets for the show and his apartment is full of 40 puppets. Knowing Lloyd his place is a wreck. But it’s good to see that he is happy and busy. Two years ago he could barely climb the stairs to his apartment. He definitely has a new lease on life. Keep creating my friend!
After I leave Lloyd I drive back to Albany to meet Dana for Korean food. It’s a great meal of seared pepper crusted tuna and lightly grill veggies. Wonderful. Then we went to Russell Sage College to pick up a projector and Dana shows me the studios where she used to teach art. The students are doing some good work. We go back to her house in Troy and she and Rhonda prepare a slide show for the art lecture the giving tomorrow night. I doze off lying on the bed listening. I wake as they are finishing up and Dana and I go downstairs and eat dark chocolate and watch TV for a while and make jokes about the fact that I am sleeping in the backyard by the canal and laugh. Soon I am off to bed in BEYOND.
Thursday
I wake at 6 but go back to sleep hard until 9 am. Dana and I have hot chocolate and coffee and I take a long hot shower. When she is ready we drive to get another salad and then work on the studio all afternoon. She goes to get ready to teach and I drive to Albany to meet Tom at City Hall. He has my old job and has a question for me. Someone in the Special Events office has promised to light City Hall purple for Breast Cancer week I think with out finding out if it can be done. THey used to have big lights but they are gone and the replacements aren’t strong enough to shine through a dark enough gel to make a good purple. Oh well! So we have a drink and trade stories then drive to the Madison Grill and have some Bruschetta with goat cheese and spinach and seafood risotto. Very tasty. We go next door to Mahar’s which serves 140 beers and have a good Brooklyn Golden micro brew. We follow that with another bar where they are playing trivia and Tom and I do pretty well.
Then Tom drops me back at BEYOND and I drive back to Troy for the night.
Friday
I am up at 8 and Dana and I have hot chocolate and she make us a tomato cheese omelet and then I go pickup my computer. THey have fixed the drive and it works great! I look at suits as they are on sale but decide not to buy as BEYOND is so full I am afraid it would get beat-up on the trip home. I go back to Troy and Dana and I finish preparing for the yard sale. Her old friend Dennis comes by to shop and it’s good to see him. He is doing well working at Cafe Capriccio where Tom and I almost at dinner last night. He is making Sculptural boxes in his spare time. Dana says they are really cool. They must be as he buys to great stuff to go in them. Then she takes me to dinner at a cool little Polish restaurant. The had a rush and are out of Gloumki so I have a goulash soup and potato cheese perogis. The soup is amazing just the right amount of heat and spicy! Good perogis too. We go back to Dana’s house and have the Dutch apple Pie that Dennis brought her. It’s a really great pie with a spicy cinnamon crust. Yum. I set my phone alarm for 8 and crash.
Sat. Oct. 4
As usual I wake up 5 minutes before the alarm and the into the house. I drink hot chocolate and we are off to open for the yard sale. Rhonda’s son Alphonso is helping us and Dan’s friend Mary comes as well. THere is not a big rush so Alphonso and I go to the Saturday Market and buy jamaican food, Fresh apples and cider, veggies and almond croissant for Dana and Mary. I say my good byes and drive Albany to drop off Alphonso to skate in the Park. I drive to Hudson and Dove to look at used books and buy Fight Club and Darwin’s Audobon. I think they will both be good books. On my way out of town I pass the Spectrum Movie theater where they show art films and first runs. I stop and Spike Lee’s new movie Miracle at St. Ann is just about to start. I get a small popcorn and am lost in the movie. It’s a war movie and is very good but very sad and brings me to tears. What a softie! I love Spike Lee’s movies! I say goodbye to Albany and drive West. I stop in a rest stop just outside of Oneata, NY and take a snooze. I wake briefly at sunset have a snack and crash again
Sun.
2 am I am wide awake so I drive west. Serves me right for falling asleep so early! I drive until 6 am and then pull off and sleep for 2 hours. I drive on and the transmission is not shifting right. I am headed to Athens, OH to see my friends Carrie and Hank but the transmission completely drops out of gear and my heart goes into instant conniptions! I glide to a stop and let me nd my heart rest. After a few minutes she starts up and shifts into gear so I drive off and stop in a cemetery to let her rest. Well I have had enough! “It’s time to piss on the fire, call in the dogs and head on back to Bowlegs”. ( A prize to anyone who can name the artist and title of that song. No googling it!) After BEYOND cools down I call Carrie to tell her I’m not coming and I point BEYOND south. We reach 81 and drive south at just below the speed limit and stop in Beuna Vista, VA at a pretty campground with hot showers! Beyond did well with a couple of breaks so that is how we will proceed.
I think she can smell the barn and is ready to get home.
Monday
I get up and make hot chocolate and then find a Quiklube and get BEYOND an oil change. Luckily I ask the guy which oil he put in because it was the wrong kind. He drains it out and fills her with the summer weight oil she needs for Florida. i ask him about the tire pressure and all the tires are fine. My leaky tire seems to have fixed itself! So we head for the interstate and drive along at 65 mph. Once I get her up to speed she cruises along. She had a little trouble getting over the tail of the Blue Ridge Mts. But she did it. Slowly but surely. We drive through North and South Carolina and almost all the way through Georgia. I stop in the low country and look for the Crooked River State Park. THe signs are hard to see and I am tired. I finally ask directions and get there at 10.01 pm. The gate is locked. The signs says they are open until 10. Guess I just missed them. I park by the gate. Heat up some soup and then read until I can sleep. It’s warm and humid here. Finally I cool down and sleep.
Tuesday
I am awakened by a school bus at 6 am. I see that the gate is open so I drive in and find a bathroom. There is a shower so I wash off the sweat and drive back out. I stop at the Florida border for fresh orange juice but I am too early so I make my last cup of hot chocolate and drive on. I am almost home and Beyond is doing well enough that I detour to Ichetucknee Springs State Park. It is one of the most beautiful of Florida’s many natural springs. There are 9 springs that form the Itchetucknee River. I am the only person in the Park for the first hour and I swim in the main spring.
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| Itchetucknee Springs State Park |
Then I walked down to the Blue Hole. THis spring is 40 ft deep and pumps out 16 million gallons of water at day. The water is a constant 72 degrees F. (22 degrees Canadian) When you swim out over the spring the force of the water coming up pushes you to the side. My friend Tom from Boston and I were here in April just after my birthday. The water was about 2 feet higher and there was a big black snake sunning itself on a bush next to the spring. Neither the bush or the snake were in evidence this time. THe water was wonderful. It’s crystal clear and a blue color. You can see ll the way down to the bottom of the spring 40 feet below and see the fish swimming around. It’s a magical place. Soon there were other people around so I get back on the road and rolled into St. Pete to my little house under the big tree at 6 pm.
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| Home in my house under the big tree |
I have had a great trip but am ready to get back to work and making art. Besides my father tells me my nieces want a tree house! And I have to see why my hot water heater is leaking and flooding my kitchen.
Thanks to all of my new and old friends out there. You all helped make my trip a great adventure. I love the time I spent with all of you and hope to see you all soon! Also thanks to all of you who read my travelog and replied. As my Joe says “ I enjoy being a mouse on your shoulder”. So thanks to all of you mice on my shoulders, in my pockets and riding on top of my head. MR. NIGHT and I are signing off.
Until next time.
May the road treat you all well!
Allen
Final pics are at http://picasaweb.google.com/allenloyd
