Day Nine and Ten: The Journey Ends

The day of our final show begins! Leaving the Ramkota earlier than we were accustom, we hit the road, aiming for Laramie, Wyoming to perform our concluding show of Jack and the Beanstalk. Yellow car, yellow car, yellow car. After whittling away some time at Taco Bell and Safeway, we arrived at Laramie High School, where we all participated in an epic game of Nose Goes to decide who had break their laziness to go check which door would allow us to enter. Lauren and Reed searched the back of the building, and despite Reed’s random number punching technique, failed to find a viable entrance. However, Grace Rowan Rants prevailed, finding a lady who directed us to the correct doorway on the opposite side of the school.

Set up went by swiftly, and was followed by a group nap on the couch in the backroom of the theatre. Mrs. Wooley had left on an errand to RadioShack, so we laid there for what seemed like hours. Reed snores. Upon her return, we went through the normal routine. Run the first song, do the chase, check the sound system. The show was successful, but the audience certainly was not as energetic as we would have hoped. The show came and went, much to our relief. Although we have had fun on this tour, it is about time we got heading home.

Leaving Laramie for Sidney, Nebraska, we watched the gorgeous mountains, ignoring the smoke emitting from them, as Lauren gleefully snapped pictures of whatever her eyes landed on. About half way through our drive, we stopped in search of a Chick-Fil-A, but settled for a nearby Culver’s. A filling meal with great conversation gave us the energy to continue on our journey. Grace, Reed, and I had a mini party in the back of the van while Lauren took shotgun and decided to go on a texting rampage. “Lace ace Grace’s face mace hastens the pace race in the vase basin.”

In Sidney, Nebraska we checked into the Comfort Inn. A suspicious, large man glared at us through the window as if to say, “Stay away from my pool, kids!” Not able to take out our rage out on the prop cloud earlier, we unleashed a kicking bombardment upon an expired jug of chocolate milk from earlier in the trip. Checking in, and heading to our rooms, we exchanged all our pictures from the trip, Skyped with cyber Alissa Jean Walker, and watched Delocated. After giving the girls some candy as a small gift for tolerating me so long, and Reed lending Lauren his Macbook along with his technical knowledge, we both retired to our room. A few last words to each other flew by, before we shut our eyes, and spent our last night in a hotel (for a long time hopefully).

++++ Surprise! Reed and I awoke to a call from the cow with a big sass to discover that we had slept through our alarm! We scrambled down the stairs and into the van to beginning blazing our path to Sioux City. Mrs. Wooley took her Five-Hour Energy, as we voyaged through the “exciting” and “differentiating” state of Nebraska. We now sit contently in our mobile home, taking in our last day as a traveling family.

What more is there to say? We’re pulling in for our final meal right now and soon will be back to our normal lives, in the welcoming arms of are families, a bittersweet reunion; happy to reintegrate ourselves into our home of Siouxland, while saying goodbye to the day to day adventures of our marvelous and memorable tour. While we may not be waking up in the van with each other, putting up and tearing down curtains, or having late night discussions in our little hotel rooms, our troop, our buffle so to speak, will not be disbanded. This expedition has been a growing experience for all of us, in both theatre and in life. I, and on the behalf of my cast mates, thank West Lake, Lamb Theatre, and Mrs. Wooley for providing us with this gripping encounter. There were high highs and low lows, but through thick and thin, we held together as a cast and as friends, and I will miss everyone’s continuous company dearly. Mrs. Wooley, Reed Oliver Saunders, Grace Rowan Rants, and Lauren Alexis Meis, I salute you! Be there soon Mom,

See You Later Space Cowboy, Someday, Somewhere,

Jackson Gregory O’Brien.

Saturday, September 18......Casper, WY

Day eight, seventh hotel.  Ready and waiting at the car at nine as originally planned, we learned that our check out time had been moved to one and we would not be able to check into the Ramkota Best Western across the street until three.  To blow off time and appease our desire for hamburgers and eggs, the gang headed through the lovely downtown to Eggington’s. Possibly the best waitress ever, Laura supplied me with my first hamburger is years, as well as all around excellent service. We discovered that Mike Rohlena has a hippie twin, Reed and Grace like buttered and syruped meats, and that Lauren loves coffee mugs. Full and optimistic, we lackadaisically meandered back to the Parkway, chasing bunnies as we went along.

It now being one thirty, we left the Parkway and decided to kill time at a highly recommended local park. We arrived to find a painted Nodelin-like playground, filled with dozens of kids apparently celebrating the birthday of a piñata-whacking five-year-old. Not to sound like creepers, but we played and observed around the playground, eventually coming across a pair of twin boys, one with blond hair, the other with ginger. Feeling we relaxed/stalked enough, we strolled over to the Ramkota Best Western, our seventh home.

Before we even unpacked, Grace popped into our room and suggested we head over to, and I’m not kidding about the name, The Loaf N’ Jug to grab some cuisine. Reed and I, having a strong longing for chocolate milk quickly complied. Guided by Grace’s sense of smell detection for loaves and jugs, we sauntered off an adventure. Avoiding a jungle cat situation, we awkwardly ran several blocks and found an bizarrely small car, a hobo sign, and a shot-up, shattered glass window. We picked our provisions, circumvented Grace’s murder attempts, and safely made it back to the hotel.

Quickly before the show, we drank our milk, watched Wall-E, and took a speedy nap in our exceptionally comfortable beds. Working our way around the awkward elevator man, Mrs. Wooley escorted us to Natrona County High School. Shocked and awed at the size of the twelve hundred-seater theatre, we set up and, in tradition, laid lazily on the stage and conversed.  My comrades and I put on a great show, Reed especially, having garnered several followers. The first time Reed was in the potato bin, a little boy told him “That ogre lady is gross, don’t even touch her.” The second time he came in, the kid simply said, “I told you.” After the show, another small boy came up to Reed and nervously proclaimed “I… I am one of your BIGGEST FANS.”

To reward ourselves, we dropped by a local Cold Stone Creamery (I miss my job). Lauren and Reed, not feeling too well and wanting legitimate food, walked over to JB’s Restaurant. Reed being a pacifist, I accompanied to ensure their safety. Over a home-style meal, we discussed religion and relationships. A full day behind us, we drowsily returned to our rooms. Reed and I now pace around our room, informing our parents of today’s festivities. Love you mom.

Songs we cannot stop singing:

Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?

The Jell-O Theme

Walking in Los Angeles

My Hands Are Shaking

Anything from “The Nightman Cometh”

Homeless, Broke, and Hungry – Can You Help Me Out?,

Jackson G.

Friday, September 17: Grace's Perspective-Gillette to Casper, WY

Today was fairly uneventful. It was a pleasant change from the last few days. We checked out of the Clarion and headed off to Casper, Wyoming. I don't remember much of the 3 hour ride because again, I was asleep for the majority of it. I've found out that this trip has messed with my sleep schedule more than I thought it would.
   
As we approached Casper we all heard Lauren awing over 'all the pretty mountains' and had to agree that the scenery is wonderful. We then checked into the Parkway Plaza which was, much to our surprise, decent. The four of us dove right into our homework, but shortly after starting decided we needed some food. We headed off to find the nearest Godfathers, which unfortunately did not carry gluten free pizza. Have no fear, Mrs. Wooley, Lauren, and I headed over a block to the grocery store to stock up, getting honked at in the process.

Once we got back to the hotel and ate dinner we split up and started back into homework only stopping at 9:30for a half hour break in the hot tub where we found out that Reed and I are basically seals. 12:30 am came rolling around and after 6 hours of homework everyone was pretty much finished.   
   
I apologize for the shortness of this blog, but there isn't really anything interesting about homework, except for the fact that we did it 6 hours straight..

(insert something clever/inside joke)

Grace Rants
The cow with a big sass

Thursday, September 16 Rapid City SD, Mount Rushmore, Gillette WY

Any day where you perform in an Orpheum sized theatre, meet four presidents, and arrive at the Clarion is bound to be magnificent. Our morning started off at a sluggish pace at the Holiday Inn Express in Rapid City. I awoke around ten to the enticing offering of mini muffins by Reed. After completing my morning routines, I ventured over to the girl’s room to enjoy a viewing of Benjamin Button with a barely awake Lauren. We then quickly shuffled out the door to beat the clock out time. Congregating in the van with vending machine treats in hand, we laid out our activities for the day. Mount Rushmore was first on the agenda.

Being the only one in the group who had not previously witnessed the splendor of the Black Hills, I was completely stunned by the awesome architecture displayed before me. A paparazzi barrage from Mrs. Wooley was enjoyable but somewhat overwhelming. Taking the camera, the four of us headed down the trail to explore this patriotic land solo. After a tranquil walk, we rested on a shady bench beneath Lincoln’s sizeable chin. It was then that Lauren discovered that she had the power to murder clouds. I am concerned that this power may grow into a greater danger. I’m sleeping with one eye open. To all clouds: Stay in your cloud houses. We continued down our path, viewing the great faces of some of our most distinguished leaders, taking pictures of each other and mustached men’s butts, and taking in the open, relaxing high of nature as oppose to the smallness of the van. Returning to the entrance of the monument, a pleasant Austrian woman was kind enough to take a great picture of the four of us. I love my cast mates.

Leaving Mount Rushmore was slightly difficult for me, as I could have sat there and taken in the greatness of it for hours, but unfortunately we had to dash over to Gillette, Wyoming for our next performance. On our way out, I heard an elderly couple arguing over which one of the faces was Lincoln. I gave this a nine out of ten on my stupid scale. After viewing the license plates from every state from Alaska to Texas, we departed to Subway and Arby’s for a quick lunch. Our drive from Rapid City to Gillette was by far the most quiet, as three out of four of us were passed out the whole time. In a stunning turn around, Lauren was the only one to remain awake for the majority of the ride, discussing future college plans with Mrs. Wooley. Mr. and Mrs. Meis, be proud (for the most part).  Once we had all gotten up, we came to the conclusion that we did not have time to stop at our new home, the Clarion, before the show. So we cut out the middleman and went right to the Cam-Plex, our biggest theatre yet, for the show.

Imagine the Orpheum with burnt red walls and gray and green seats. You now know where we preformed today. The Cam-Plex seats 900+. Jeepers creepers. Upon arrival and set up, we met Bruce the technician and his adorable son, Bruce-Andrew. While we worked, Bruce-Andrew informed us of many things he found enjoyable, which includes Batman, strawberries, and ants. A nice lady from the local newspaper asked us a handful of question and, similar to Mrs. Wooley, paparazzi us! Lady Gaga, be jealous. We spent our extreme time in the green room, where I took a short nap, Reed made poop jokes, and Lauren was loud. After making fun of Reed’s Baby Gap shirt, we were all ready to take on the show.

Again, the show went off without a hitch, aside from the fact that because of the size of the theatre, we were pretty much screaming our faces off the entire time. The chase scene has never been so tiring for me. We then, as usual, went out to sign autographs, although the unusual did occur. Due to a lack of programs, a good portion of the kids asked us to sign their arms. We all felt like celebrities. Once again, Lady Gaga, be jealous. We gave Bruce-Andrew a stuffed Lambie and bid our goodbyes. We quickly tore down the set, got directions from the awesome technician, Bruce, and then headed out in our van to the Clarion. But wait! Reed and I forgot our shirts and had to ask Bruce, who was hilariously stunned, to let us back in. Once we retrieved our shirts, again said goodbye to Bruce, and left, we speedily arrived at the Clarion. Oh, and by speedily, I mean that Mrs. Wooley drove the wrong way, Bruce caught up with us, gave us new directions, and then guided us all the way to the Clarion. Thank God for Bruce and Bruce-Andrew.

We checked into the hotel, and discovered that this could be the finest one we’ve stayed at yet. We received astounding joint rooms that meet in a lounge and pool area. After dropping off our stuff, we all agreed on a delicious dinner at Applebee’s. The waitress was so-so, but the food and conversation certainly did not suffer. While eating jolly ranchers, I quickly took a picture of the Applebee’s knife and sent it to Dorkus for traditions sake. We then returned to our hotel to discover that the pool was closed. As a more lazy alternative, we decided to watch the season premiere of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Now, Reed, Lauren, and I sit here in the room, discussing the awkward shape of Lauren’s sweatpants, while Grace sleeps comfortably in her bed because she’s an afternoon person, not a night person. Tomorrow, we check out at noon and head to Casper. While I enjoy this tour very much, the checking in and checking out is starting to ware on my brain. We miss you all and please keep reading,

Goodnight, Good luck, and Good Will,

Jack O B.

Wednesday, September 15 Lauren's Perspective

Greetings followers! This is Lauren writing today’s blog so bear with me and don’t expect Jack O’Brien’s usual and beautiful creations. Let me think…. What’s today again? WEDNESDAY! Alrighty. Well, we awoke this morning to the beautiful and underwear-less Ramada, feeling ready for the five-hour drive ahead of us! It was a little drizzly outside and our planned departure time of 10:00 quickly turned into 10:30, which didn’t surprise any of us. On the road again, Mrs. Wooley’s Droid showed us the way to Rapid City!

Everything was going well. Our car ride was full of stimulating conversation involving the education system and importance of the arts in our schools. All of us had great things to say and were really very passionate about how vital the arts have been to each and every one of our lives. We are all so grateful to have a place like Lamb to be able to express ourselves freely without judgment. I mean where else in the world is it socially acceptable, much less expected for you to be incredibly and unfailingly odd?

Remember the drizzles from earlier? Okay well take those and multiply them by four million and that is what the weather turned into. We were suddenly bombarded with sheets of freezing rain, flashing lightening, and crashing thunder! Don’t worry about us though… we were all up for the adventure and Grace managed to sleep through most of it. For some reason the only people that seem to be sleeping during the drives are Grace and myself. We’re girls

We reached some town I don’t even remember the name of for lunch and began our search for food that was suitable for all. We narrowed it down to Arby’s and Hardees and were instantly confused by the décor inside the Arby’s- fishing and pheasant hunting? What? I had my first taste of their food (fries were decent), Grace managed to have her order screwed up, and Reed devoured a stunning 3 roast beef sandwich’s in record time. Jack, being the odd one out, enjoyed overpriced chicken fingers from Hardees.  Who knows what Mrs. Wooley had…. She was sitting at a different table far, Far, FAR away!!!

The rest of the day before the show was somewhat of a blur. I simply remember listening to the obnoxious Droid order us around the Midwest and Reed yelling at me for spilling my chocolate shake on the floor of the van (which really made me laugh more than anything). Reed took many a picture of the lovely landscape and decided to sing a song about every single sign he read. We all loved that. (yes that was sarcasm). We finally made it into Rapid City, but wait! We didn’t make it to our hotel for another half hour or so because Rapid City is apparently the birthplace of all Holiday Inns ever invented.

We eventually found the CORRECT Holiday Inn and dumped our stuff off quickly before heading to Central High School. (Reed had to get an air freshener because stupid people like to smoke in hotel rooms nowadays. The boys never fail to get the crappier room). We eventually made it to the high school and after being crookedly directed into a parking spot by a man with a giant jar of pickles; we unloaded and set up as usual. The crowd was smaller than expected, but we still enjoyed ourselves and inspired some amazing people. We also burned off all the fast food we’ve been scarfing by running up and down those ridiculously steep steps.

After the show we made decided to get dinner at the Wendy’s across from our hotel. Boy oh boy was this a mistake. The employees had obviously dubbed it slow motion day and it literally took the four of us twenty minutes to order and receive our food. I absolutely love waiting for my food when I’m STARVING and then witnessing one of the workers in the back TEXTING?!? (sarcasm) Whew. We’re over it now.

Once our food was finished Jack, Reed, and Grace began on some much needed laundry. Little did they know it was going to take them 4 hours, 3 washing loads, and 4 drying loads. Jack made a pot of coffee and they broke out the Bananagrams. I on the other hand stayed upstairs not feeling well and writing this blog. We are now all watching T.V. and preparing ourselves for bed. Tomorrow we face Mt. Rushmore and an optical illusion house before the drive to Wyoming! We love and miss you all and are anxious to be home. Thanks for following and you’ll hear from us tomorrow! Goodnight  (love you mom and dad)

Lauren Alexis Meis

Aberdeen, South Dakota 9/14/10

Aberdeen, South Dakota is a place of many wonders. Rolling hills, sunny skies, dirty underwear. Although we were supposed to stay another night in the White House Inn, we checked out this morning after Mrs. Wooley awakened to find a particularly gross piece of apparel seemingly left behind by a previous occupant. We called Penny from West Lake to inform her of our situation and she got to work booking another location. Because of this, we were temporarily vagabonds! Needing to waste a few hours till a new living space was discovered, we headed over to the magical country of Storybook Land.

    Energy levels a little down due to the immediate evacuation of the White House, we arrived at Storybook Land. It did not take long for our spirits to rekindle as he took the yellow brick road down into a park filled with life size figurines of countless fairytales. Not often are you given the opportunity to venture through the land of Oz, climb a beanstalk, ride a pirate ship, and meet Yogi Bear. We all had an incredible time. We left in Wizard style; arm in arm, with Reed as the scarecrow, Lauren as the lion, myself as the Tinman, and Grace as Dorothy.

    To satisfy our hunger, we stopped in at a nearby Perkins. It was here that we received a call from Penny telling us that our new home for the night would be the Ramada, where the previous caravan had lodged last year.  Appearing to compensate for our awkward night at the “the hotel who must not be named”, our new rooms were flipping fliptastic. Flat screen TVs, an extravagant pool, and clean beds were a welcome luxury for our team. While we would have liked to stay and take in all our blessings, we quickly headed over to our next show.

    Our third performance certainly proved to be the most difficult space wise. While the show still went off without difficulty (aside from the cloud falling apart), we had much less space to work with. Even so, we pulled through and put on an excellent show for around three hundred people! Afterward, we recorded videos on Reed’s iPod to send to loved ones (Alissa and Dan, I hope you enjoyed), and signed autographs. We met a couple interesting characters during signing, including identical twins, and a three year old boy who could pretty much only say “Yes, I did.”
“Did you like the show?”
“Yes I did.”
“Did you have a favorite part?”
“Yes I did.”
“What was it?”
…And then he ran away. After a record teardown, we headed over to Wal-Mart and Taco Bell to stock up on food for the night. Minneapolis airport, three-hour lay over and Saunders field. Hooray. On the way there, we discussed that fact that we have the four of us now have only two moods: really tired or really hyper. This is most likely due to our constant moving, hard work, and varying sleep schedule. I kind of like it.

After meeting a kind old man from Sioux City in the Wal-Mart parking lot and a playful Taco Bellman, we headed back to the Ramada. At the brilliant suggestion from Grace Rowan Rants, we gathered up our dirty clothes and took a walk a few blocks to the nearest Laundromat. While we had a fun walk with one another, we arrived at our destination to discover it was closed. We headed back to our dwelling defeated and somewhat delighted at our misfortune.

    We arrived back at the Ramada, and watched The Office and the VMA’s in the girl’s room. After a round of talks and jolly ranchers, we yielded to fatigue, set our alarms to ten, and let our heads hit our CLEAN pillows. Thank you Ramada for the stay, Penny for the room, and you for reading. Tomorrow, we continue to Rapid City,

Hugs and kisses to the Mrs.,

                Jackson Gregory O’Brien.

Monday, 9/13/10 Final Time in Jamestown: Jack's Perspective

Third day, second show! The day began relatively slow, but entertaining none the less. Lauren slept in for most of the morning, while Grace, Reed, and myself watched and analyzed old Hanna-Barbera shows on the Boomerang channel. How many shows are there that are Scooby-Doo carbon copies? Speed Buggy, Jabber Jaw, etc, etc. After this we went tip for tap with several episodes of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia and discovered the majesty of Line Art on Grace’s iPad.

We packed up our belongings and begrudgingly left the Gladstone, which was an excellent hotel, and headed to Jamestown College for our next performance. We set up unexpectedly quickly, so I decided to pass the time by going to the campus cafeteria were I made a new Jamaican friend! He had dreadlocks and everything. I then returned to find my three cast mates taking a brief nap on the stage before show time.

A ceremonious belly-drumming circle kicked off our second show, which ended up being an even larger crowd than the first. Once again, the performance could not have gone better, and flowed without any problems. There were a few kids that tried to stop me, as the ogre, from catching up with Jack, but I cleverly avoided their maneuvers. After autographs and a speedy tear down, we bid farewell to Jamestown and ventured downward into Aberdeen, South Dakota.

On the way there, Mrs. Wooley introduced us to the power of random song construction. Someone starts out with a beat and everyone adds on. It works seventy five percent of the time. The other twenty five percent is a little weird. Quick stops were made at Subway for sandwiches and a gas station for chocolate milk (a quart for one dollar. I’m becoming a smarter consumer.) It was then that we pulled into the lovely White House Hotel.

The end of the last paragraph is sarcastic. This place is not lovely. There are stains, the paint is chipping, the curtain rods are crooked, and there are cashews and chips under my bed. Gah. Reed informed me to ditch my comforter to avoid bed bugs. I did as instructed. To keep our minds off the mess and wrap up the night, we watched the cult classic film The Room. Any movie with the following dialogue is bound to be wonderful:
“ Do you want me to order a pizza?”
“….I don’t care.”
“I already ordered a pizza!!”
“Awww hahahaha You think of everything, Lisa!”
This movie falls somewhere in between Chupacabra: Death Seas and Citizen Kane. Once we had our fill, Reed and I retired to our disgusting room for the night. We’re all having a great time. There’s still plenty of conversation, oxygen, and Trident layers, so I’d say we’re doing alright. There are more adventures to come,

With a love greater than or equal to zero,

                            Jack O’Brien.

Sunday, September 12-Jamestown, ND: Reed's Perspective

Today served as a mini vacation in our otherwise destination to destination schedule. The day started at ten thirty this morning for our crew. Mr. O’Brien and I headed down to the hotel breakfast, while the girls stayed in their room and did girl type things. Once we had taken full advantage of the all you can eat buffet, we met Lauren and Grace on the balcony to embark on our epic battle to defeat homework.

Following about an hour of mind assaulting studies we moseyed on down to Mrs. Wooley’s room and headed out to Frontier Village, the buffalo capital of the world. It was like a non-commercialized version of Wall Drug. We were immersed in an old timey, 19th century town. We walked along a road that led to the largest buffalo in the world! It was Gigantonormous! Off in the distance there was a small, difficult to see buffle. There was even an albino one.

After taking a picture of the cast as a buffalo turd we stopped in a little art gallery where there was a nice, slightly crazy, woman who was also in a play. Then, the fab five progressed to the area of the replica town where there were numerous shops and two cabooses. It seemed that the cabooses were living spaces, so we all imagined a caboose operator named Kevin who was in love with a caboosett named Ethel. Unfortunately, Kevin was already married and had a son, Hansel, who later died from jumping on the bed into nails sticking out from the ceiling. Also, Grace’s boyfriend was a telegraph operator.

Jack, Grace, and Lauren rolled down a hill while I watched from the safety of a nearby rock. After that adventure, we had had enough of the dated village and headed back to the hotel, stopping by a grocery store on the way. To my disgust, Lauren used her unwashed hands, which touched a horse, to eat pickles. Jack spent $1.70 on a cold 20 oz Pepsi while I spent $1.80 on a warm 2 liter of Mountain Dew. I think it’s clear who is the better shopper.

Briefly stopping at the hotel for a rest and a little snack, I got the urge to swing on a swing, so we looked up a nearby park and walked about a mile to get there.  I’ll say, I thoroughly enjoyed the swings! We spotted a cool four-way teeter-totter, but there were some preteen kids dumping rocks on it. Jack had the brilliant idea to dance at them until they left. Sadly, they just told us to go away, but I guess a few minutes later they got bored with it anyway and left. We then just sat there and watched the North Dakota kids throw a pop can full of rocks at a tree.

It started to get dark, so the four of us headed back to the hotel, and bought a pizza along the way. We ended the night by watching Return of the King on tv and talking until 3 am about nearly everything under the sun. All in all, it was a spectacular day full of adventure with great friends,

I’m going to Miami for my vacation,

                    Reed Saunders.

View our First Sunday

http://www.photoshow.com/watch/BH4gZ3AZ

Great day....extremely relaxing and just what the "doctor ordered".   From what I am told,  a lot of homework was completed today.   We went to the Frontier Village in Jamestown and a slide show of that event can be found by clicking on the above link.   I am not savvy enough to figure out how to get it on or blog.   Where is Alissa Walker when I need her?   Oh, that's right....in Chicago.   See, you are missed!
The kids are writing a blog about their "version" of today's events.   We are performing Monday at the Reiland Center at Jamestown College.   That performance is at 7 p.m. and right after that we are packing up and heading for Aberdeen and the White House Inn.   We wanted to get to Aberdeen the night before so that Lauren, Jack and Grace could have a tour of Reed's favorite place in the world.....Storyland.  

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Greetings from Jamestown, North Dakota! The five of us have been up for approximately nineteen hours. Our strength is fading. You could cut the tension with a knife. Just kidding. We’re all having an excellent time. While watching Aladdin and eating Reese’s, I will now recount the events of today for you, the reader.

The day began for our troop and families in the dark Lamb parking lot at four in the morning. After several attempts at trying to detect smiles in the dark, Mr. Wooley’s confession of a hatred for watermelon (it makes his lips itch), and packing, we bid a temporary goodbye to our loved ones. After a stream of interesting yet forgetful conversation due to our tiredness, it was down to three of us. Lauren and Grace had fallen asleep with their feet propped up in our faces, listening to A Very Potter Musical. Mrs. Wooley, Reed, and I talked about everything from cadavers to food allergies, after which Mrs. Wooley stood, or rather, drove alone.

Awakening with the imprints of seatbelts and zippers on our faces, we all admired the stunning sunrise until it blinded us with its beauteous, bright light. We recuperated from this by eating organic fruit snacks and wheat thins. Our travels continued to Bismarck, North Dakota, where we commented on the many sporadic lakes, nonexistent hills, moving windmill parts, and shredded wheat. We decided to stop for “breakunch” aka brunch at the Country Kitchen as oppose to the disgusting truck stop with the epic beard guy. A disgruntled woman near our table didn’t appreciate Lauren’s words on the gallon challenge. Outside the restaurant, what at first appeared to be a giant gnome monument, turned out to be a mysterious, and still unexplained tower of cans wrapped in sheets with a weather vain on top.  We traveled onward into Bismarck with only three hit curbs!

We arrived and set up in the Simle building, and after a bout of work, succomed to tiredness and boredom and messed around back stage for an irrecordable amount of time. We discovered many things, such as the angry man dance, killer bees, belly drumming, and HIROSHIMA JAGUAR. The show could not have gone any better. The new stage refreshed the show for us, and the audience loved it. Two hundred and forty + kids and even adults had a great time with us. It is my humble opinion that this was Rick, Deb, Bob, and Kim’s best show yet. Afterward, we mingled amongst the crowd of kids who actually asked for our autographs. One of them wanted to be a witch. We packed up, and headed back to Jamestown for the night.

We drove past our hotel for the night, The Gladstone, at least four or five times before we realized “Oh, that’s our digs.” The road Bible, aka a series of Map Quest prints, was a huge help here. Despite the poor numbering of the hallways, we managed to find our awesome rooms. Mrs. Wooley is staying in the Yester Year Music Room, while Reed and I have a room next to that of Grace’s and Lauren’s. A balcony overlooking a pool and arcade connects our two rooms. Jealous? 

A dinner at a Buffalo grill bar with a sarcastic waiter, a trip to Wal-Mart, and readings from Cracked.com wrapped up the night for us. We now sit in our rooms, calling our parents and siblings and informing them of the exciting events of today. Love you all. Keep up with our blog to remain up to date about all our future antics on this wonderful adventure. Miss you all, and thank you for reading,

With the upmost of sincerity,

                                                                         Jack O’Brien.

First Day.....Fabulous Show!....LONG DAY!

We spent 10 hours on the road today!   10 hours!    The kids will explain more of the day to you.   I, on the other hand, am going to take this opportunity to catch up on some long awaited sleep.   Tonight our heads are on pillows in Jamestown, North Dakota at the cozy Gladstone Inn and Suites.   We will be here for two nights before moving onward.   Tomorrow we are exploring all there is to explore in Jamestown....and we are finding out that it is considerable.    We are looking forward to some non-van adventures.   The troupe has been great....their first show (Bismarck) was awesome.  Great audience response and such nice people. I will include one picture from our day---this is our first real stretch...so to speak after we crossed the border into North Dakota. The kids will add their thoughts later.....I am going to go to bed!

READY TO TAKE OFF

In about 10 minutes all the actors will arrive to see if we can "stuff" ourselves into our moving home.   This will be quite interesting as we need to travel with 2- 6 foot ladders plus the 7 foot poles that make up our "set".......wish us luck.  I will be there with my trusty camera to get all the humphs and grumphs as we load it all in.    Hard to believe that in 10 hours we will be hitting the road!   "High Diddle Dee Dee, an actor's life for me".....

The LAMB Caravan 2010 is preparing for the big trip...

We are just a couple weeks away from "take off" and the cast and I are busy doing some brush up rehearsals.   I started packing our travel needs and put them in The BOX--(no, not A box....The BOX Theatre. ) This tour will not demand as much space in the van as last year's!  Hallelujah as the kids are already telling me that they will be bringing lots of homework for the drive. Travel arrangements are coming together very nicely and our hotel/motel accommodations are just about finalized.   We are ending up with 2 days off during our journey...but I am sure that we will fill that with adventure as we did last year.  I heard that Jamestown has this HUGE buffalo.........
Mrs. Diana Wooley....."tour guide"