Sunday Drive

Sunday January 4th, 2009 - St. Cloud, MN/Kenosha, WI

I’m back in a good space again and I’m claiming it. From past experience I know it isn’t going to last forever so I’m enjoying every minute of it. I’m starting the new year off with a few days in a row of solid choices and I feel a positive momentum building. I need that.

It was totally the right decision to stay the night in St. Cloud. Trying to navigate myself through both snowy roads and late night drunks would have been stupid even though I’ve done it hundreds of times before. Something told me to stay over and I’m glad I listened. The older I get the more I’m listening to that little voice inside that I’ve ignored before.

The opener Chris Smith is a very nice guy and like me a well traveled road warrior. We stayed up and talked in the condo for a while about everything from football to comedy to travel routes to who knows what else. I asked when he planned on leaving and he said the standard comic answer ‘Whenever I wake up.’ I said the same thing. We’re both veterans.

I crawled out of the rack at 7:30 this morning and packed and when I walked out of my room sure enough there was Chris ready to go as well. We laughed but it’s an inner clock road comics have that says when to get up if we want to make the long drive to get home. Wasting a whole day after the gig is very unproductive and we all want to get home fast.

They made us park in an outdoor lot and it was a few blocks from where we stayed. As I walked with my computer bag in one hand and duffel bag in the other I could hear snow crunch under my feet. The bank on the corner showed the temperature was -2 but it didn’t seem that warm. I didn’t bring a hat or gloves and my hands were throbbing and hurting.

Then to make it worse of course I left my useful ice scraper in the Ford Explorer and of course there was a quarter inch of ice caked on all windows so I cranked the defroster and chipped away at the ice with a cassette case just like I do in my act sometimes. Ha ha. Not only was it torture standing there as my hands hurt it took 45 minutes to finish chipping.

All of this was my fault because I accepted a gig in St. Cloud, MN in January and all of this is to be expected. I could and should have packed an ice scraper and gloves and warm clothes and in the past I’ve done exactly that and had no use for them because the weather was balmy. This happened to be the trip when it got colder than Hillary‘s…you know.

It’s just how the breaks went this time. I’m in the process of changing cars around even more than I usually do and I got caught. If I have a car for a while I’m pretty good with an emergency supply kit only because I’ve broken down so many times. I’ve got heavy duty jumper cables and gloves and maps and a flashlight and even a change of warm clothes.

Today I had NOTHING but my education and aching frostbitten fingers holding on with all the grip I could muster to the cassette case as I scraped the windshield so I could see at least part of the road so I could start heading out of town. Chris had already left and I was by myself thinking about life and the future. This was only a temporary little distraction.

I’m still glad I took this weekend. The shows were fantastic and I’ll focus on that. I like to perform for audiences who enjoy it and both of these did so that was my Christmas gift to myself. I’ll still make a few bucks and I also did a favor for the bookers. It’s all good.

I settled back for the long drive but it was on a plowed interstate in the sunshine so that made it a lot easier than doing it at 2am in a snow storm. I popped in my audio tape series seminar about mail order but for some reason my cassette player wasn’t functioning right. I suppose I could have flipped out but I just shrugged it off and kept driving in silence.

I’ve done that before and don’t mind at all. On the right day I could make a twelve hour drive and not turn the radio on once. This wasn’t that day though. I listened to football for a while and also had a couple of music cassettes along but a lot of the trip was in silence.

When I hit Eau Claire I needed a break so I stopped at a thrift store I know there. I love to just take a lap even if I don’t buy anything. Today I found a stack of comic books from the ‘70s that were on sale and I ended up buying them all for about a buck each. They had a much higher price tag but it was a special sale and I got them for a price I can live with.

Most of the titles were Archie and Richie Rich and Casper the Friendly Ghost and they were all in good condition. I have to believe I can either resell them for what I paid or just give them to some kid who might like them. The comics part wasn’t the reason I decided to buy them though. I bought them for the ads. Those have a whole new meaning now.

I want to use them for research for Uranus Factory Outlet. What sold then? Who are the companies that sold it? Are any of them still in business? Do they have a website? I know some of the products are timeless and I want to sell as many of them as I can on my site.

I also found an out of print mail order book by a guy named Tyler Hicks who I’ve been studying lately. What are the chances the book would be in Eau Claire, WI for one dollar? I’ve never seen a copy before and I’ve seen stuff like this go on Ebay for $100 or more. It screamed at me on the shelf and I couldn’t believe it when I saw it. That was a real find.

Then as I drove I passed the Ho Chunk Casino something told me to stop in there for a meal and a quick pit stop so I did. I played some video poker and turned $20 into $60 in a few minutes so I called it a day but quick. It paid for gas and lunch and I was back driving when the urge hit me again to stop at a Goodwill in Madison. I didn’t question and did it.

Lo and behold I found ANOTHER hard to find mail order book by Tyler Hicks. He has a line of books but they’re sold by mail so finding them in book stores is difficult. I found two in one day at different stores and I’m pleasantly amazed by that. Another great find.

I got to Kenosha with about an hour to spare for the Mothership Connection radio show on AM 1050 WLIP. We had a super guest tonight named Don Schmitt who is one of THE authorities on the Roswell incident. We all had a blast and the time flew by tonight. I may not be rich and famous but I sure am enjoying my life right now. Today was well spent.