Friday the 13th didn’t bring us any bad luck, but Saturday the 14th wasn’t a great day. We were going to make a leisurely trip to Lowell, take our time and visit a great mall in Nyack, NY. We pulled into the Palisades Center and had a relaxing day. As we were leaving, I had to make a very tight turn. Into the turn, I (once again) heard the unmistakable sound of escaping air – NOT AGAIN! I could see in the side mirror that I had blown out the very same tire that I flattened last weekend in Frostburg.
Now, it’s Saturday afternoon and the chances of finding a place that will change a truck tire are pretty slim. We decided to get back on the interstate and head toward Massachusetts. While I drove, the rest of the gang searched through repair books and made phone calls until they found someone who could fix it – in East Haven, CT!
We made it to East Haven around 5pm and George, the repair guy, met us there shortly afterwards. He fixed the spare – and, yes, we got it all on video for our next DVD – and had us on the road again by 6:30pm. Just in case, I bought another tire since we used our spare!
We pulled into Lowell around 8:30pm and tried to get some rest. Our hotel was also being occupied by a large wedding party, many of whom were staying around us. We had a very early morning load in at Durgin Hall and had to be up at 6am. At 4am, the guests around us were still up and very much awake. It was a nightmare for us and we didn’t get much sleep at all. Morning came way too fast!!
We were up and out of the hotel by 7am on our way to the Center for the Arts in Durgin Hall on the campus of UMASS in Lowell. Our first time here was in 1999, then again in 2002 and now. It’s a bit of a crazy day for us because we do two shows here, both in the afternoon. We only have about 30 minutes to turn the show around before doors open for the next performance. But we had a great day, made all the better by a wonderful technical crew and good audiences.
Now we’re tired – it was a long day and a short night! Tomorrow, we head to Bethlehem, PA to meet up with Andre Kole and his team.