Blog Archive 2019 Jun
Sat Jun 1 = I spent a good part of today at the Nags Head Staples, getting more posters and microposters printed.
- I also stopped by the Kitty Hawk Kites warehouse and had a wonderful but brief visit with John Harris, the owner. He is going to put my T-Shirts and USB Show Fobs in his Avon store. Thanks, John.
- Heading on south, I crossed the new Marc Basnight two-lane 2.8-mile $254 million 100-year bridge, which replaced the old Bonner Bridge. I snapped this picture while driving south on the north approach portion of the new bridge. You can see part of the old bridge to the left.
- I stopped by Kitty Hawk Kites in Waves, then headed down to Avon and
home
under the shade trees at the Sands of Time Campground. Got to bed early, a little after 11pm.
Sun Jun 2 = This morning I settled up with Alecia in the Sands of Time Campground office, picked up the three packages waiting for me and then headed out to continue putting up my posters from north to south. Got as far as Outer Beaches Realty before I made a B-line down to the Frisco Bath House for some sun and a beach run.
- Then I worked my way up north, doing some shopping and putting out more posters. I stopped by Haulover to fix and eat supper and watch the sunset, telling interested people about my show there on Tuesday. I met lots of nice people.
Mon Jun 3 = I got up about 5:55 this morning and phoned Jody on Beach 104 FM to plug my Comedy-n-Sunset show tomorrow. He does a good interview and makes me feel right at home, here on
- OBX
- Hatteras Island and the Outer Banks off the coast of North Carolina
.
- It took quite a lot of time sorting and processing my T-Shirts and Show Thumb Drives for the Kitty Hawk Kites Store here in Avon. I got the merch delivered to Caroline there. The Kitty Hawk Kite people are the best! Of course they have a good leader, John Harris.
- I made some new friends today. But first, evidently there was a misunderstanding with my arrangements with Sands of Time Campground. It appears it will cost me three times as much as I expected to stay their beneath
my
shade tree. So I have arranged with Trey at Avon Motel/Cottages to park in their front grass area. Thanks Trey. I gave him a tour of my Minivan home. He was especially impressed the
ceiling fan.
First new friend.
Second new friend was Jenn Acree who, along with Seth Foutz, has started the neat new
Raise the Bar Gym by the
north traffic light in Avon. When they get the details worked out, they will be the only Silver Sneakers gym on Hatteras Island :)
- Heading on south, I distributed more posters, said, "Hi" to the Avon Post Office, did some shopping at Food Lion and hung out at the Billy Mitchel Air Strip for a couple hours, conditioning my voice by practicing my routine for tomorrow night's full show. This evening I sent out 30 emails to people in the Raleigh area about my show on Saturday.
Tue Jun 4 = This morning's project was to install the
new
radio in my van. It took me 70 minutes. An experienced tech could have done it in about 15-20 minutes. The radio is like havng a new van. The sound is awesome... except for the left rear speaker, which has no sound. Right now I don't have time to troubleshoot.
- I mailed a couple thank you notes. Wrote them in the Avon Post Office and then had the clerk put them directly in the recipients' post office boxes so they'll get them today if they pick up their mail.
- Other things, I picked up my comedy stool at Dollar Tree, washed my van (wheel covers and all) and worked at the Billy Mitchell airport for an hour or so.
-
Comedy-n-Sunset tonight was probably one of my best yet. The spirited audience of nine adults was fabulous. They came for comedy and got it. I got near my goal with 5.34 laughs per minute and laughing 27.5% of the time. That's pretty good for a 50 minute show.
- After the show I drove up to Waves for the night.
Wed Jun 5 = I drove to the Newport News Main Street Library, where I analyzed and produced the video from last night's show. Because it was a full show, it was a big project that took about four hours; three hours of my time, and the rest, computer processing and rendering time. Unfortunately it is unusable because the audio from the wind cage did not sync. Next will be to see if I can fix it with the audio from my body mic.
- It took me about a year to find collapsible information card holders for my T-Case. This replaces the bulky, impractical, plastic holder (right) that I was using around Phoenix, but can not take on my road tour.
- I spent the night with good shade at the Planet Fitness in north Newport News.
Thu Jun 6 = Job one this morning was going to Office Max and printing 160 micro posters for Comedy-n-Sunset, 60 Announcement slips and six 8.5 x 11 colored posters.
- Cozzy's Comedy Club was the venue for tonight. My
Towel boy set did not go over as well as I had expected. Sid, the producer told us, just before the show began, that he was looking for
clean
for the competition to host a weekend show. My set did not fit the bill. After the show, he gave me some helpful feedback. He said the audience wasn't really into my topic, structurally my set was great but he wants to see more about me personally.
- I spent the night at the Anytime Fitness in Carrollton, VA.
Fri Jun 7 = This morning I hung around the Anytime Fitness in Carrollton, VA, did only my Egoscue exercises and made lots phone calls to Washington state and Oregon for bookings in July.
- I drove down to Fuquay-Varina in some driving rain. About half way, I stopped to make some follow-up booking phone calls. It paid off. I'll be doing a show in Milwaukie, OR at the American Legion Post 186. At the Fuquay-Varina Walmart, I did a little shopping and holed up in my van on the east side of the store by some trees that should make fantastic shade in the morning.
Sat Jun 8 = Surprise! My second marquee showed up by the Johnson Pond Road!
- Tonight was the first time I did two full-length shows back to back (7pm and 9pm). My concern was that my voice would hold out, which it did just fine. Both shows were fun... particularly the second show with more people (some from the first show) and a little more topic latitude. Norm, the post commander, and Joy, the publicity officer, were great hosts. Asking for feedback, Norm said the shows were about what he expected. Joy said they were better :)
- I had a peaceful and quiet night in the parking lot of American Legion.
Sun Jun 9 = Today I drove to Nags Head where I got my kite lines straightened out, got about $4.50 worth of frozen yogurts and parked outside the studios of Beach 104. I met Lisa Davis, DJ for the stations, who also goes by Lisa Brickhouse.
I uploaded a new web page to honor my fans. You can see it
here or click on Fans, on the menu at the top left of any of my web pages.
Mon Jun 10 = I got up at 5:45 this morning for an in-studio appearance with Jody at Beach 104 Radio, talking about my comedy show tomorrow.
- After that I drove to the
OBX Sports Club to finish my night's sleep in their parking lot and then to take a shower, pay all my credit cards off and added a FANS link to the turquois side memu on my website. At the gym I met Gunner, DJ for WOBR Pirite 95.3 FM, and arranged to call in at 3:20 tomorrow afternoon.
- Caroline and the staff at the Avon Kitty Hawk Kites store did an awesome job on my T-shirt display. From the bottom, you can see the sized shirts, a little carousel with my Show Thumb Drives, Information about Duet, the charity that receives all the profits (under the Love Your Dad block) and a shirt on their mannequin. Thanks, guys. You're awesome!
- I spent my first night parked at the Avon Motel, courtesy of Trey.
- Back at McConnell Airforce Base in Wichita, Kansas today, my son-in-law had his final flight, piloting a KC-135. Everyone was celebrating, including my two granddaughters, guiding their dad's plane in.
Tue Jun 11 = On the drive south to the Billy Mitchell airport I put out another poster and worked on stuff. The morning was mostly cloudy rainy so only two planes arrived in the afternoon. One was a little Cessna 150.
- At 3:20 I phoned Gunner at Pirate 95.3 FM Radio to plug my 7pm comedy show. I expected an interview. He gave me two minutes for a monolog so things were not really well organized. I learned to be prepared for a two-minute monologue or anything else they throw your way.
- A little after 5:00 I did my pre-comedy show routine: Used the facilities and bought a banana at the Frisco Market and drove to Haulover to fix and eat supper and then do my Comedy-n-Sunset show. All eight audience members arrived on time for the 7:00 show. They were a good
crowd,
as they came specifically for the show and arrived on time.
- After the show I told them not to leave because red light was going to light up the clouds after sunset. I snapped this picture about ten minutes AFTER sunset.
- After the show, I returned my comedy stool to the Avon Dollar Tree and drove up to Rodanthe for the night.
Wed Jun 12 = First thing this morning I headed west toward Raleigh, driving to the Zebulon, NC Library. Before going in I cleaned my refrigerator and dried it all out for depowering tomorrow morning.
- At a Walmart near the Raleigh Durham International Airport, I got things organized for tomorrow and spent the night in their parking lot, getting to bed about 8pm ET.
- My van is starting to use some antifreeze, although there is no obvious leak. About once a week the reservoir is empty and I have to add two to three quarts. After I add a gallon of water, I switch and add a gallon of antifreeze concentrate to keep it at about a 50/50 mix.
Thu Jun 13 = I got up at 2:58am ET (1:58 CT, Wichita time), fixed breakfast and drove to RDH (Raleigh-Durham International Airport) and parked in their Economy Lot 4. Getting through securety was a breeze with my TSA Pre-Check. While waiting for my plane I did my monthly blog roll-over. The first Delta flight was a short one, to ATL (Atlanta International). I managed to continue my tradition of leaving my carry-on lunch somewhere. This time at the RDH security from where I retrieved the lunch so I could leave it in my seat aboard the airplane.
- The second flight, to my destination, ICT (Wichita KS) was a little over three hours so I got my checking account resolved for June and got some rest. I got some additional rest at the Air Force Inn, my hotel on McConnell Air Force Base.
- About 4pm We all went to the new KC-46 simulator.(L-R)
- Bob, Robby's father
- Karren, his mother
- Robby, Air Force colonel
- Brooke, their younger child and my second granddaughter
- Anne, my daughter
- Lou (me)
- Kattie, their older child and my first granddaughter
We each got to fly the refueling boom, which is located in the tail of the plane and extends to refuel other planes. Our target was an older and smaller KC-145. It was like playing a video game. We had to get the probe into the socket. We also got to fly the simulator of the flight deck.
- Zoës Kitchen was our stop for supper. Unusual and good food.
- They dropped me off at my hotel (Air Force Inn, on base) so I could catch up on my website and get to bed early for tomorrow's ceremony.
Fri Jun 14 = Here's the hanger for the Change of Command Ceremony. Before the ceremony we were honored at a VIP reception. We got to meet the new commander, Colonel Thad Middleton who is taking over from Robby (Colonel Robert Hanovich Jr). What a ceremony!
- Outside the hanger they had the older, smaller, four-engine KC-135 (to the left below) and the new, larger two-engine KC-46 (to the right - the civilian version is the Boeing 757). After the ceremony we toured both aircraft. Here I am in the cargo area of the KC-46. These planes main function is refueling, so they have a relatively small cargo area. Yeh, this is small!
Sat Jun 15 = After I checked out of the hotel, Anne took me to ICT and I flew back to RDH. It took a while for me to locate my van in their huge Economy Lot #4 because the shuttle bus dropped me off at an unfamiliar location. I used Google Earth on my phone to locate the parking lot entrance, near which I had parked.
- I drove toward the
- OBX
- Hatteras Island and the Outer Banks off the coast of North Carolina
.
and spent the night in a town I have passed many times, but never stopped in: Rocky Mount, NC.
Sun Jun 16 = On to Naggs Head on the OBX where I did a short heavy legs workout. With wind sports, you never want to leave wind for wind, so I had my first, and possibly only OBX kiteboarding this year: about 30 minutes from the beach at the Jocky's Ridge State Park. It was neat to be back among my kiteboarding friends.
- I drove down to Rodanthe for the night.
Mon Jun 17 = Up this morning at 5:54 to phone Jody on Beach 104 about tomorrow night's comedy show, then went back to bed until a more decent hour.
- Driving down to the air strip I stopped by
Haulover and invited a bunch of people to tomorrow night's show.
- In the pilot's lounge at the air strip I did a BIG harry project: retroactively included my comedy-related radio station appearances in my
PAST COMEDY APPEARANCES list. That brings me to over 870 appearances in 250 venues and 111 cities. I count my audience for TV and radio appearances as how many people I was talking to in the studio or on the phone: usually one.
- I spent my second night on the grass area of the Avon Motel. Tonight I had the company of a motor boat that someone had left there on a trailor.
Tue Jun 18 = Things went like clockwork, including my Comedy-n-Sunset show.
- Got up at 7:45 because the van was getting a little warm and I wasn't sleeping anyway
- Reparked the van in a parking lot on the other side of Highway 12
- Fixed and ate breakfast
- Joined
Raise The Bar
gym for the day and did Egoscue and legs workouts
- Did a little grocery shopping at Food Lion
- Bought some combs at Dollar Tree
- Washed my van, including fresh-water undercarriage rinse
- Stopped by Haulover to let people know about my show this evening
- Went to the Hot Line Thrift store to donate the suitcase I used for Wichita
- Drove all the way down to the Hatteras Village Library, gave them a poster to put up and added a Canadian stop to my Comedy Home page
- Drove up to the Bath House and did a beach sun/run
- Drove up to the Billy Mitchell airport for lunch in the parking lot
- Talked a while with an old boat Captain, a fan of mine who said he was glad to finally meet me
- Called Gunner at Pirate 95.3 FM radio, promoting tonight's comedy show
- Picked up my stool from Loretta at Dollar Tree up in Avon
- Did Comedy-n-Sunset for six people (only one had come out mostly for the show. The rest were impromptu)
- Passed out my pink email slips. Everyone gave me their email addresses :)
- Wrapped up everything (a big job with six recording devices with dead cats and all)
- Returned my stool to Dollar Tree, late, at 9:03
- Did a little necessary shopping at Food Lion
- Drove up to Rodanthe for the night, flossing and brushing on the way to get to sleap earlier because there will be no shade in the morning
Wed Jun 19 = This morning I made some Raleigh TV station phone calls in my van, then went up to the
Good Winds Restaurant for a couple hours or so, sending out emails for Friday's show to 30 of my fans, uploading last night's videos and adding
The Poacher's Arms in Ontario to my list of future comedy appearances.
- Back down in my van, arranged for Carmedix in Durham to check my van's cooling system tomorrow, since I have to add about a quart of coolant every day or so, fixed lunch then drove from Rodanthe to the Zebulon Library, fixing and eating supper before going inside to work on this Friday's show, process the video from my G show two weeks ago and work on this blog.
- I spent the night in the parking lot to the east of Carmedix: quiet and shady in the morning. Shade wasn't much of an issue because I set my alarm for 7am so I could check in first thing when they opened.
Thu Jun 20 = I spent the day in the waiting room of Carmedix. They did a pressure test of my van's cooling system and found coolant gushing out through a break in the timing belt gasget and from the water pump's weep hole. It got pretty complicated because some parts are no longer available, but we figured a plan anyway. They were unable to get to my van today and I did a lot of sitting in their waithing room.
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- For exercise I jogged around a little and walked along the CSX railroad to the east. Only a couple of slow freight trains went by today at about 6 mph. Hey, would you go any faster on these rails? I'll bet the crew holds on and holds their breath. This gives me a little different view of CSX than their flashy commercials.
- Carmedix graciously streteched an extension cord out to my van, which they had pushed out to a parking place to the east, to run my refrigerator for the night. I had a good, quiet night there.
Fri Jun 21 = My van was Carmedix' big project today. They got it finished by a little after 6:00, their closing time. They had only one technician. All they had to do was to replace the timing cover gasget and the water pump. Of course that involved taking appart most of the right side of the engine. While they were at it, they changed my oil. Thanks guys!
- Comedy this evening was a benefit for the Fuquay-Varina American Legion Post 119 out by Jhonson Pond Road. I tried to cut out everything that did not get good laughs two weeks ago there and ended up with a 35-minute show for tonight's 13 audience members. It was another fun show.
- I spent the night in their parking lot with shade of trees in the morning.
Sat Jun 22 = This morning I had to add about a pint of water to top off my van's cooling system before heading to
- OBX
- Hatteras Island and the Outer Banks off the coast of North Carolina
.
- I have been having a terrible time with the 10A ignition fuse blowing. It operates the relay that operates the AC and a lot of other things. Five 10A fuses blew today, so I started putting in 20A fuses (15A didn't seem to do the trick).
- I stopped by the
OBX Sports Club for a shower and workouts then drove down to Kitty Hawk Kites in Waves for the night.
Sun Jun 23 = I organized phone calls to make for publicity for my Detroit and Billings appearances and planned what I will say on my local
phone calls to the
- OBX
- Hatteras Island and the Outer Banks off the coast of North Carolina
radio stations
Mon Jun 24 = I got up before 6am and phoned Jody at Beach 104 for my last
Comedy-n-Sunset show tomorrow. I went back to bed for a couple of hours then drove down to a new find: Radio Hatteras in Buxton. The idea for this non profit community radio station originated with Cape Hatteras Electric Cooperative's former general manager, Jim Kinghorn. In times of emergency, the cooperative and other organizations needed ways to communicate with Hatteras Islanders. Now they play music all day and have a few locally pre-recorded informational programs, in addition to being there during emergencies.
Tue Jun 25 = With my LG3 cell phones, I did some test with my furry
dead cat
heald on my hair claw clips. The result was disappointing so I stopped by Dollar Tree again. This time I got some fuzzy pony tail bands that will stretch around the LG3 phones lengthwise, cover the microphone and, hopefully, deaden the wind noise. I'll find out this evening.
- I washed my van for the last time and took down some of my Comedy-n-Sunset posters on my way to and from the Hatteras-Mitchell airstrip.
- My last
Comedy-n-Sunset show was PG fun, with an enthusiastic audience of 22, including six kits, that came specifically to see me :) ...
.. and the sunset. I took this pic about 16 minutes after the sun had actually set.
- After the sunset I set to work leaving the island: Returning my stool to Dollar Tree for them to keep until I return next year; Retrieving the T-shirts and thumb drives I had at the Avon Kitty Hawk Kites and driving up to Rodanthe where spent the night, Canada bound.
Wed Jun 26 = Heading toward Canada, I spent some of the morning at
The OBX Sports Club where I trimmed my beard back to 1/8", did double Egoscue routines and a short, slow, heavy arms workout.
- I drove all they way to Fredericksburg, VA for the night. On the way I thought of a few tweaks for my comedy routines.
- About 13 miles south of Moyock, NC, and at about 384,165
miles, my van hesitated twice so I pulled off the road and it died. Wouldn't start or run unless I pressed the accelerator pedal. I got on the phone and arranged for Steve, the tech at
NAPA Auto Parts- Old's Auth Supply & Service, to look at it before he left, prepared to spend the night. I guess Steve, the tec there, scared my van into working. He checked it out, reset the codes and charged me nothing. Thanks Steve. The world is sure full of good people.
Thu Jun 27 = Mostly driving today, I spent the night at a Walgreen in Seneca, NY.
Fri Jun 28 = Crossing the border into Canada did not go as smoothly as I had expected. Good thing I allowed plenty of time. I think the ramp agents thought they'd explode if they smiled. They went through about everything in my van. They even looked at my nuts. I keep them in boxes in the passenger foot area. I pack enough for the whole trip.
- My diarrhea is getting out of control. One time, in my van, I had a choice to make a huge mess or make a smaller mess by doing something disgusting. Suffice it to say, my cereal bowl ended up smelling like cinnamon flavored poo. Another time, in a library bathroom stall, things did not go so well. Cleaning up underwear and shorts in that situation was a new challenge.
- I finally called United Healthcare's Nurse line and spoke with RN, Christian. She gave me some ideas to work with. Among them is changing from my healthy high-fiber diet.
- Speaking of healthcare, it is amazing how some of the streets here in Toronto seemed to be lined with medical dispensaries.
- Rush Kazi ran a good comedy show with a fun crowd at the
Hawaii Bar 989;
in Toronto Ontario. This was my first show in Canada, my fifth country!
- Tonight, in a parking lot, in the dark, in the rain I ran over a curb divider at about 3mph.
- I spent the night in Etobicoke, ON
Sat Jun 29 = This afternoon I did my laundry. Believe me, it was needed! Also I arranged for Canadian Tire in London to check my alignment in the morning.
- I spent the night by the only shade tree... around back on the east side of Canadian Tire, 1125 Wellington Rd, London, ON. Nearby there is even a public library (Jalna Branch) and a Walmart!
Sun Jun 30 = I got up early this morning to check in with Canadian Tire. They got my alignment done. It was only a little off.
- This afternoon I had time for a shower and an Egoscue even day workout and a shower at Planet Fitness before they closed early for tomorrow's holiday, Canada Day. I didn't have time to update my website there, so did it later, tethered to my phone's hot spot. No libraries are open today and none will be open tomorrow.
- I spent the night at a different Canadian Tire than last night. I figured the shade well, including the sunrise at 42.9849° N latitude here in London, ON.
