Arizona Lou: Blog Archive 2023 Jul - Comedian Kiteboarder kitboarding kitesurf AZ azlou Lew azlew

Blog Archive 2023 Jul

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Getting this Blog updated
Booking Sat Jun 29, 2024; 6:00pm; American Legion Post 64; 1109 American Legion Rd ; Salisbury, MD
Updating the Bio on my Press Kit to 81 years old, 1,400 appearances & audiences totaling over 37,800.
Having good elliptical and arms workouts at Planet Fitness
Changing the icon image for my Fans folder to Jermey Gates a kiteboarding buddy I met at
KHK
Kitty Hawk Kites kiteboarding center in Rodanthe, NC.
.
Doing a exceptional job of finalizing my routine for 5, 10 or 15 minutes at Monday's open mic in Delmar
After two days of hunting for a place to mail my two latest Thank You Notes, I put them on the floor by stuffing them through the crack in the doors of a US Post Office.
At Walmart, among other things, I bought a new memory foam wrist mouse pad, which I later cut down to just the wrist pad to use with my Logitech Anywhere Mouse
During the day getting these new fans:

Rosheda Torea, Towne Centre Mall, Salisbury MD; 7/1/23

Michael Harmon, Towne Centre Mall, Salisbury MD; 7/1/23

Lourdes Barajas; Planet Fitness, Salisbury MD; 7/1/23

Tavante & Aamyah Finney; Walmart, Salisbury MD; 7/1/23

- Some times we need to focus on the positive, rather than just let our emotions ride.
- Got to bed at 12:01 for 9 hours of sleep at the Salisbury Walmart

Sun Jul 2 = Catching up on some images from last month, here is my display at

KHK: Kitty Hawk Kites store in Avon, NC

from the sixth and of a bird from the 20th:
display

- I canceled my EaseUS Backup subscription. Their customer support isn't the best, I am not sure how it would work with my Mac and I plan to use SuperDuper on the mac.
- I finished my paper book and am now back to reading my Kindel - how relaxing. I am in a section of Mark Twain about his public speeches. Interesting because that's what I do.
- Got to bed in the Salisburg Walmart parking lot at 11:40 for 9:27 hours of sleep in anticipation of being out late tomorrow night.

Mon Jul 3 = Last night it was warm enough that it was the second time this trip that I was comfortable spending the entire night naked. The only difference this time was I kept my little ceiling fan on the entire time instead of just the first part of the night. The low last night in my van was 87 degrees.
- This morning I drove to Delmar
logo

and spent about three hours at their Library and succeeded in updating this BLOG and fouling up a poster for my Comedy Home Page. Fortunately I did not get the bad page uploaded to the Internet.
- I got to Moon Cat Comedy about 7:30 and several comedians were already hanging around across the street in the funeral home parking lot. Very appropriate for me, considering I'm 81.
- It was goot to see comedian friends I had made from last year: Paula Sangleer and Dan Bell, the owner, among others, and the opportunity to make new friends.
- We had a good show. I went up toward the end for 7:41 minutes, had the audience laughing 25% of the time and got 6.1 laughs per minute. Not too shabby, considering it was an open mic with mostly comedians there. They were very supportive, very complementary and bought four of my Comedy T-shirts.
- Got to bed at 11:43 for 9:01 hours of sleep on the west side of the Moon Cat Comedy building.

Tue Jul 4 = Having spent a couple days in Delmar DE not driving much, it ws the first time this trip that my new

LiFPO4: my van's 100 Amp-hour Lithium/Iron/Phosphate/Oxygen house battery I started using Dec 3, 2022

battery voltage got lower than 13. During the warm night, with an in-van low of 82° F, the battery got down to 12.85V while the refrigerator was running.
- I got away about 10:30am, headed for my next comedy show in Hanover, PA.
- Around noon I decided, since I was driving by the eastern shore of Chesapeake Bay, to head to the Metapeake Clubhouse and Beach for a little sun. It turns out they were using an overflow parking area and the wait was about two hours. That called for Plan B:
- Stopping at the Bay Bridge Airport (W29) in Stevensville, MD, which I had passed on the way to the beach. I hung out in the pilot's area (no Internet) for a couple of hours and got things ready to upload when I got to an Internet connection.
- I drove on to the Hanover Planet Fitness for my

poster trim: weekly trimming of my beard, eye brows and little quiff so I match my poster photos

, shower, legs workout and these five new fans:

Tommy Grelli; Planet Fitness, Hanover PA; 7/4/23

Matthew Moorefield, Colton Thomas; Planet Fitness, Hanover PA; 7/4/23

David Smiley & Adam Garland; Planet Fitness, Hanover PA; 7/4/23

- I did "paper" work in Planet Fitness, finally added a sweat shirt and still shivered, so I finished the evening with good Wi-Fi in my van in the parking lot.
- Got to bed in the Hanover Walmart parking lot at 12:38am for nine hours of sleep

Wed Jul 5 = This morning, all in Hanover, PA I did a little Walmart shopping, went to the Guthry Library where I worked until they closed at 6pm and got these two new fans:

Nick Leal & Arron Waite; Guthry Library, Hanover PA; 7/5/23

on to Planet Fitness for an arms workout and these three new fans:

Steven Colasupnno; Planet Fitness, Hanover PA; 7/5/23

Luis Ramirez & Orlando Macedoinio; Planet Fitness, Hanover PA; 7/5/23

- Next to the Planet Fitness, at the Community Aid Thrift Store, I found the perfect cage to modify as a wind cage to replace the one I left at my last beach show.
- Then back to the Walmart for rubberized mesh to use with the wind cage I am making and for the night with perfect morning shade in the shadow of their building by the auto service center.
- Got to bed at 10:52 for 9:08 hours of sleep

Thu Jul 6 = After a torso workout at Planet Fitness and these two new fans,

Paul Keenan; Planet Fitness, Hanover PA; 7/6/23

Ethan Konkus; Planet Fitness, Hanover PA; 7/6/23

I got to the post and got my T-shirts which had been delivered there. Thanks to the good folks there I had their smoke-free hall for doing the sorting and inventory. I had run out of 3xL and was running low on L and 2xL.
- The show was the typical bar disaster with a lot of smoke added. There were about 40 people there. Only five of them listened. Since the listeners were sitting appart, no one laughed, except the commander who chuckled at a joke or two before leaving near the middle of the hour show. The listeners are what kept me going. After the show the Chaplin and another guy gave me a lot of encouragement to "continue what you are doing."
- I sold four T-shirts :)
- After the show I drove down to the Hanover, PA Walmart for my last night there on my way to Deleware for Thursday's show.
- Got to bed at 11:31 for 8:59 hours of sleep

Fri Jul 7 = This may be the highlight of my tour. About 8:30 this morning I got a phone call from Tim Turane, Director of Communications and Community Outreach, at the Delaware Vetterans Home in Milford. He had heard about me through the American Legion in Milford. The bottom line: I drove to Milford and did a 20-minute show for the veterans and their staff assistants. Got a good response from a good audience. One of the vets was a female and she was the only one not in a wheelchair. Some of them were in reclining wheel chairs. Of course we all appreciate their service.

a zippered flat-bottom bag
information about the Deleware Veterans Home
eye area heat/chill mask
3' retractable measuring tape
foam football
toothpaste tube squeezer
mystery foam pad
weekly pill organizer
chapstick
pens
sticker
extendable back scratcher
coaster
gummy bears
doggie treat
COVID-19 test kits

- After the show I drove to the nearby Walmart for the night where I had a quiet night and perfect morning shade, thanks to a tree.
- Got to bed at 11:59 for 8:39 hours of sleep before needing to get up for my

Sat Jul 8 = After breakfast my van got a little warm, but not too bad in the shade of the tree and with the moon roof open and the rear hatch opened about six inches. I got this blog ready to upload then parked near the Walmart to do the upload and go into the store for some bread.
- The Delaware Vetterans Home was my next stop to congratulate the winner of their Charity Ride & Bike Show. There were easily 100 motorcycle there.
- Next was the Milford Library until they closed at 2pm. They didn't have many outlets for laptops but their Internet was very fast. Among other things, I downloaded a dozen of my Favorite Talk Shows for listening while I'm fixing meals in my van.
- Planet Fitness was my next stop for a light legs workout.
- Of course my last stop was American Legion Post 3... in the same shopping center as the Planet Fitness.
- Chester went out of his way to help me set up. Since this was their Saturday shrimp night the post gave me a big plate of shrimp, which I did not have time to eat before the show. We had a good show.
- After the show I was eating my shrimp in the hall. Nancy Soriano, the commander came in and I got acquainted with her. I also snagged a new fan in the pool room:

Trey Hudson; American Legion Post 3; Milford, DE; 7/8/23

- Got to bed at 11:48 for 9:02 hours of sleep in the Milford Walmart parking lot with the big tree for moorning shade, but it did not make much difference because it was overcast pretty much all night and the next day.

Sun Jul 9 = This morning I drove to Bay Land Aviation at the Salisbury Regional Airport. Liz Ross there welcomed me and set me up in the flight planning area with wifi and a soft chair for doing "paper work." We also scheduled, a flight for tomorrow, weather permitting,
- Working ing the Bay Land Aviation flight planning area, I officially decided to concentrate on doing shows in Alabama on the eastbound portion of my 2024 tour. Alabama will probably be between Apr 24th and May 15th, 2024
- I also organized everything I need to do after I have done a show. It took me 40 minutes to get everything done on the list for last night's show. Here's the list:

Set up computer
Bookings - update as previous show
Louonstage.xls - Update
Venue Topics - update prn (in Humor/Alphabetical Files/
Audio from body mic - copy to LouMedia on Mac
Video - analyze and delete after possibly copying to new folder in LouMedia on Mac
Thank you note - write for mailing

- Even after all the sleep last night I still got very drowsy working at my computer this afternoon. So drowsy that I had to take two naps in order to keep functioning. Interesting enough, I did not get drowsy while driving here to the airport.
- I stopped by the Salisbury Planet Fitness for light arms and torso workouts on the way to the Walmart for the night.
- Got to bed at 10:52 for 8:51 hours of sleep

Mon Jul 10 = I had a full schedule this morning and miraculously got it all in. After breakfast in my van in the shade of the Salisbury Walmart, I scooted over to a nearby Hobby Bench for a 16' Fiscars fabric ruller to adapt as a stabalizer for the new microphone wind cage I am making.
- Next was an Ace Hardware for a stainless steel bolt, self-locking nut, washer and compression spring for attaching the ruller to the cage and allowing it to swivel.
- I made it to Bay Land Aviation to fly with Liz, one of their new instructors. She did most of the radio work and helped keep me oriented. I did not do any full stalls or 60° banks because they would have made her uneasy. I did two touch and go's and a full stop landing.
- After the flight one of the guys took me, in a golf cart, over to the maintenance shop where the honcho there helped me break the fabric ruller at the 8-inch point. I had already drilled its swival hole while in the Ace Hardware parking lot. Back in my van, I got the wind cage assembled with the stabelizer. The only thing left to do is to add the wind filter, which will be rubberized mesh.
- Back at the BayLand Aviation office, a guy named Jerry bought the "cleaner" Album #3, of which I do not sell many.
- It's not supposed to happen, especially without noticing, but I found that, sometime during the day, I had soiled my underwasr and a little spread to the pants I was wearing. That meant it was time for a change. That's why I keep extras on hand. Time to put laundry on my list of things to do.
- According to Google, here are the places I went on my travels last month: 37 Cities (10 new) 106 Places (73 new)
map

- Got to bed at midnight for 9 hours of sleep to the west of Moon Cat Comedy

Tue Jul 11 = On the way north I stopped by the Seaford DE Walmart for some groceries and got these two new fans. They were wearing these costumes raising money for the Children's Miracle Network.

Jasmine Outland & Sara Stephens; Walmart, Seaford DE; 7/11/23

- I spent the night at the Dickerson PA Walmart
- Got to bed at 12:04 for 8:54 hours of sleep

Wed Jul 12 = Today was a "Red Letter Day," at lease memorable. This morning, since I was not wearing my shorts today and because my pants needed to be washed, I got out my sewing kit and redid some their cargo pocket dividers which needed attention. Then I found a Plant Fitness for my

poster trim: weekly trimming of my beard, eye brows and little quiff so I match my poster photos

. No time for a workout, but only 2 minutes on an elliptical.
- My show was at 2pm at the Gino J. Merli Veterans' Center in Scranton, PA. I only did about 45 minutes (no video) for a good audience of about 50.
- After the show I headed south and spent several hours at the Allentown Library until they closed at 8pm. My van was parked underneath where there was complete shade :)
- What I always dreaded, with not too bad of an ending: For the first time ever, my vehicle was towed without my permission. After eating supper in my van I noticed the Clean Rite Laundroma across the alley. It would have saved me some walking if I had driven across the alley and parked in the laundromat's parking lot, but saw no reason for it.
- Jorge at the laundromat was very helpful and became a new fan:

Jorge Marzan; Clean Rite Laundromat; Allentown, PA; 7/12/23

- Evidently Eddie's Towing did not agree with my parking place and towed my van away, which I discovered when I took my clean laundry out about 10pm to find no van. I made a phone call to the police and then to Eddy's. Fortunately Eddie was about a block away after just finishing towing another vehicle. He took me and my laundry to a WaWa ATM, which charges no fee so I could pay him $400 in CASH, then to his towing yard where he released my van after a bunch of detailed "paper" work on his cell phone.
- I drove to the Cracker Barrel in Fogelsville PA for the night and didn't get to bed too late, considering everything that happened.
- Got to bed about 12:16 for 8:48 hours of sleep, appreciating the luxury of my own bed in my own van.

Thu Jul 13 = I waisted a bunch of time with Apple, desparate to get new files up on my website. After breakfast I drove all the way to their Lehigh Valley PA store and found no one who could help me with FTP (file transfer protocol). A gal there did arrange for me to receive a phone call from Apple Support at 1pm, so I headed South.
- I arrived at the Upper Dublin Library in time to set up in one of their conference rooms to receive the phone call. Pam spent an hour patiently taking took me through a lot of possibilities and permissions. FileZilla still would still not upload any of the website files with my MackBook Pro.
- I tried going to the Hostgator website and was finally able to upload through cPanel page. I can't tell you how much angst I experienced not being to update my website for the last two days. I can't afford to lose my #1 Internet rank as Arizona Lou or as America's Favorite Old Man.
- After the library closed at 8:45pm I drove to a nearby Walmart and bought a loaf of bread. That's all they had that I needed.
- Then on to a nearby Cracker Barrel for the night in their parking lot with good morning shade.
- Got to bed at 10:49 for 9:19 hours of sleep

Fri Jul 14 = After breakfast I drove to the Bensalem Library where I checked off all the posted items in my checking account for the June. Still in the finance department, I did my monthly pay-off of all my credit cards. Then I updated this blog and my FANS web page.
- Outside the library they had this neat rack for bike parking. Although it is laughingly impossible as a bike, it shows creativity and motion.
bike rack

- Planet Fitness was my next stop for an elliptical and light full-body workout. I was planning on also doing a slow heavy full-body workout until one of their employees told me I would have to put on sneakers to work out on the floor. This is only the second Planet Fitness that has ever told me that, and I've been to a lot of them. Since I had neither time nor inclination to go out and get sneakers from my van, I didn't do the heavy workout. I did get two new fans though:

Thomas Lavin; Planet Fitness, Bensalem PA; 7/14/23

Robin Thuram; Planet Fitness, Bensalem PA; 7/14/23

- Then on to the nearby Walmart for, among other things, a 5=TB USB hard drive to use for backing up my MacBook Pro.
- Last stop of the day was a nearby Cracker Barrel for a piece of their chocolate/chocolate cake with ice cream for my Friday Treat night and also to spend the night in their parking lot. Thanks, Cracker Barrel!
- Got to bed at 11:11 for 8:57 hours of sleep with nearly perfect morning shade.

Sat Jul 15 = Last night was a 30-year record: two nights in a row that I only got up once to pee.
- After breakfast I drove about 20 mintues to the Morrisville Library to hang out until they closed at 5pm.
- After eating supper in my van I drove a few blocks to the Elks Lodge 2023 in Morrisville PA Donna Wolf and I agreed to meet here at 5:30. What appeared to be the main door was locked and no one was to be seen, so I took a nap in my van wondering where Donna was. She was inside wondering where I was because I didn't appear to be in my van. It turns out that the little door to the right was the door they were using. We finally got together in time to set everything up but my cameras and my banner.
- The lodge is usually closed on Saturdays, so all 13 people who were there for the 8:00 show came for comedy. We had fun and got a lot of new fans:

Burt Greenberg, Cathy Karmicky, Cathy Wu, Gloria Shadding, Emily Norman, Debbie Okurowski, Joe and Danial G & Donna Wolf; Elks Lodge 2023; Morrisville PA; 7/15/23

- I spent the night at the back of the post near a semitrailer for morning shade, which I didn't need due to the clouds and the rain.
- Got to bed at 11:28 for 8:56 hours of sleep

Sun Jul 16 = Since libraries are closed on Sundays I looked for a small airport where I could hang out. I found the Trenton-Robinsonville Airport near Trenton NJ. Admidts the rain I drove there, getting gas (cheaper in New Jersey) on the way. I had a pretty good day visiting with the young guys there and working on my stuff.

Nick Mascio, Max Shrayfel, Kyle Bonickle & Dom Szoldrowski; Trenton-Robinsonville Airport NJ; 7/16/23

- I Zoom'd into the Leo Laporte podcast with my question about backing up my

Mac: the MacBook Pro I got in May 2023, with an m2 Max processor 64GB of memory and a 2TB SSD hard drive

. The whole call-in process was confusing. I called in by phone for better audio but was somehow also on Zoom for the video.
- The water pump for my van's running water system quit working for the first time in several weeks since I shimmed the cigarette lighter plug with some plastic from a bottle. Tonight I re-inserted the plug with the shim. Before I added the shim the plug would work its way out and have to be reseated several times a week.
- After they closed the airport office I drove back to Bensalem PA to the Cracker Barrel for the night. br /> - Got to bed at 11:48 for 9:02 hours of sleep

Mon Jul 17 = I had a full day planned with quite a lot of driving. First stop was the Bensalem LA Fitness for a slow heavy full-body workout and nine new fans:

Ralph Diaz; LA Fitness, Bensalem PA; 7/17/23

Alvin Fortson; LA Fitness, Bensalem PA; 7/17/23

DuBem Emenuga; LA Fitness, Bensalem PA; 7/17/23

Kush Patel & Parth Patel; LA Fitness, Bensalem PA; 7/17/23

Chidubem Ifeanyi, Cole Castagna, Sante Damiano & Michael Paz; LA Fitness, Bensalem PA; 7/17/23

- I skipped stopping by a shared branch credit union to deposit some T-shirt cash because I wanted to get to the Delaware Valley Veterans Home early before my show. It turns out that I would have had plenty of time. I got there an hour before showtime and they didn't quite know what to do with me.
- The show went well with about 50 for an audience. They were quite responsive. The third time I used "Black" as a punchline (in a complementary way) was too much for a workers in the entertainment department. He indicated with a signal that I should quit. I was in the middle of my Anemometer set and I just dropped it and closed with my Voice set. After the show some people wondered what happened. I should have concluded the Anemometer punchline for closure.
The worker was vehement about how offended he was with my comedy and told me four times, figuring I was homophobic, I believe a reflection of his own feelings. He was the only person with negative comments. Others were positive and encouraging.
- After the show I drove about 4.5 hours (without the $23 of tolls) to the Duncanville PA Walmart to be close to a library for Tuesday and the Hollidaysburg Veterans Home for Wednesday's show.
- This evening at the Walmart I had trouble logging onto Hostgator, my web host, so I tried FileZilla and miraculously it worked perfectly. I
- Got to bed at 12:29am for 8:43 hours of sleep

Tue Jul 18 = After breakfast I drove up to the Hollidays Burg Library. Today was an interesting day, comedy wise, and not full of positive vibes. First I got a call from the Southeastern Veterans Center in Spring City PA that they needed to cancel Thursday's show due to poor communications between the people who scheduled the show. Second I got a phone call from Dee Miller my Hollidaysburg Veterans' Home contact, that they had no power after a construction crew severed their under-ground power lines. They are having to cancel all of their entertainment activities.
- It is easy for me to take these things personally, which does not make sense. I felt better after Dee's phone call. Thank you for the encouraging words, Dee. I try to arrive in cities where I am doing comedy the day before to hang out and socialize with the residents and maybe go to a library and a gym. In this case I drove over 300 miles for no show.
- Website wise, I added nine fans from the LA Fitness in Bensalem and updated this blog before the library closed at 8pm.
- After eating supper I drove to the nearby Altoona Walmart. I parked in front of their "Lube" overhead door to be first in line for an oil change tomorrow morning.
- Got to bed at 10:03 for 8:49 hours of sleep before my 6:52am alarm to be ready when Walmart Auto opened at 7am.

Wed jul 19 = It turns out I was second, but still got their Basic Oil Change done. I had to supply the filter, O-ring and compression washer since they had none. The oil change was still about 1/3 the cost of the previous one at a 5-Minute oil change, which took over 40 minutes.
- Driving was next on the list, taking the scenic route and avoiding tolls.
- My van's running water system ran out this morning so I stopped by the Lancaster PA Walmart to find they have no Primo water refill station but got a new fan:

Shateek Lewis; Walmart, Lancaster PA; 7/19/23

- I stopped by the Lanco Fed Credit Union (shared branch) in Lancaster PA to deposit some T-shirt cash on the way to the Chester County Airport (CTH) where I did "paper work" until 8pm when I left in time to get to the LA Fitness in Downingtown for light fast elliptical and legs workouts, poo,

poster trim: weekly trimming of my beard, eye brows and little quiff so I match my poster photos

, shower and these new fans:

Doug Schultz; LA Fitness, Downingtown PA; 7/19/23

Evan White; LA Fitness, Downingtown PA; 7/19/23

Joseph Meli; LA Fitness, Downingtown PA; 7/19/23

before driving across the freeway to the Downingtown PA Cracker Barrel parking lot for the night.
- I felt sorry for a lady who had evidently driven her SUV to feed about 20 cats, expectantly hanging around. From the actions of the cats, it appeared to be a nightly ritual for the lady. There ought to be some humer in this.
- Got to bed at 11:25 for 9 hours of sleep

Thu Jul 20 = My Kindle battery ran low last night so I set it to do a full charge this morning.
- My van's running water system ran out of water yesterday morning so I went to two Walmart stores which did not have water refill stations. I finally found the despensing maching at Whole Foods in Downingtown.
- It took me a while but I found a library. It had to be on my way to tonight's comedy open mic and have free parking . After a lot of turns and winding tree-lined roads, I arrived at the Andora Library in Philadelphia in time for an early lunch in my van. As a bonus there was an LA Fitness in the same shopping center.
- Can't sleep in the library, "rules are rules. If I have to tell you again, I'll have to ask you to leave." Now that's a problem because every afternoon I get uncontrollably drowsy unless I get a short nap, typically 14 minutes.
- After the library closed I fixed supper in my van and ate it on the way to Gojjo's for their open mic, which was actually a workshop with a couple minutes of feedback after each 5-minute set. Neat! The show was produced by Felix, and Tom was the host for the first half of the show, then Felix hosted for the last half.
- After the show I was a little uneasy returning to my van, hoping it was OK, being parked on a side street. It was fine.
- I drove south to the Boothwyn, PA Walmart on my way toward Delmar, DE. Great news, there was an Anytime Fitness in the same shopping center, so I spent a fast 2-minutes on their elliptical. before heading to a shade tree at the Walmart.
- Got to bed at 12:09 for 9 hours of sleep before my stupid SleepBot "automatic" alarm woke me up from a deep sleep.

Fri Jul 21 = About 9:30 this morning I moved my van from the southwest of the shade tree to the southeast where I should have shade into the afternoon. Being about a third the way across the parking lot from the store and out of the prime customer parking area, I was pleased to have good Internet. This has to be my favorite tree because in the afternoon , moving my van to the northeast of the tree gave me good shade until I left Walmart to head southwest later in the afternoon.
- It took me until dinner time to download a new batch of my Favorite Talk Shows , make a poster for my Parkway Theater show on the 29th in McKees Rocks, PA and to email four resolutions of the poster to Arron, the owner of Parkway.
- This Walmart had no produce department but, fortunately the shopping center had an ACME Market where I got two grapefruits, but no psyllium husks. After finding none there, at GNC or Walgreens I finally found something close: Psiyllium Husk powder with no sugar at an Elkhart Drug store. Unfortunately it does include some orange flavoring.
- After a workout at the Anytime Fitness, I headed toward Prince Frederick MD where I arranged to meet my daughter and the girls. The no-toll route that I took was more scenic, although it did require more attention with little towns, traffic lights etc. compared to the Interstate route with the tolls.
- For the night I made it to the Stevensville MD Cracker barrel which is on Kent Island.
- It was my treat night but I almost did not go in for their delicious chocolate cake, thinking I'd save the treat for tomorrow when I am with family. A good twist was that my server was David West who has been into stand up comedy for about nine months as a comedian and a producer. He says he will email me some information. He also became my latest fan and bought a T-shirt:

David West; Cracker Barrel, Stevenson MD (on Kent Island); 7/21/23

- Got to bed at 11:33 for 8:59 hours of sleep before my stupid SleepBot "automatic" alarm woke me up

Sat Jul 22 = Since I was not in a hurry to get away and because I was parked in the beautiful shade of a tree, before leaving the Cracker Barrel I installed the lobe I bought yesterday at a hardware store above my office drawer so the drawer does not slide open when I make left turns.
- At solar noon I lay in the sun, shining through a thin overcast, at Matapeake Beach there in Stevensville MD and ran the 1/3 mile back to my van which was parked in the overflow parking area. I stopped by the nearby Bay Bridge Airport and found that they have no WiFi, in spite of a big pilots' lounge.
- After crossing the Bay Bridge, I stopped by the Annapolis Public Library. I was there until they closed at five. Unfortunately they blocked FTP so I could not update my website, so stopped by a nearby McDonalds where FTP worked like a charm (with FileZilla).
- I made it down to the Springhill Suites, Prince Fredrick MD, in time to chill out before going up to

Anne's: My daughter and her two daughters Katie and Brooke

room.
- This evening with some of Anne's friends, making eight people, we played a little Uno, an extremely complicated game and Balderdash.
- I spent the night in Prince Frederick MD parked to the wast of the hotel for 100% morning shade.
- Got to bed at 10:57 for 8:47 hours of sleep

Sun Jul 23 = After preparing breakfast in my van, I went into the hotel and ate it with

Anne's: My daughter and her two daughters Katie and Brooke

in the breakfast area of the hotel. Then we went up to the room to visit and catch up with some good quality family time
- A little later I worked on my website in the breakfast/social area of the hotel and got six new fans:

M Ray, B Rollocks, B Stepney, J Brooks, Y Smith & J Johnson; Springhill Suites, Prince Fredrick MD; 7/23/23

and then went up to the room on the fourth floor for uninterrupted paper work (taking the stairs of course).
- About 4pm I took the stairs down to the hotel's little gym for a fast light torso workout.
- I ate supper on the three hour drive for my last night of the tour at the Salisbury MD Walmart and a little grocery shopping there.
- Got to bed at 11:17 for 9:41 hours of sleep after changing my alarm from 8"17 to 8:58.

Mon Jul 24 = I left Walmart this morning without stopping by a library or a gym but drove directly to the PAC14 offices. I arrived early, so found a good shade tree on the driveway to the Salisburg water tower where I worked on my comedy routine for tonight.
- A little before noon Tom Taylor, head of the Public Access Channel Serving the City of Salisbury & Wicomico County MD, and I went out for lunch. I experienced some new culinary creations thanks to Tom.
- After lunch we delved into Final Cut Pro for the Mac, which I am considering for my video editor. Final Cut Pro is very powerful, and as a result is slow, has some awkward features, does not include auto-ducking of audio, is mostly new to me and rather expensive.
- Tom let me hang around one of their offices for about two more hours when I got a little of my own hands-on time with FinalCut Pro. As a result I have decided to go with Cyberlink's Power Director 21.6 if I can get it for my

Mac: the MacBook Pro I got in May 2023, with an m2 Max processor 64GB of memory and a 2TB SSD hard drive

, since I am already familiar with the software.
- We left the office, late, with Final Cut Pro still uploading the show to my thumb drive.
- Driving up to Delmar DE, at Moon Cat Comedy, I got three new fans:

Sam Becker, Janee Crawford & Josh Poston; Moon Cat Comedy, Delmar DE; 7/24/23

- The show was great fun with an audience of 29. It was a good group with three or so first-timers. I sold four T-shirts and got $20 in additional donations for Alzheimer's research. This is the second year I have gone to Moon Cat Comedy. So far I have sold a total of 14 shirts there :)
- Got to bed to the west of Moon Cat Comedy in Delmar DE at 12:14 for 8:46 hours of sleep before my early alarm for tomorrow's podcast

Tue Jul 25 = At 9:30 this morning I was the guest for an audio podcast with Daniel Carmean, the producer, and Dan Bell. It was a lot of fun and gave me a chance to be funny and also to talk about things that are important to me and to most people. Dan said my sotry inspired him. Hopefully it will inspire others who listen to it. I'll let you know when it goes "live."
- Under Silver Sneakers, I joined Delmar Fitness. It used to be an Anytime Fitness but now is a single locally owned gym. Rich Swift the manager and Zac there are fine people. I did a heavy legs workout and a fast light torso workout.
- I arrived at the Delmar Library about 1:00 and worked there until it closed at 5, then parked to the east of Delmar Fitness and worked in my van where I had access to their WiFi. I worked there for about four hours, researching Cyberlink Power Director (again) and sending Cyberlink a hairy email to see if they offer software that will meet my needs.
- About 9:30 I went to my night spot to the west of Moon Cat Comedy.
- Got to bed at 10:58 for 8:58 hours of sleep

Wed Jul 26 = While eating breakfast I planned out my next couple of days, considering the sun, beaches, shopping, picking up the thumb drive (with my show) from Tom Taylor at PAC14 in Salisbury, pissibly meeting with Todd Lanier (Delmar City Counselman) and maybe getting together with David West on my way to Pittsburgh.
- What a full day! My first project was the Delmar Library where I checked my email, updated this blog and got two new fans, both into baseball:

Bentley Pedersen & Brandon Spicer; Delmar Library, MD; 7/26/23

- Then I drove down to the PAC14 offices in Salisbury to pick up the thumb drive from Tom which FinalCut Pro had finally completed and to fix lunch.
- Then about an hour drive to the Ocean City MD beach for a little noon-time sun and vitimine D. Not forgetting exercise, headed back west, I stopped by the Ocean City Planet Fitness for a workout and new fans:

Donte Jackson; Planet Fitness, Ocean City MD; 7/26/23

Fans; Planet Fitness, Ocean City MD; 7/26/23

- No time to waste to make it to Easton MD's 4 Dog Brewery for their mixed open mic, of which Todd Lanier had told me. The occasion upped my total audience count by 90 to 238,951. I was one of three comedians on the program. Al the rest were musicians, mostly playing the guitar. It was a pretty good audience.
- One of the talents was this young band, Brooklett, which became my fans.

Brooklett Band: Bates Nittle, Heath Kelsey, Oliver White & Finnegan Theeke; 4 Dog Brewing, Easton MD; 7/26/23

- I spent the night nearby at the Easton MD Walmart.
- Got to bed at 11:43 for 8:52 hours of sleep

Thu Jul 27 = This morning I had brunch with David West at the Easton Diner. David has a lot on the ball for a 25-year old. He is creative, precise, articulate, writes well and can spell!
- Driving to Pittsburgh was the order for most of the rest of the day At a rest stop I struck up a conversation with a guy. No wonder, he had a hitch platform on the back of his van containing four deep-cycle marine batteries. He uses them to power his refrigerator, microwave etc. He bought one of my T-shirts and he and his wife became my fans, along with their little 100 year old dog (you know, dog years).

Lou & Lanice Crum; I-70 Rest Stop, Myersville MD; 7/27/23

- The non-toll route was beautiful with warnings for truckers to avoid the roads due to all the curves and steep grades. Here is a section that was unusually straight, with hills for as far as you can see until the road disappears in the trees.
road

- I made it to an LA Fitness in eastern Pittsburgh for a workout and some more fans

Miguel Twahirwa & Jean Iradukunda; LA Fitness, E Pittsburgh PA; 7/27/23

Friends; Outside LA Fitness, E Pittsburgh PA; 7/27/23

- I didn't get to bed very early because I decided to move my clothes and right seat stuff back where they belonged. Yesterday I made a panic stop because the traffic stopped in an unexpected place after a highway traffic light. Thank goodness for ABS and a solid road. I came to a stop within about 18" of the pickup truck ahead of me. Of course all the above mentioned items did not stop quite as soon and shifted toward the front of the van. I had engineered my bed, cabinetry and comedy stuff so they did not shift.
- Got to bed at 12:11 for 9:04 hours of sleep in Pittsburgh at the Bethel Park PA Walmart

Fri Jul 28 = I spent much of the day and into the evening at the Allegany County Airport in southeastern Pittsburgh. Corporate Air there has the best pilot facilities I have ever seen. They had lounges, a shower and rooms where pilots can get some sleep. I only used their flight planning area and Internet and got two new fans:

Jon Samson & Jonathan De Jane; Corporate Air, Allegany County Airport, Pittsburgh PA 7/28/23

- I attempted to install NTFS for Mac from Paragon Software so my computer can utilize disk drives from my Windows machine. Didn't get it to work
- Before leaving my shady parking spot at Corporate Air, I mixed up a new batch of 5.37 oz of Garlic with 12 oz of Mustard for the mixture that I use on my odd-day evening sandwiches. It got a little messy but I ended up with 16 ounces of the concoction.
- Got to bed at 11:39 for 9:01 hours of sleep in Pittsburgh back at the Bethel Park PA Walmart

Sat Jul 29 = I clearly marked the top of my cinnamon shaker after dumping over an eighth cup of cinnamon on my oatmeal. I had accidentally opened the spoon side of the top instead of the shaker side.
- My van's 10" clothes closet "bar" came appart and dumped all my clothes into a heap. No time to put things back for the next day or so.
- Before leaving Walmart, I planned my stand up comedy routine for tonight, went over it, timed it and created a stack of icons for it.
- I also made two quick trips to the Giant Eagle next door to Walmart for some groceries that Walmart did not have.
- I got a lot accomplished at the Bethel Park Library. A lot of images were broken on my computer's Local Hoast, but not on my website. After some investigation, I found that sometime or other, I had accidently moved the Blog image subfolderfolder from images into the trips image subfolder. Moving it back where it belonged fixed all the images... a simple but potentially risky thing to do.
- Tonight's show was great. It was the first time I had my name in lights on Broadway and the first time I appeared as the headliner for a regular comedy show... on Broadway... at the Parkway Theater; 644 BROADWAY Ave, in McKees Rocks, PA a suburb of Pittsburgh.
theater

- We had an audience of only eleven, but they laughed the entire time for both Chris Kemp (Pittsburgh's Golden Girl) and for me (America's Favorite Old Man).
- After I packed things up in my van, a lady said she saw my van's magnetic signs, had a rough day and needed to laugh. I told her three jokes and she and her husband became my latest fans:

Shay and Fish, Broadway Ave, McKees Rocks PA; 7/29/23

- To have a head start on tomorrow's driving, I drove down to the Washington PA Cracker Barrel for the night
- Got to bed at 12:18 for 9:02 hours of sleep, without the expected morning shade.

Sun Jul 30 = I drove in four states today: PA WV OH & KY
- Driving in those four states was the main event for this morning, to meet my son and his family at Dave & Buster's in Florence KY for visiting, eats and games. What a high tech place! With my grandaughter I had my first taste of a VR headset with D&B's Top Gun program that included two-axis articulaton.
- After we said our goodbyes I hung around in my van. From the parking lot I had Internet in and the full shade of their building so was able to get my day's "paperwork" done, which included this blog, emails and updating my Comedy Home Page.
- Sadly, I found that the Wichita Loony Bin has closed its doors after 23 years, so I will not be stopping by there stage on the way home.
- Instead, tomorrow I will be stopping by for the 9:00pm; Comedy Shipwreck at The Heavy Anchor; in St. Louis MO., thanks to some last minute research using BadSlava on the Resources for Comedians on my Comedy Home Page.
- I drove about 25 minutes to the Dry Ridge KY Walmart parking lot for the night where I had good shade until noon, thanks to a friend, a beautiful tree.
- Got to bed at 11:26 for 9:04 hours of sleep

Mon Jul 31 = I drove in four states today: KY IN IL MO
- I spent all morning in Dry Ridge KY in my van in the shade of the beautiful tree. I got some of my show audio recordings organized, wrote a thankyou note and, although I was in the far corner of the Walmart parking lot, I had good enough Internet to update my website.
- By the time I left the beauti tree, the shade was getting short, my van was heating up a little and I had just enough time to drive to the The Heavy Anchor in St. Louis to sign up for their open mic at 8:00 when the sign-up list theoretically came out for the 9pm show. Evidently the list came out earlier because I was 20th on the list.
- It was a good show. By the time I went up there were only 12 people left in the audience but they laughed a lot. Host, Chad Wallace wrapped the show up just before midnight.
- I drove a half hour in the direction of Tucumcari NM and got situated for the night at the Cracker Barrel in St Charles MO.
- Got to bed at 1:10am for 8:45 hours of sleep

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