I rented a car last night in Birmingham so I could take a little trip away from the circus. Sort of run away and join the world for a couple of days.

I had to wake up very early this morning. I was worried that I might still be asleep when the train left and I be stuck on it with my rental car back in Birmingham. I'm not sure, what you do in a case like that.

"Uh, hello Hertz? yeah, that car I rented is in the middle of a trainyard where the circus train used to be and I'm hundreds of miles away."
I guess the best thing to do in that case is just tell them it was stolen. Luckily I heard the train crew securing the vestibule for travel at 5:00. There's no way of knowing in advance when it will leave.

So I drove for an hour to a truck stop. On the way I saw a factory with one of those chimneys with flames coming out of the top. What are those? I mean, what are they making that has to be burning while it comes out of the chimney?

I did like the truck stop although they served overcooked eggs and spilled water on me. Then I took a nap in the car before I drove on to Atlanta.

I just drove around Atlanta to get a lay of the land. My only plans there were to stop if I saw a "Staples" to get office supplies or an old music shop to look at accordions. I didn't see either of those things so I stopped at Starbucks to check email.

Then I drove out to Stone Mountain using only my keen, bird-like sense of direction. And right now I'm at the base of the mountain, on the lot of the Big Apple circus in a trailer visiting Amity who was the cook on Smirkus. They're not open yet. The tent's up but they're still setting up things in and around it.

There is something ironic about my escape from the circus landing me in another circus.

I'm in Birmingham now. It's winter now. I take a knitted hat with me when I leave. But I don't usually wear it because I don't see anyone else wearing one.
This town is not as alive as the last time I was here some 19 years ago. Many closed businesses here.
I saw a long flatbed train with new campers on it.
I found a bookstore called Reed's which sells used books, collectables, old circus posters, programs, postcards etc. Really cool. There was a Life Magazine from a few decades ago that had a photo of circus flyers flying through the air.

I'm looking forward to the train run tomorrow. I need a little rest and I'm looking forward to reading and getting a little creative. I'm missing my old life of making my own music. Being on the train you can't get off an do anything else during the trip so it's mandatory relaxation time. I think I'll practice the accordion too. maybe write a song.
We'll be in Birmingham in a couple of days.

Orlando was interesting. I spent a lot of time wandering around trying to find a movie theater and a neighborhood called winter park. Then my old friend Pat The Bimbo surfaced. She was a friend of mine back in the days when I was first on this show as a clown and I haven't seen her for about 15 years or so. We went to see the Sarah Silverman movie.
I also saw my old friend Ruthie Chaddock who was a teacher at Clown College while I was there. I haven'e seen her since 1989 or so.
One of my keyboards fell and broke. I'm using a back-up one right now.
I'm in Jacksonville right now.

I was having some browser compatablity issues for a couple of days and couldn't post.

We had a much needed couple of days off. Then yesterday we moved into the building we're premiering the show in. The move was a little rough because it's the first one.
A couple of days ago I was walking along some railroad tracks downtown and a train came along behind me.
Turns out it was part of our own train being moved from another part of town. I never seen our train in motion because I'm on it when it moves. I felt like a tourist. Then I considered jumping on it to get a free ride back to the trainyard which would have saved me an hour of walking along those tracks. It was going to fast though.
Yesterday we had a dress rehearsal that was slightly rough around the edges. Last night the fire alarm went off on the train for about a half hour at 2am while we tried to figure out how to disarm it.
Today we had a dress rehearsal that was much better than the one yesterday. Although I'll mention that Madam Shamsheeva's white cat ran away in the middle of the act. That was a lot of fun to watch. Everyone was chasing her around the ring to keep her from escaping to the audience. Then I got my costume from wardrobe which is beautifull and well made but not fit very well. It's clearly one that was intended for a much bigger person. While I was standing in wardrobe the other day they had gotten the name tags all confused and just panacked and shuffled our costumes around and stuck the name tags back on. Many of us have a bad fit.
Tonight we played a good show and there was an audience for the first time. I can't hear them very well because of my in-ear monitors. After the show, Silvia Hernandez, one of the best teeterboard girls of one of the best teeterboard acts ever on the Ringling Show was here and came to say hello. Turns out she found this blog somehow and knew I was here.
She lives in Chicago now with her family and runs a circus school.
I'm really pleased that I had a friend in the audience for my first show here.
So that's it. The show is opened. Rehearsals are over!

We're taking a couple of days off to get ready for opening week. Last night was new year's eve. I spent it at the circus train. Mostly I was with the trumpet player and saxophone player. The saxophone player invented a new drink called the "Mullen": Vodka and Gatoraide.
Later we joined a larger party at the other end of the trainyard. The Brazilian girls were dancing and people were lighting fireworks. There was a fog out on the ground and it was mild weather.
There were hugs and kisses at the strike of midnight and people trying in vain to get cell phone calls throught to loved ones.

Today I walked to Ybor city which is a tourist area of Tampa. I came here to the Starbuacks with my laptop to keep in touch with the world and a few circus people found me. The drummer along with the director's assitant who were heading to a movie. The movie theater has a bar and leather seats. Then the male lead of the show came by. He was alone. It's sad to be in his position compared to mine. I'm a musician, one of the musicians. I'm in a group. He's the male lead, he's the only male lead. He came to Starbucks alone.

It will take 1 hour to walk home. I'll try to call Rachel in Memphis on the way.