Belle, WV

Our show is in Charleston WV and the train is parked in Belle this week. I am very happy the train is in the yard in two cuts, that means all of my friends on the high end of the train are much closer this week. Our run was just this side of perfect, great driver so we had a smooth run.  We spent much of the run out on the vestibule and Eric turned off the lights so that we all got a good view of the stars.  It is always interesting to spend time with the people from train crew they tell you things about the train that you might not otherwise know.   Last night Eric told me why our wheels squeak so much on the tracks, our cars are 90' long and the tracks are designed for coal cars.  Coal cars are only 60' long so when we go around curves our wheels squeal.  We will be here the next 6 days then off to Dayton OH.  Only 4 more weeks until I go home for a few days.

Easter

Today was more fun than a person should have at work, holidays are all about the kids.  Their parents are working so we do what we can to make the day special.  We had an Easter egg hunt and the Easter Bunny showed up on an elephant.  One of our clowns dressed in a bunny suit and rode out on Asia for photos with all of the kids.  Jackie and I colored eggs our kids and just had fun.  I love my job!!! I don't think I will ever teach in public schools again.

free time

We spend much of our time working, I am normally at the building 12 to 13 hours each show day.  Performers try to find ways to relax in between shows.  Many weekend days are 3 show days,and the performers get about 30 minutes between each show, so finding a way to recharge is often a challenge.  Today I spotted one of my friends reading a book in the fork of a tree and snapped a photo. I also want to share a photo here of the entire alley, two of the clowns are missing they were out injured, but it is a great photo.Just another day at work, and as P.T. Barnum was convinced of and stated unequivocally “Clowns and elephants are the pegs upon which the circus is hung”

Goodbye Baltimore

We have a very short train run this morning, Baltimore to DC. Although, it is only about 30 miles it will be about 6 hours until the train is spotted and we are able to get off.  When we arrive at any new train yard we start by unhooking the flats and animal cars from the coaches. This requires a lot of switching tracks and it can be time consuming.  Some train yards we put the coaches out in two or three cuts when that happens it adds time to our travels or should I say waiting? When the train is split in a train yard I really like it, my best friends on the show are in cars 50, 51 and 56, I am in 35 so it is a long walk when the coaches are in a single cut.  When we are split 50/51 are right next to me and 56 is a close walk. Our switching is complete and we are about to start rolling, which means I will lose internet connection and cell service.  I will try to update this page a little more often now that I have help at work.

market runs

We all tend to work long hours and it is often difficult to get to a store to buy anything.  If we are lucky enough to be in a city with shopping near the arena, we simply shop between shows.  If not we need to depend on the bus to transport us before or after shows. Recently I have started to wonder what the employees of these stores think when we pull up at midnight and 50 people spill into the store. We generally have only an hour to shop, pay for the items we are purchasing and get back to the bus.  Often the people working in the store look completely shell shocked and other customers become annoyed by the long lines we create.

Life

I was thinking about how different my life is here on the train.  Having a home that moves from place to place and the fact that all 300 neighbors move each time I move.  We have a dynamic that is very much like  a large family or a very small town.  Everyone knows everyone else's business, your life becomes public knowledge.  Because of this I have chosen surround myself with all of the G rated people. On the train runs we play board games, have potluck dinners and just laugh and entertain each other.  Sometimes though we need to get into some mischief just to stir things up. 

One of our clowns is a little too serious, so he is a great target.  We cooked up a plan to kidnap one of his door magnets.  We carefully constructed a ransom note by cutting up food packages and then we took his Jack magnet and left the ransom note held up by a new Santa magnet, and waited. He left a lost poster on his door with a drawing of Jack asking for his safe return but refused to meet our ransom demand.  We didn't hear anything else and I just about to return the magnet when one of the other clowns told me that she had accused of taking Jack.  When we heard that we decided that the magnet needed to be suffering from Stockholm Syndrome and we started taking photos of him during our travels and leaving photos with notes on the clown's door.  We decided in Washington D.C. to return Jack to his rightful owner, I guess it is time to find some new mischief.

Baltimore

We arrived in Baltimore on Monday, Tuesday was a dark day so a few of us decided to go explore.  We thought that our first stop would be Charm City Cupcakes, but after walking through some very scary neighborhoods and not finding the cupcake shop we decided to head down to the water.  This part of the day was very enjoyable we shopped, saw some things to do on Monday and had a wonderful lunch. We decided that Monday's outing will not include any of the ships that we can tour but The American Visionary Art Museum to see some kinetic art and possibly dragon paddle boats.