Awake, alert(ish) and ready to go the next day, we headed off to Springfield, MA with our tiny van, which was packed to the gills with only about 2/3 of our set (with all the costumes and hardware in our passenger van):
When we arrived at the theater, however, realized that there could not have been a less-opportune time to lose our set pieces: Symphony Hall in Springfield, MA, is exactly what the name implies, and it is gigantic. Our nice, but smallish, set would still have been dwarfed by the enormity of the space. However, now that our set was down to two units, it just looked silly. Alaina’s quick thinking and the crew’s ingenuity with the mains helped reduce this factor a little, but it was still downright odd:
Between shows, we started calling UHaul dealerships, hoping that somewhere we would find a truck that could accommodate our set, and that we could keep for more than 24 hours. After calling six UHaul dealerships (two of which hung up on us!), we were routed back to our friends from the prior evening, who – surprise! – now could provide us with a 10’ box truck. Problem with this situation? Our set will BARELY fit in a 10’ truck, and they wanted a definite final destination. With Cargo Cathy headed to a shop in New Britain, and no idea when she might be back, this was near-impossible. To add to the difficulty, the approaching Saturday was our last day in NYC before we headed out until June. So, without any knowledge of Cathy’s “due date,” and because UHaul refuses to disclose their Change of Final Destination Fees (only saying that the cost is "astronomical"), we were bracing for three months of set-in-a-10'-UHaul touring. Which would not be fun. We settled on New Britain as our return location, and Saturday as our arrival date, hoping that all would be fixed by then. But we were bracing for the worst: continually extending this reservation -- in a too-small truck -- day-by-day for the next three months as we tour the South, and then driving the sucker back to New Britain, all the while accruing over-mileage charges.
Post-show, Alaina drove back to Worcester to drop off the key so Cargo Cathy could be towed to New Britain, while we loaded the van and lunched in Springfield. Upon her return, we all drove to Worcester and, for the first of many times, unloaded our UHaul van into a 10’ UHaul truck:
It was gonna be a squeeze once we got the rest of the set back. With this task successfully completed, everyone piled into the vehicles, and hopped on the road, bound for New Britain. The pack was tight, and it held the whole way. Upon arrival, we dropped our stuff at the charming La Quinta and raced back to the dealership, hoping to retrieve the rest of our set from the poor, addled Cargo Cathy. We were on a roll, ready to get the rest of our set (and our show) back, when Alaina made a minor discovery: we had no key for Cathy. Frustrated, tired and grumpy, we trundled off to Chili's for dinner, and then home to bed.
TO BE CONTINUED
Call tomorrow: 7:25am, La Quinta, New Britain, CT.
Kid Quote of the Day: When I first take the computer away from Jenny, a little girl shouted: “That’s not a real computer!”
Colleen Tractor Quote of the Day: No real quote today (I was missing my tractor), so I’m working off of stock. This one came from a day when I forgot to set my tractor at the BEGINNING of the show. “Ethan Marc Angelica!! I had to run all the way across the stage to get you your tractor. The least you could do is put it away!!”
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