4.4
These days I'm having trouble connecting the end of one day
with the beginning of another; many things about the world when I fall asleep
are missing when I wake up. In the early morning of our 5th day on the road, I
woke up shivering from the intermittent blasts of cold air coming in the window
located next to my bunk. All I could do was wonder what had happened to the tropical
air of Austin
that I had been enjoying just after sunset. I rolled over and went back to
sleep. Upon waking for the last time I decided it was time to get up, and at
first glance I didn't recognize any of my surroundings. Apparently my Dad and
Shane had been busier than usual. The first load of trip laundry was in the drier,
Shane was cutting 2x4s, and the bus was in the midst of an overhaul. Luckily my
wits and my sense of humor were where I left them, so I turned the metaphorical
key in the ignition one more time.
My fully awake senses tell me Texas is beautiful. I'm sorry for any of you
who can't separate the landscape from the people in your connotation, because
you are missing out. Readers let me tell you: there are carpets of wildflowers
crowding the highways, reliable charismatic hawks, and meadows of tall grass that
dance and reflect the sun off their luscious stalks. I have even seen a few
serene young bulls (probably named Ferdinand) lying in the shade, deliberating
quietly on the gustatory qualities of the plants within reach. I'm just saying,
being on the road through Texas
has been a sort of lesson for me.
Another thing I like about Texas is every Boys and Girls Club has its
own unique properties. This makes a certain amount of sense right? Each is
dependent on so many separate variables, not just the individual children and
staff. So, what I'm getting to is that today's show was another first of sorts.
At the Jim and Barbara Morefield club, we started around 4:00 pm with an
audience of just 30 kids, and past 5:00 pm I found myself willfully breathing
deeper to calm my nerves.
What happened? Well, the regular show, but with our most
energetic audience yet. There are certain points in the routine where we know
the kids are going to get into the demo, but today's excitement even exceeded
that of San Angelo
two days ago. We were, as my Dad put it, compelled to become Jazz performers;
we had to improvise methods by which we could still carry out the show, but in
circumstances far different than that we were used to. The ultimate off the
cuff trick today came from my Dad: he blew us away by climbing to the top of
the step stool with the toroidal vortex generator (inside out trashcan with
hole cut through bottom), and firing off a series of rings higher than most of
the kids could jump. The same materials, just used in a new combination:
tweaking the variables, you might say. I dare to summarize that today helped me
see the show as a big experiment.
The rest of the day was made up of Freebird's burritos,
fitness, and frozen treats. Shane's friend made another great recommendation
for a place to grab some food in Houston,
and we let him direct us to Freebird's burritos. After finishing three monster
burritos, we headed to a park to make use of Shane's PVC gymnastic rings. Once
fully pumped/toned, we each devoured a cup of Amy's Ice Cream (guilt free), and
bothered the folks at Freebird for the use of their Wifi.
I'm going to sleep like a baby at the Love's truck stop.
Until tomorrow!
---
Tasty Bits:
I was busily reading The Art of Loving by Erich Fromm
when my attention was grabbed by something disturbing in the upper periphery.
My eyes showed me something I wasn't inclined to believe: A semi truck cab
facing us, but driving 50 mph in reverse. I came up with the working hypothesis
that this cab was being pulled by another semi, and began to calm down.
After leaving the Morefield Club we ran into (just a figure
of speech) a boy riding his horse home from A to B; his daily grind, I suppose.
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