FESTIVALS, CIRCUSES, AND DISNEYLAND
If it is possible to imagine waking up every morning in Disneyland, not in a hotel but in the park itself, then you have an idea of my world. I may reside along Route 66 in Kingman, Arizona but I live in a circus that is always in search of a festival.
No complaints are being voiced. This is truly a grand adventure that has the makings for a classic “B” rated movie circa 1950. It has romance, adventure, colorful characters, and pratfalls rolled into a comedy of errors intermixed with gripping drama. This is my life!
Pending book signings in Disneyland, three major interviews, taxes, ever changing travel plans that stretch into October, and exciting new projects are but the highlights. Perhaps I should start from the beginning, or at least the beginning of this week.
It starts with an extreme modification of the weeks carefully crafted schedule; plans to leave early on Saturday morning was changed to leaving mid morning resultant of an important interview, a tire issue on the Jeep requiring attention before the 150 mile off road adventure on Saturday (HIGH ADVENTURE) will need to be taken care of during business hours, I learn that important business on Tuesday night is moved to Wednesday night as I am to address the organizational meeting for the Route 66 International Festival. In turn this means plans for Wednesday night are now moved to Thursday night. (DRAMA)
At the office, I started off shorthanded (again). As a result, some of the things with a Monday deadline were pushed to Tuesday, which pushed Tuesday’s projects into Wednesday.
The organizational meeting for the Route 66 International Festival (details are forthcoming) on Tuesday ran late. This in turn created a slight issue as I was late for another important appointment. (DRAMA AND COLORFUL CHARACTERS)
On Tuesday, I also learned that the contract for the new book about the violent evolution of the taxi industry for History Press had gone missing. It was mailed in mid February and never arrived. (TENSION AND DRAMA)
Wednesday morning was consumed with breakfast eaten while responding to an incredible array of emails pertaining to requests for information about the Route 66 festival, possible interviews, and the scheduling of speaking engagements. Each of these was important and each was filled with the promise of making the childhood dream a reality.
The day began around 4:30. It ended somewhere around 8:00 that evening.
Thursday has proven to be the most challenging day of the week, at least in regards to opportunity for exercising patience. I awoke this morning with a lengthy list of items requiring immediate attention, most of which required use of the Internet.
As it turns out the one thing I did not have was the Internet. I had tea, oatmeal, and hot water, all things of importance to be thankful for, but no Internet. (PRATFALLS)
So I decided to resolve issues that required phone calls. As it was just after 5:30 in the morning, I started with the east coast.
It was then that I learned that in the process of attempting to resolve the Internet issue through the checking of connections and cables, I had disconnected the phone line. With that issue resolved twenty minutes later, I had time for but one phone call.
So, I returned Paul Taylor’s (Route 66 magazine) phone call from Wednesday. He will be running a favorable review of my latest book in the summer issue.
However, the most exciting development was his request for use of my wife’s photos of the Santa Monica Pier for a forthcoming article. This is my dearest friend’s first solo assignment and I am so proud and excited! (ROMANCE)
Next came the office, a computer issue, and a small litany of issues demanding immediate attention. To round off the morning I attended a one hour “meet & greet” at the refurbished Magnuson Hotel.
Promotional issues resulted in an interesting phenomena. The host, an artfully designed fruit bouquet, coffee, pastries, the host for the event, me, and a retired couple from Montana.
The show must go on. So, instead of a presentation it was an informal hour spent answering questions about the Kingman area and Route 66! (COMEDY)
In my world boredom is a four letter word –