Originally planning to work
on editing old blogs and short stories for my book while on last weekend’s
adventure into the Idaho desert… It was immediately obvious that rehashing old
stories while living a new adventure just wasn’t going to happen…
While the laptop containing
all the old stories had been brought along… The desert dust convinced me it
might be a better idea not to take it from the back pack… A pen and paper it
would be… Sometimes old ideas are the better ideas…
Though testing fine the night
before we left… RV generator problems also meant I would have been limited by
laptop battery life… Luckily I had plenty of ice to keep food and beer cold
since the RV fridge wasn’t running correctly without the generator, either…
Riley had reminded me earlier
that Lewis and Clark crossed the country with no generators, refrigerators or
propane stoves… I could still cook food so our adventure continued…
While two solar powered spot
lights lit up the area outside the RV… It was eerily quiet each night… The boys
breathing and the sound of my pen scratching across the paper in the lantern
light the only sounds…
We were alone in the
wilderness… Back east the wilderness always meant forest… Here there are no
trees to be seen for as far as the eyes can see…
The smell of sage brush crushed
by the tires of the RV is one of the most awesome smells in the world…
Beautiful desert flowers I have dug up to plant in a pot at home… Are safer
than some of my poisonous relationships… Looked nice… But should never have
touched…
Sitting outside in a camping
chair darkness surrounding me… It’s a different kind of stage… But just like
stand-up comedy… I was on it alone… The light of the lantern acting as the
stage spotlight… Desert moths dancing in the light are the only hecklers at these
shows…
The magnificent night sky
fills with stars in the darkness… Like candles on show room tables they are the
only thing I can see staring into the sky… The place is packed every night…
The road comic adventure is
beginning again in earnest…
My last day at the Idaho National Lab is November
21st… My notice has been given… The decision immediately questioned... Tragically
confirmed in my own mind by the sudden death at 52 of a Facebook friend I had
never met… I’m 57 and I’m going to go out doing what I want…
It requires no more
discussion…
A keg in the corner and a
two drink minimum… My DVD on loop on a big screen TV at my wake… Play Dennis Leary’s “I’m an Asshole” at my
funeral… And fill my pockets with fireworks before you send me to the
crematorium… I’ll go out with a bang…
All that’s left is to
manifest a full calendar of work…
Booked to feature at the new
Joke Factory in Rochester, NY December 20 & 21… I look forward to some much
needed laughing with family and friends for the holidays…
The triumphant return home
of a prodigal son… My comedy once lost has now been found…
Eventually the old blogs and
short stories may be edited into a book… But the important stories are the ones
to come… The ones that will tell a love story… With the stage… The road and the
people who encouraged me and helped me to find my comedy again… I travelled
2000 miles to meet them…
Wherever the comedy winds
take me… They will travel in gratefulness with me in my heart…
