The moral is...work out and then go to bed.

It's the second night back on the road and I am already having problems sleeping. All my life I've been able to sleep well, rarely waking up in the middle of the night. A few weeks into the tour I began a new pattern. I wake up in the middle of the night, fall back asleep, wake up fifteen minutes later and I am wide awake. It takes at least three hours to go back to sleep. I think I'm going to bust if I have to watch one more trashy talkshow re-run.

This is week 12 of our 30-35 week tour. One takes for granted the meaning of home. There is so much comfort each and every one of us finds in what ever it is we call home. While some days I feels as though I am getting adjusted to this lifestyle, being home taught me that living life this way can't be natural for anyone. I enjoy it, don't get me wrong. There is just something to be said for the comfort of someone knowing your name, the beauty of an old grandfather clock you hear again for the first time, being ALONE in a familiar room, sleeping in clean sheets that you know for SURE are clean, the smells of your familiar neighborhood, etc.

I have more free time than I have had in a long time. However, I'm too tired at the end of the day to do anything. We get sick of fighting rush hour traffic in a new town just to go buy some groceries for dinner or find a hotel. There is a fitness center downstairs at this hotel and I was so tired originally that I went to bed early. And now here I am. I guess the moral to this one is...work out and then go to bed! Then maybe I would have slept through the night.

I had a light day today. I woke up in Lincoln, NE this morning. It had snowed through the night. Many thanskgiving travellers had stopped for the night in Lincoln because highways were getting shut down to the West and the North. This morning was the first time I had a glimps at what our winter in Wisconin might be like. Warming up the car, scrapping the windows, meanwhile trying to make sure our bags are packed AGAIN and loaded into the car.

We were five minutes late to our first school. With very little coffee, we performed our first show back after Thankgiving. It went well. The students were a little too well behaved so it was difficult to get them wound up. We dropped a few lines and James' skirt fell off catching us both off guard. WE almost kept our composure. The kids and teachers started laughing and it took James a while to notice. When he finally did, there was another explosion of laughter and that's when we almost lost it. This raw, humorous moment is why I believe theatre (vs. film) to be truely unique!

After lunch at a mexican restraunt, we spotted a Suburu dealership. We prayed they had time to fit us in for a much needed oil change. We got squeezed in and walked around the dealership admiring cars that we can't afford. We are going to have to figure out how to afford one soon with all the miles we are putting on our car. 185,000 so far. In 12 weeks we've already got over 15,000 miles so far.

Our second show was a riot. The kids were amused by everything. They were a lot of fun to perform for.

Then we headed toward Gretna to find a hotel. We ended up in Omaha at a hotle I saw on the internet while I was home. The Settle Inn. It's a Best Western with a Medival theme throughout. We ended up with a smoking room so we could have a fridge and microwave. It's worth it and I'm sure James doesn't mind smoking inside since it's so cold outside.

Well, it's about time to attempt to go to sleep again. Tata for now.

Bekah