Day 19: Rochester to Coopersburg, Pennsylvania
Midmorning found me playing Telemann fantasias on the flute in the Tour Loaf, while the Captain and Molhy came in and out as they repacked their clothing and belongings into their proper places for transport. I played a bit of guitar as well as the others breakfasted, in an attempt to fill my creative well of inspiration for composition. This is one of my goals for the next few days, which I hope will ease the process of sitting and trying to draft some melodies for a new flute and guitar piece. Magoon continues to ail, but has been taking much rest, vitamins, nourishment, and the joy of her friends' company, which should also be contributing to her recovery. After refreshing myself with a shower, I convened the crew to discuss possible logistical plans for Philadelphia. The closest RV campsites to Philadelphia were twenty and thirty miles outside of the city, and even those were priced with premiums, as they were KOA RV resorts. We settled on using hipcamp.com to reserve a campsite 46 miles outside of Philadelphia, en route from Rochester. This would shorten our initial travel day, and then we would rent a large car near the campsite to shuttle in and out of the city for our performances.
McRage met us at Claire's residence an hour before our departure, and we said grateful goodbyes to his mother Betsy. With the crew reunited, we left in the Tour Loaf near midday. On our way out of Rochester, we stopped at Auto Zone for the part we required to fix the running lights: a headlight switch. Ours had melted. We stocked up on fuses as well, in case of emergency. The ride to our campsite, a horse farm in Coopersburg, Pennsylvania, was uneventful. I played music on the sound bar for few hours to continue to collect ideas for composition. The Captain was pleased as our ship sounded in excellent condition, after all the trials of the previous week. En route, we contacted our erstwhile Chicago Fiasco heroine, Janelle from the Apple concierge service, for assistance in reserving a rental car in Quakertown, five miles from Coopersburg. One town shy of our destination for the evening, we made a stop at a giant Wegman's for groceries for the next few days. At 1900 we arrived at Stone Field Stables, where our hosts Bille and Clinton greeted us. We are not able to use the electricity provided for the RV, since our cable reaches only 30 feet and their hookup is slightly further than that from the driveway. However, this is only a minor inconvenience, as we can run our generator - it will simply not be as peaceful and quiet as it would be with electricity for our air conditioning. The plan is for the Tour Loaf to sit here for the next four nights. We will rent a car in the morning, and transport ourselves and our gear to Philadelphia for a few days to play our shows in the city before returning to the Tour Loaf to continue on our way south.
The property at Stone Field was lush and rural. Bille led us into the stables so that we could see the horses and more importantly, locate the restroom. Molhy and I walked to a pond at the rear of the property and chased fireflies briefly before the whole crew made our own suppers and wound down for the evening. We watched Ferris Bueller's Day Off as a band before heading to sleep.
Next Captain's Log
Previous Captain's Log