When I was close to the end of the Canadian trip, I e-mailed my friend Norma and told her I was wondering if I should give up touring entirely. Things were just too difficult and after all on my next birthday I will be 70.
"You'll go on more tours," she said. "There have been bad trips before and you still went on to good ones."
She was right, of course. And no matter what my age is, I have no problem setting up a tent and cooking over a propane stove. The trip was bad because of weather and I have no control over that.
More of a problem is getting the work. I am almost always invited back by whoever employed me, but I don't want to keep repeating tours. I want to go to new places. There are some states where schools and libraries are underfunded. They have no money for entertainment. Some systems have stringent requirements. I would have to provide professionally done videos of my work or even go to some kind of audition and that isn't practical when it's in a far away state. If I go through a costly thing like that, I'd have to raise my prices and then I wouldn't get the work.
I've always filled in spaces between more lucrative venues with senior residences and nursing homes. There isn't a lot of money for entertainment, but it pays for my gas. I used to simply get cash. If there was a check it was drawn on a local bank, so that cashing it was not difficult.
The problem is that more of those homes for the elderly are owned by corporations. This usually means I don't get paid on the road. I am expected to furnish an invoice after the performance. A month or two later a check arrives in the mail. Even if there is a check at the venue, it will be written in some faraway city and I can't cash it locally. I have to start the tour with enough money so I won't run short instead of working my way.
I was planning a trip to the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tennessee with the intention of meeting up with some friends from New Zealand. Then I would go on to South Carolina, one of the four states I've never visited.
At the moment, I am not enthusiastic about it. The storytelling festival is an expensive proposition. In previous years, I camped with friends at a Methodist church camp but this year it is closed for renovations. The hotels raise their prices during the festival and even then, they are booked very early. No place for me to stay.
Tennessee schools are not well funded. The only time I told at one, they found a sponsor. With today's economy, sponsors are not easy to find.
At the moment, I don't see getting enough work from any of the usual sources to make the trip feasible.
I will probably wait for another opportunity, such as the summer reading program at the public libraries. Meanwhile, there's the trip to Hawaii in February. Until then, there will be camping until the beginning of October then time in the Illinois farmhouse with Gary. I may do some nursing home work down there to pay for gas.
And if I want to see my New Zealand friends, there's alway a trip Down Under.
"You'll go on more tours," she said. "There have been bad trips before and you still went on to good ones."
She was right, of course. And no matter what my age is, I have no problem setting up a tent and cooking over a propane stove. The trip was bad because of weather and I have no control over that.
More of a problem is getting the work. I am almost always invited back by whoever employed me, but I don't want to keep repeating tours. I want to go to new places. There are some states where schools and libraries are underfunded. They have no money for entertainment. Some systems have stringent requirements. I would have to provide professionally done videos of my work or even go to some kind of audition and that isn't practical when it's in a far away state. If I go through a costly thing like that, I'd have to raise my prices and then I wouldn't get the work.
I've always filled in spaces between more lucrative venues with senior residences and nursing homes. There isn't a lot of money for entertainment, but it pays for my gas. I used to simply get cash. If there was a check it was drawn on a local bank, so that cashing it was not difficult.
The problem is that more of those homes for the elderly are owned by corporations. This usually means I don't get paid on the road. I am expected to furnish an invoice after the performance. A month or two later a check arrives in the mail. Even if there is a check at the venue, it will be written in some faraway city and I can't cash it locally. I have to start the tour with enough money so I won't run short instead of working my way.
I was planning a trip to the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tennessee with the intention of meeting up with some friends from New Zealand. Then I would go on to South Carolina, one of the four states I've never visited.
At the moment, I am not enthusiastic about it. The storytelling festival is an expensive proposition. In previous years, I camped with friends at a Methodist church camp but this year it is closed for renovations. The hotels raise their prices during the festival and even then, they are booked very early. No place for me to stay.
Tennessee schools are not well funded. The only time I told at one, they found a sponsor. With today's economy, sponsors are not easy to find.
At the moment, I don't see getting enough work from any of the usual sources to make the trip feasible.
I will probably wait for another opportunity, such as the summer reading program at the public libraries. Meanwhile, there's the trip to Hawaii in February. Until then, there will be camping until the beginning of October then time in the Illinois farmhouse with Gary. I may do some nursing home work down there to pay for gas.
And if I want to see my New Zealand friends, there's alway a trip Down Under.
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