Milwaukee – My Chance to See One of My Favorite Drivers while in One of My Favorite Cities

This week we helped move Wicked from Madison, Wisconsin to Milwaukee.  While it was a rainy load out, the Tuesday and Wednesday load ins went much better.  Tuesday was a beautiful summer morning while Wednesday was sprinkles.  Since I always find myself out usually more in the winter and fall when temperatures are cold and conditions are less accommodating, I soak in these beautiful summer days.

The lead driver for this tour of Wicked is one of my favorite people and one of my biggest blog fans, Gary Graff.  I first met Gary four years ago at the Palace Theatre in Columbus, OH.  It was a cold Tuesday evening before Thanksgiving.  Gary and Vince were helping Jerry Hoffner, who was the lead on I believe Happy Days at load in. 

Before we walked up to meet Gary, Vince prepared and/or should I say warned me that he could and would say anything.  As we approached Gary shared with Vince that I was not as fat nor ugly as Vince had said. I started laughing and Vince immediately told Gary he had warned me about him.  But the laughs never stopped coming that night and he so entertained me that I never even noticed the cold damp evening.

Unfortunately since then I have not seen Gary but we relay messages to each other through Vince as he has gotten to work with Gary over the years.  Just imagine how excited I was when Vince told me that we would see Gary on my first move this time out.

 

Gary and Me - Thank you Gary for all of your
support and encouragement of my blog!

Gary is a sweet teddy bear of a man, who has the same deep voice and delivery like Patrick Warburton from Seinfeld and Rules of Engagement. Sometimes it is as much how he says something as what he says that makes you laugh.  He is also one of my biggest supporters of my blog. His words of encouragement over the last two years have kept me going when I have considered abandoning it. I loved seeing him on Tuesday and Wednesday morning and hope it won’t be so long before we see each other again.

As many of you know I love the RiverWalk in Milwaukee so I once again feel compelled to give it a shout out.  We go to a lot of cities where there is nothing going on in the evenings, but not Milwaukee.  When we arrived on Monday evening around 11:00 pm and then again on Tuesday 7:30 pm, there were people all along the RiverWalk.  While I have always loved the RiverWalk, this visit we noticed how much more the city and its business owners have done to improve the area around it.  So I once again encourage anyone visiting or driving through Milwaukee to stop by the RiverWalk area.