Travelling Back and Forth on I-80 PA and an Interesting Time in Boston

The Tappan Zee Bridge, NY on our way to Milford, CT

Our travels over the last week have taken us back and forth across I-80 in Pennsylvania.  It is funny how some trips we are all over the place and others we continue back and forth over the same stretches of road. Of course, we first travelled over it this trip to pick up Family Feud in Maybrook, NY and then return it to the warehouse in West Haven, CT Saturday morning. 

After we were unloaded in West Haven, we headed to Wappinger Falls, NY to drop the trailer. After getting laundry caught up and a crazy time in the Walmart in Fishkill to restock our fridge (you would have thought they were giving stuff away).  It was off to Boston for a Sunday morning box call for Phantom of the Opera (a box call is where the shows crew takes boxes, containers, etc of the trailers so they can begin positioning for the evening load out).  We then returned to the drop yard where the trailers are stored while the show is in town. We tried to sleep during the afternoon/evening since we knew we would be up all night, but I think most people would agree it is really hard to change your sleep pattern.  At 12:30 am it was time to head back to the theatre for our 1:30 am call time.  

We have been to Boston several times, but Sunday night/Monday morning without a doubt was one of the strangest.  While sitting at the intersection of Washington Street and Boylston Street, we saw what we believe was a pimp travel the wrong way on a one-way street with his lights off, pull up to his ladies, proceed to have some altercation with them then drive off.  Next there was the drunken college student who decided to jump up on the back of our truck. He got the surprise of his life when Vince jumped out and told him, in a not so nice manner, to get off the truck. The idiot was initially panicked because he knew he couldn’t go sidewalk side because that was where Vince was and there was traffic whizzing by him on the other side so he couldn’t just jump back off.  One of his buddies near Vince quickly disavowed any knowledge of their friendship, while his other buddy on the opposite side of the street just kept laughing and filming him with his phone.  The traffic finally cleared and he was able to jump off and run away.  We then saw some shady dealings going on at the corner, and yes I mean drug deals.  While Boston has always had a hustle and bustle about it no matter the time of day, Monday morning was by far the worst Vince and I have ever seen it.  We moved up to the staging area about 4:00 am and got loaded between 6:30-7:00 am on Monday morning and were happy to be on our way.

Monday, we traveled across MA, CT, NY and yes I-80 in PA to meet Clark driver, Jim Gallagher in the Truck World in Hubbard, OH to switch trailers on Monday evening.  Jim took the Phantom trailer onto Milwaukee, because this run was consider a team run. Vince took it the first 500 miles then Jim finished the last 500 miles.  It was nice to catch up with Jim since we hadn’t crossed paths in two years. 

Yesterday, we again travelled across I-80 in PA (5^th time in 16 days- trust me it hasn’t changed from the 1^st to the 5^th time, but I’ve gotten a lot of my reading done on that stretch) and arrived in Milford, CT last night. This morning Vince has put the trailer for The Last Ship, a story Sting wrote and is producing into the dock. He will call when the office opens to find out where we are headed next.  The last we heard, it appears we will be going to Cleveland this weekend to load out Million Dollar Quartet and then return it to one of the shops, which will mean at least two more trips over I-80 in PA before I go home.  All joking aside, it really doesn’t matter where we go. As long as Vince and I are together, I will travel over any road.