I had fun making this map!  This is a map of all the places that the kittehs have performed in or just slept in on stopover days during our time on tour this year.  I’d say we’ve been around quite a bit, no?

LAST DAY ON THE BUUUUUSSSSSS!!!!

That was the gist of my excitement for the day.  :)  It was a painless, nice, last day on the bus.  We drove the 163 miles in about 2 and a half hours from Tallahassee, FL to Jacksonville, FL.  This is where we’ll be closing out this leg of the tour.  Gee…  I’m gonna have to start thinking about something else to blargh about…  :-/

And we’re almost there…  Today was the second to last day on the bus.  I couldn’t close out my time on that thing without saying goodbye to the bathroom in the back.  Well…  Actually, I could have.  But that’s just not how things went down.  We did have our goodbyes, and I have to say, I won’t miss it.  Not one bit.  I’ll spare you all the details, but let’s just say that bathroom and I haven’t had a good relationship.  Matter of fact, I don’t think ANYONE on this tour has a good relationship with that thing.

Anyway…  Today we drove the 398 miles from Huntsville, AL to Tallahassee, FL.  Took us the better part of the day…  Just to tell you how long a day it was, we watched two movies after lunch, and there was still an hour and a half left of the trip after.  Just over 7 and a half hours…  And it was our last long travel day!

Oh, we’re almost to the end, and I still can’t get my act together.  That’s exactly why I call it blarghing.  Actually, to tell the truth, I’ve been very busy putting together the end of tour blarghing fun.  Well, that’s my excuse, anyway.  BUT.  Monday, we drove the 285 miles from Louisville, KY to Huntsville, AL.  The last bit of this tour, all things considered, has been really easy.  We had a lovely evening off on Monday and a Golden Day on Tuesday.  My roommate’s lovely family was kind enough to throw us a real down-home, country barbeque at their home.  Just what the cast and crew needed to get us through the last few days…  Good food, drink, games, and bonding with nature.  :) 

And after a brief period up northward, we’re heading south again.  365 miles from East Lansing, MI down to home of the slugger, Louisville, KY.  Drove for about 6 and a half hours, and then settled down for a lovely night of TONYS!  :)  I gotta say, since I have been rather disappointed in the Tony Award show for the last few years (sound problems, disagreeing with the winners, etc.),  this year was FANTASTIC!  I’m so glad I sat down with some members of my cast and shared in that with them. 

Well, after my incredible weekend in Albuquerque, we were off again.  Back on the bus once more and driving to El Paso, TX.  It was 286 miles in about 5ish hours through the beautiful New Mexico desert that I miss sometimes so very much…  We even had our comfort stop in my favorite name of a town ever: Truth or Consequences, NM.  :)  I just think that’s an awesome name for a town. 

I also think it’s kinda funny that on Google maps when I made my map to El Paso that Juarez shows up in the city name instead.  (hehehe)

So, I was so excited about this weekend, that I completely forgot to blog about going there.  :)

On Thursday, I got to fly home.  :D  I flew from Tulsa, OK to Dallas, TX and then to Albuquerque, NM, I was just so overwhelmed with excitement and such that I just didn’t get to write about it!  So I will now…  I flew in a day earlier than my cast because I had a bunch of press to do since this was my hometown performance weekend.  Well, actually, I grew up in Los Alamos, about 2 hours away from Albuquerque, but a great number of my friends and people I’ve known since I was a little girl were in Albuquerque or at least within driving distance of there.  So many people came out to see it, I was just amazed and so very grateful.

The other amazing thing was, when I was little the very first big Broadway production that I ever saw live was CATS.  Where did I see it?  Popejoy Hall in Albuquerque.  Where did I get to perform the role of Grizabella this weekend?  You guessed it.  The very same theater.  It was pretty emotional for me…  It was incredible stepping onto that stage doing the show that I had seen there all those years ago.  It was almost like things had come around full circle, and I just had the most amazing bunch of people come out to see and support the show.  I was just completely blown away by the amazing, phenomenal, generous people in my life. 

After a nice relaxing week-long sit down in Charlotte, we are off again.  Today we flew from Charlotte, NC to Tulsa, OK, but not before our plane stopped in Houston and Dallas on the way…  It was nice seeing the Houston airport.  And the Dallas airport.  But only from the confines of our 737.  (haha)  Anyway, we’re in Tulsa for a couple days!  Woot!

We’re back on the road for the home stretch!  Yesterday, I flew from New York to Charlotte, NC, where we are starting this last leg of this year’s tour.  It was a rough travel day, after several flight delays, one cancellation, and spending eight hours in La Guardia airport, those of us flying from NYC made it in late last night to Charlotte.  It’s a lovely city, and I’m so looking forward to spending a week here.

Today was the day I have been looking forward to for months…  SAN FRANCISCO!!!!!!!  It was 215 miles from Redding, CA to San Francisco, and we got there in about 4 hours.  On the way in, the slight Star Wars nerd in me flipped out because we drove past the Port of Oakland.  Allegedly, the shipping container cranes there were George Lucas’ inspiration for AT-ATs.  :D

Since we are here in San Fran for a week and a half, there’s an extra treat for Cats fans…  WE HAVE LIVE HORNS!!!!!  :D  Yes, because of the Orpheum’s union house rules, we have to hire some local musicians to play in the pit.  So we got an extra keyboard player, a french horn player, trombone player, and trumpet player.  The score.  Sounds.  AMAZING.  It’s like hearing the show for the first time!  I was so pumped about these musicians coming in, and they far exceeded my already high expectations.  It just added so much depth to our sound…  It’s gonna be hard going back to our synthesized score after next week.

Wednesday was a slightly easier day.  Shorter, at least.  :)  We drove 162 miles from Sacramento, CA to Redding, CA in about 3 hours.  It was otherwise a boring day.  The highlight was eating Chipotle for lunch poolside…

So, then on Monday, we did 438 miles (whew) from San Bernardino, CA to Sacramento, CA where we had a couple nights off from the show.  Let me tell you guys, I had a blast in Sacramento.  On our golden day (full day off: no traveling, no show), I went with some of the kitties to Old Sacramento.  It was like stepping into a time machine and traveling back to California during the days of the California Gold Rush and the Pony Express.  It was an awesome day, seeing architecture that has survived since those days and checking out all the unique shops and museums.   If you ever find yourself in Sacramento, Old Sacramento is a must.

Sorry, I just feel behind again… The schedule got busy, and I got lazy. But I’m back with a vengeance now that we have a real sit down ahead of us. So then, to business. Saturday, we drove 172 miles from Bakersfield, CA to San Bernadino, CA and into a two doh shay. It was only about a 3 hour drive into a rather long day for everyone.  But I got to reunite with several long-lost friends there, so it was an awesome weekend for me.  :)