...and now...CEDAR FALLS, IOWA!

So friends....FIRST OFF - there are no pictures here. No time to download them. Pictures will be up in the next day or so. Second of all, we left Des Moines today after our matinee (which had about 35 people...up from yesterday) and headed up to Cedar Falls, Iowa. It was a pretty uneventful drive. I DID introduce Eric to the first episode of American Dreams...and I think he enjoyed it.

The real story starts upon our arrival into Cedar Falls. We drove directly to check in at our hotel: JLL Extended Stay Inn. If you're frightened by the name, you probably know where this story is heading. (Especially because the hotel we left in Des Moines was, for our needs, HEAVEN on earth.) First of all, our Stage Manager couldn't just check us in - we all had to get our ID out and head in and the lady had to make copies of them, and we had to read the RULES and initial a bunch of things. During check-in, someone asked about the lady at the front desk how the fitness center worked...and the lady said, with as straight a face as anything, 'It works by your power. For example, if you're on the treadmill and you're moving, the treadmill is moving. Nothing is electric - everything is manual.' Before coming to Cedar Falls, I did a little bit of research on the hotel - as I enjoy doing when we're headed to a new location. I knew we were in for an 'experience' when I found the following things: built in 1968, 'newly renovated' 16 years ago, no internet and a listing under MOTEL on a few different internet-travel-hotel sites. (LUCKILY Andrew has wireless and our room is just in the right place to pick up SOMEONE'S wireless signal....or this truth would've never been written tonight....)

Needless to say, none of us were too thrilled about the rooms. And it turns out that Elisa, our stage manager, might have been the least happiest of all. She has a 'SUITE' - which I took pictures of and you'll see tomorrow - and it's rather funny. As she says, 'It looks like they took a couch out of rural, hurricane Katrina areas of Mississippi and put it in my room. All of her furnitute slants - or it might be the entire room - and the drawers on her dresser have trouble staying closed. And when she went to ask to move to a different room, the pleasant woman at the front desk told her, 'we only cleaned enough rooms for your group.' Oh yeah, and our sound guy, Tood, reported that his shower doesn't work at all. the laundry facilities on the 1st Floor are out of order - and the promised pool (indoor) is closed.

This place is like one of those places that you can rent by the week and people live here for long periods of time or for a short period of time...just long of enough to kill. Oh yeah - and there is some random dude up on the 2nd floor that has a telescope. Kind of creepy. And don't even get me STARTED on what constitutes the KITCHENETTE....the pictures will have to tell it all.

Anyway - it all added up to BLECH - so Elisa did some leg work and ended up getting us reservatoins at the Days Inn starting tomorrow through our time here. (We leave on Wednesday....)

The morale of the story is this: If you come to Cedar Falls....well...don't. I mean, if you must you must. But steer clear of JLL Extended Stay Inn. So far, NOT so good.

Tomorrow, our day off, we move hotels and check out the local mall - and then shows on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Sleep well everyone! I'll be here in the sketchy sheets at the JLL - trying not to catch anything.

Gussy