Valdosta, Georgia

Sunday in Valdosta was a beautiful day with clear skies, temperatures near 80 and truly friendly people everywhere we turned.  Since we had flown down from our last venue in Iowa we didn't have our bus (or our great bus driver Scott Holmes) to travel to the venue but a small caravan of folks from the Turner Center for the Arts took us around town.  Valdosta is a very arts-friendly town and in talking with folks from the Turner Center we found out that several businesses in town had provided food and sponsorship support for our trip.

Mathis City Auditorium in Valdosta, Georgia

We performed at the Mathis City Auditorium and had a great crowd.  The Turner Center sponsors touring shows at the venue each year but our production of "Of Mice and Men' was the first non-musical that had come there in several years.  That fact combined with the current state of the national economy made folks a little apprehensive about what kind of turnout they would get but although  I never got an exact count there were several hundred in attendance which pleased everyone.  (Let's hear it for straight plays!!  Yeah!)

Getting ready for the show in Valdosta

After the show our hosts treated us to supper at the Smoke'n Pig which as you might guess is a local barbecue restaurant.  The food was great and our new Valdosta friends couldn't have been more gracious.  After a quick driving tour through some of the city's restored older homes, we were back at the hotel to get a night's rest before our long drive back north.

Scott has made it back after his two-day drive from the north so we'll load up this morning and head out.  Our next stop is close to home - Hazard, Kentucky - and a couple of shows on Tuesday.