Grantblings

Puppet Up Spring 2014 Tour – March 11, 2014 – Travel Day

The Puppet Up crew enjoyed our show and our day off in Park City and as much as we would have liked to stay, it was time to move this crazy puppet party East.

At 7:15 AM we were standing in the freshly fallen snow waiting for our shuttle back to the Salt Lake City Airport and the plane that would take us to Pittsburgh, PA.

The ride was painless as was getting through security and soon we were at the gate.

One thing I’ve started doing to pass the time at airports is let Uncle Interloper take phone calls from anyone who wants to call him. It’s a little trick I picked up from “Weird Al” Yankovic. I find one of the few pay phones remaining in the country and see if it can accept incoming calls. If it can, I test it out to make sure it rings. Then, I make a Vine of Uncle Interloper in front of the pay phone and send it out with the number and invite anyone to call and say hello.

The great thing is, it actually works! People call to say hi! Usually Uncle Interloper has a little joke or two for them for calling. There’s a little bit of chatting and then he hangs up and waits for the next call. The most calls he has ever gotten was 6, but even today at the Salt Lake City airport he got three, which was fun.

After about 15 minutes of that I went back to sit with everyone else and Uncle Interloper was talking to the rest of the cast. After a few minutes this little boy walked up with his stuffed monkey and ‘Monkey George’ and Uncle Interloper had a big old conversation. It was really fun. After Monkey George and his fried left, a little girl who was sitting behind us popped her unicorn ‘Angel’ over the back of the seat and her and Uncle Interloper had a big conversation. It was a lot of fun.

Not too long after we were on our way to Cincinnati and after a brief layover and a 39 minute flight, we had safely landed in Pittsburgh.

Our group split up here and while some went to the hotel, Julianna, Peggy, Sean and I went to TV Station WPIX, the NBC affiliate and recorded an interview with Rob Johnston. Rob is a great guy I met through Vine and he really hooked us up with some great promo time at WPIX. When the footage is online, I’ll post it for sure. Rob is a huge Jim Henson fan and I really relate to him and his sense of humor and his ethic of keeping things kid friendly. He’s a great guy.

After that, it was back to the hotel to drop off our bags and then out for a meal. Others went on to do other things, but I retired early to write these words and make sure I’m well rested for tomorrow and my first turn at hosting this tour.

Here we go!