CHEYENNE, WY

We arrived in Cheyenne the night before the show.  It was a fairly easy drive from Boise but, one again, we hit some bad weather.  A spring snowstorm blasted across Wyoming leaving more than 3 feet of snow in the higher elevations.  We spent the night at the border in Evanston.  Interstate 80 was closed between Rawlins and Cheyenne so there was no reason to keep going.

We checked into a local hotel and then walked across the street to Spencer’s Wyoming Grill – with a name like that, how can it be bad, right?

The next morning we were on our way to Cheyenne, the last few hours ahead of us.  We arrived around 4:30pm and checked into the Plains Hotel downtown.  This is an old restored hotel that has lots of charm and definitely from the west.  We pulled in the front and unloaded our luggage.  Keith checked us in while Ethan and Cindy got the luggage into the lobby.  I had to pull the truck into a different parking lot big enough to hand the rig.

Once we were settled in the room, we explored a bit of downtown Cheyenne – searching for food and checking out the Depot.  There are some amazing “cowboy boot” art pieces around the city, several of them located next to the hotel in the Depot Plaza.  Cindy – the amazing photographer that she is – took several pics of me standing with the boots.

Monday morning started very early for me.  I was up around 4:45am to get ready for an appearance on the MORNING SHOW on the local CBS affiliate – KGWN 5.  Ann – the morning anchor – extended an invitation for me to appear on the show and promote the event one more time to the community.  I was at the station around 6am and “live on the air” around 6:20am…but not before my first cup of coffee of the day at the Coffee Shop in the Hotel.  Tyghe, the coffee dude, fixed me a great vanilla latte and I was on my way.

After the tv interview, I went back to the hotel and had a little breakfast.  Dru, Director of the Civic Center, picked me up around 8:30am and we drove over to KRRR to do an in-studio interview with Cowboy Bob. This guy has tons of energy and that made for a lively, exciting interview!  I would also have the chance to meet Karen Cotton from the Wyoming Tribune Eagle in the afternoon.  She did a great article for us a week or so ago and would be bringing me a copy for our files.

Dru dropped me off at the hotel around 9:30am.  My team gathered in the lobby and we walked over to the truck to head to the Civic Center.  The show was to start at 7pm and that means an earlier-than-normal load in.  I backed the truck to the loading dock to find a crew ready to get to work!

Dennis – the TD – was ready for us.  We needed to shift a few soft goods around to make room for our scenery so he did all of that before we brought in the cases.  Once everyone was speeched, badged, and signed into our non-disclosure agreement, we cracked the back of the trailer and started unloading.

The day moved along nicely.  The crew worked very hard to make sure everything looked good.  I was especially pleased with the way things were coming together for this show.  Monday nights can be tough nights to get out an audience so I was hoping for a great crowd!

Once again, we had a home-cooked meal from “Mom,” a wonderful woman who prepared some amazing food for us.  They set up the green room with tables, table clothes, and hot food.  Two shows in a row, we’re going to get spoiled!

After dinner, we were running to do our final checks before the doors opened.  We had a wonderful audience for the show – great crowd, volunteers who were ready to get on the stage, and terrific responses to the magic.  One of our illusions – the Spikes of Doom – uses a young lady from the audience.  We generally take a picture of her during the illusion and give it to her.  We’ve now started posting those images on our website instead.  You can find them on the homepage under SPIKES SURIVORS or HERE.

We had a few visitors who also came to the show.  Dale and Tom, two great guys we met last summer on the train from Paris to Venice, drove up from Denver.  And Darcy, a very cool lady we’ve know for years and years from our “student activities” days, drove in from Laramie with one of her friends.  we visited after the show in the green room for a while and then had to say our goodbyes.  I also had the chance to meet so many people in the lobby afterwards!

Yesterday, a review by Roy Barnes, appeared on line – Illusionists Known as the Spencers Entertain Hundreds with Magic at the Cheyenne Civic Center.

Everyone at the Cheyenne Civic Center was wonderful.  This was such a memorable evening and I look forward to coming back here again!