It's damn cold outside. RIght now it's in the mid-twenties with mind-numbing wind chill.
Reminds me of the winter I spent with Voorheis Brothers Circus in Michigan, living in my van.
(Cue twinkly flashback music...)
Yes, it was the dead of winter in Michigan. I was doing advance work for the show, then meeting up with them to clown. I knew it was going to be ass cold while I up there, so I prepared well.
We played high school gyms that winter. Daytime wasn't so bad because I was either travelling, clowning in local schools to promote the show, or hanging with my pals on the show in their lovely heated trailers.
After the show in the evening though, I had to deal with sleeping in my decidedly unheated van.
I had two sleeping bags. Once was a lightweight summer bag; the other was a heavy-duty winter bag rated to -15 degrees Fahrenheit. I slipped the light one inside the heavy one, zippers on opposite sides. I got pretty good at dressing and undressing inside the bags, if I do say so myself.
I had a Coleman heater, which I ran before I went to bed. When it was warm enough in the van, I'd stuff my next-day's clothes in the bottom of the sleeping bags, jump out of my clothes and into the bags, put my hat on, and turn off the heater. Then I'd snuggle way down into the bags and sleep the sleep of the just.
In the morning, I'd reach out of the bags just long enough to light up the heater. While the van heated up I'd wrangle myself into my clothes, then leap out of the bags and into my parka and boots.
The next step was to jump into the driver's seat, fire up the van, and find the nearest diner for hot coffee, eggs, and bacon. Then it off to next town for the next show, all over Michigan, from Mio to Brown City, Cheboygan to Petosky, Newberry to Owosso.
Finally the cold snap broke and temperatures rose up into the low 50s. All of us sat around outside, in the sun, wearing t-shirts and shorts. It felt like summer.
