For those of you who don't know already, both Julie and I will be attending the play Claim It--starring Joyce Vincent and Pam Vincent on Saturday, September 23rd in Los Angeles. Our road trip starts Thursday when we'll both be flying into LAX from different locations and meeting there.

Since both Julie and I will be ON THE ROAD WITH TOAD, we appreciate your patience with any delays you may experience in posting messages to this message board. We intend to welcome Julie to the Golden State with true California hospitality, starting with a beach party barbeque on Thursday night. Who knows, we may even sing a few TOAD songs around the campfire. ;)

Thanks to all of you who have sent your well wishes and please check back for our reviews!!! We will try to put those on the site as soon as possible.

Pat

Oooo, sounds like fun. I guess I should pack the marshmallows, graham crackers and chocolate. :)

Julie

What!!! No oreos??? LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pat

Dear Pat and Julie

I hope you have a wonderful time and enjoy. I cannot wait to hear what the new adventure will be this time!

Tara

Tara, Susan and Jo:

Thank you so much! I wasn't really blessed with the gift of writing as Pat was, but I will do my best in the review department :).

Julie

Pat, you and Julie have a wonderful time. We'll be thinking of you. If you get a chance to talk to Joyce or Pam, tell them good luck with the play and much success.

Susan

How truly wonderful for the both of you!
I wish you both a fantastic time. I know you are both so excited to be meeting for the first time and getting to share some terrific time together!

Have a fabulous time at the play, remember to tell the girls to "break a leg" and I for one, cannot wait to read your thrilling reviews!

A California Beach Barbeque while singing TOAD songs around the fire will be a perfect evening!
Wish I could be there to share it with you!
(I know, I know, Pat, I had my chance, fool that I was to turn it down!!!!!)

Have a great, great time and also,
say hello to Mickey and Minnie for me!

JO

Jo,

I will give your regards to all--especially Moondoggie!!!

Pat

Hi everyone,

I'm sorry it has taken me so long to get my review posted, but I've had computer problems. But things back on track now and I'm thrilled to say that I have now had the pleasure of meeting Joyce and Pam Vincent.

I will let Pat tell you all about our travel adventures, as only she can, but as far as the show, Claim It was a wonderful production with fantastic characters and a very talented cast who brought them to life. Pam and Joyce were terrific in their roles and what a thrill it was for me to finally see them perform live. Joyce almost had us on the floor laughing as she delivered a line to her "stage nephew" warning him that he shouldn't be out on the streets.... "You should be home watching "The Jeffersons". Or better yet, watching reruns of "Tony Orlando and Dawn"." Wow, what a great line and a great moment for the TOAD fans in the audience. There was no doubt after that where their TOAD fans were sitting. LOL!!!

After the show, the members of the cast had a meet and greet session. Our friend Char had arranged for us to meet with Joyce and Pam after the show and had mentioned that I was traveling all the way from St. Louis to see them in the play. Pam and Joyce were so nice and very funny. They took the time to meet with everyone who wanted a few minutes of their time. We had a wonderful meeting and took many pictures which will be added to the "On the Road With Toad" section of the site.

I want to thank Pat, Char, Joyce and Pam for making this such a memorable time and trip to LA!!

Julie

Hi Julie, Boy did we have a great time at the play. It was so nice sitting there with Pat and yourself watching the play. And we were all about to fall out of our chairs when Joyce said that line about watching the reruns of "Tony Orlando and Dawn Show". It was so great to see Pam and Joyce on stage again. I hope we see more of them on stage. Which they do have another musical play on Oct 7. As soon as I get that information I will let you know.

I am so glad that I was able to arrange for you to meet Joyce and Pam in person. I know that has been a dream of yours for a long time. If only you would of got to see Telma that would of really been great. That was so nice of Pam and Joyce to take time to spend a few minutes with all of us there to see them. They told me when I talked to them before the play, that they would for sure make time to meet you since you were coming all that way to see them in this play. We did get some very nice pictures of all of us with them. I could of gotten more pictures of them on stage if it weren't for some people complaining about taking pictures! Right Julie and Pat? Oh well that didn't stop me from getting pictures. I just passed my camera on down to Pat to take pictures for me. We will get pictures no matter what we have to do. Right Pat!
Too bad we all can't be there together to see the play on Oct. 7 to support Pam and Joyce. It looks like it is going to be a really great musical with lots of dancing and singing.
I would like to thank Pam and Joyce also for taking time to meet with us after the play. Even though they were so tired they still spent a few minutes with us all. And thanks Julie and Pat for everything. It was a great trip we had.

Charlene

Charlene, Pam sent me the flyers for the shows on October 7th and 8th! There are now 2 different shows that weekend! I will have them up on the website tonight.

It was fun to be together and have such a fantastic weekend. Thanks for suggesting Grinders for breakfast. We had a great time there too.

It was nice to see Julie #2 there and to meet Roger as well.

It was such a great 4 days that we'll have to arrange something like it again.

Pat

Julie:

I'm so glad you enjoyed your wild ride here. We did cram a lot into a few days. Pam and Joyce were so gracious to all of us and so happy to see us all there together--it was just like the old days.

Too bad Char didn't bring her famous chocolate chip cookies! Next time Char!!!

Pat

Thursday. Due to flight problems, we missed Moondoggie on Thursday night—boo hoo hoo, but Ingo was a great substitute. My flight from SFO was substantially delayed to the point where I spent more time on the plane than Julie did on her flight from St. Louis. All blamed on LA weather. She had quite a wait at LAX before I arrived. Fortunately, we were allowed to use cell phones while we were stuck on the tarmac at SFO and I was able to get messages to everyone. Once at LAX everything ran smoothly. We didn’t make it down to Huntington Beach until 10:00 and the beaches there close at that time. It was an exhausting day, so we just called it an early night.

Friday. Disneyland. I was thrilled to learn that Disneyland has 70 ECVs for rent at the park—although the price is close to that of the admission itself. It also comes with a lengthy booklet with all the secret entrances to the rides for the disabled. It certainly made for a more pleasant visit, quicker access to all rides in the park, and an interesting view of the behind-the-scene works of the park. And, no one had to lug purchases or refreshments around. They stayed in the basket. Yippee!!! We also had seats in the first car on every ride there. Only two new rides are accessible in the traditional way through the maze. Julie had trouble with her car in Autopia and kept stalling out--must have been that Chevron gasoline LOL!!! We only had one problem at the Haunted Mansion when the access route was blocked by a garbage can, but Mike (who was vacationing there from Guam) and his son lifted the ECV around the obstacle! They could qualify for the Olympic weightlifting team--those vehicles are heavy! We had dinner at the Tomorrowland Plaza where TOAD appeared in 1973, although the act playing there that evening was nothing in comparison. It rained that night (who ever said…It never rains in Southern California!?!) so after we were thoroughly soaked, we headed back to the hotel concierge lounge, had a late night snack and watched some of the Olympics. Can you believe that the hotel valet couldn't find my car? This is beginning to become a tradition. First in AC and now here too! At least in Atlantic City, they tried to give me better cars--this time they tried to give me a green Saturn—three times! I think that Steve, the valet attendant, got beaned on the head by his surfboard one too many times. All was resolved when Gustave the manager on duty intervened.

Saturday. Huntington Beach (a/k/a Surf City USA). We started the day with breakfast on the balcony of the concierge lounge and watched the surf. Later when we went down to the beach I found out it was the first day of the Newport Pro Am surfing competition. After watching the competition for a while, we walked down the beach and collected shells for the science corner of Julie’s class. Lots of photos were taken of the Pacific Ocean, surfers and seagulls. We drove the coast route up to LA, toured through Japantown and then went to our next overnight stop. Typical LA traffic, but with 2 in the car we were able to use the commuter lane and cruised past most of the backups. With the rain from the night before it cleared the smog away and it was the first time I was ever able to see the skyline of LA. But please, someone, explain to me why gas is 40 cents a gallon cheaper in Southern California than Northern California???

We dressed for the show early (all of us wearing our Unique Creations jewelry—the line made by Pam and Joyce) and headed back towards LA. Finding the theater wasn’t too difficult. It seemed just when we felt we were totally lost, the street we were looking for came up. As we neared the theater there were signs directing us. The place was packed and we were lucky to get there early and grab a close parking space!!! Seeing Pam and Joyce on stage again and hearing them sing was fantastic!!! The are both in excellent voice. Such a treat! They sang one duet and also the background parts for the other songs in the production. The play was an inner city based musical revolving around dreams, both realized and broken, gang issues as they overtake the lives of two young men from the same family, and the family’s attempts to intervene and save at least one of them. In one scene, after Pam finished lecturing the young gang member on what he needs to do in life to turn himself around, Joyce continued by suggesting that he needs to go watch the reruns of the Jeffersons or the Tony Orlando and Dawn Show!!! Then the undercover cop in the scene broke out into Tie a Yellow Ribbon… It was soooooooooo funny. The audience roared with laughter. After the play we got together and took plenty of photos. Sherry Payne (who was recently on tour with Diana Ross as one of the Supremes) was there showing the girls her support and we were able to meet her and speak with her as well. The theater had to turn the lights out to get us out of there!!! We would have chatted the night away otherwise. As fate would have it, we turned the wrong way on Beverly Boulevard and ended up in front of CBS Television City where they filmed the TOAD show from 1974-1976. It was on Julie’s list of places to visit earlier in the day, but we didn’t have the time. It was another late night. In the morning I hit the Jacuzzi first thing and then the pool. We had breakfast at the hotel and headed out toward Vegas—stopping at a few outlet centers along the way :)

Sunday. Vegas. We didn’t have enough time to catch Jono’s show in Vegas. We were only in town a few hours. Too bad they don’t rent ECV’s there, it would have made it so much easier. I did the great tour down the strip, giving the background on the Vegas of the 70s when TOAD appeared regularly at the Riviera, the things we used to do when we were in town (well some of them anyway LOL!!!), and how much it had changed over the years. Just reminiscing about the old days, long before Steve built the first themed mega-resort. We dropped off the photos from the night before at the one hour photo and had dinner while we waited for them. Unlike Atlantic City, their one hour photo is open 24 hours! The photos turned out great!!! We cruised through a few casinos, took more photos, and hit the road back to LA. We made it to the hotel in just under 4 hours.

Monday. Morning and the end of the 800+ mile road trip of the past 4 days came too soon. But I felt good knowing that we did our best to show Julie a great time here.

Pat

Hi Pat,
I was waiting to read about your adventure. It sounds like you had a really good time. I enjoy reading your stories.
Tara