So you want to be a touring, magician uh? Hope you have a sense of humor as well as a sense of adventure.

We're currently sitting in a nice motel in northern Ontario, Canada. We have 3 shows to do on this minnie tour of 6 days. The first show is about 1200 kilometers (700) miles from home. At about the 1000 kilometer mark into the journey, we realized we had left our suitcase with all our clothes (not performance clothes) at home.

Normally, this would not be a big deal and it certainly is not a regular occurence (in fact, it has never happened before to us). We got to the community where our first gig was to be the day before our show and figured we'd just go and buy some clothes and necessary toiletries.

Well, it wasn't going to be quite that simple. The nearest town that has a store that sells clothing and underwear is about 350 kilometers (180 miles) away! That means 4 days in the same clothes we left home in! Fortunately we were able to buy some laundry soap and we'll be hanging out to dry our wet things every night.

After tommorow's show we hit the road again and will pass through a small city with a Wal Mart. Love em or hate em, we'll be buying a couple of new outfits each.

Thanks for posting. I will certainly check and recheck and recheck again to make sure I will not forget the suitcase that contain my clothings.

This shows that anything can happen to us.

Yes, even in the U.S. it is not unheard of to have to drive 60 miles or more to find a store that sells underwear or to find a laundromat. (Never get caught needing underwear or your clothes washed in Sedona, AZ.)

Back in my road days, we left for our next gig. Seems that there were two towns of the same name, but in different states about 200 miles apart. We (in the car) left for the correct location, our truck driver with all our props and costumes left for the wrong state. Fortunately we were finally able to contact him and get him to the correct location. He pulled up just minutes before the start of your first show and he and the assistants were literally unpacking, putting together, and loading our tricks as I was out doing them. I had to stretch a couple of times to give them time to finish putting together the next effect.

Ah, the joys of showbusiness!

Happy to say, we're sitting in another hotel in our new clothes now! We'll be home again in 2 days and reunited with our suitcase.

All the best,

Rob

Make a list of what you need to bring. If needed, write a list for every different type of thing - one for magic, one for clothing, one for needed documents, including maps. Staple the lists together so that none of them will come up missing. Check the items off of the list only when they have been loaded into the car. This works well for reloading the car after a night in the hotel as well.

I once went on a camping event and brought everything - magic, clothing, camping supplies, tent, ice chest - everything, except my tent poles. Talk about needing to think creatively...