Staring Down The Path North American Tour Journal Day 22 - 25 December 1 - 4, 2011 My first day back home in a real bed was strange.  I had grown accustom to the noise and vibration of the bus below my small bunk in the tour bus.  I was also “missing” the constant cursing and laughing coming from the lads surrounding me.  It was way too quiet. Chris and I slept late on the boat and raced home to get everything together for the short journey to Augusta, Georgia: John Kolbeck’s hometown.  Sam, the bus and the first band, Romeo Spike, were already at my house in Acworth waiting...

Read More

Staring Down The Path North American Tour Journal Day 20 & 21 November 29 - 30, 2011 The trip from Washington to Atlanta was one of the worst of the trip.  John Kolbeck and I fell ill after eating Mexican food in D.C. before our show.  John was able to get to sleep for our journey back home, while I stayed up all night shaking and wondering if I could make it any farther on the bus.  At one point, I made Sam, our bus driver, pull over at 6:30 am so I could stand on solid ground for a bit.  I remembered I had an expired, anti-nausea prescription pill that I had packed for the trip,...

Read More

Staring Down The Path North American Tour Journal Day 19 November 28, 2011 Washington, D.C. We left Hoboken in the middle of the night towards our nation’s capital in order to avoid rush hour.  We left with a couple of extra folks who tagged along and wanted to see the next show who would then catch a ride back with Justin Lomery to New York.  It was a cozy ride with 16 people to D.C. We arrived at a D.C. grocery store in the hood and walked to a local McDonalds for some coffee and a shower in the sink.  Little did we know, the club actually had a shower in it, which is always...

Read More

Staring Down The Path North American Tour Journal Day 18 November 27, 2011 Hoboken, N.J. Hoboken should have been a 15-minute drive from Manhattan across the George Washington Bridge. It took exactly two hours on a warm, Sunday afternoon.  We found out New York streets and the New Jersey Turnpike can be absolutely crazy, even on a Sunday.  We still made load-in right on time, although our intention was to be early.  Parking was tough outside Maxwell’s, especially with a huge tour bus.  After circling the block a few times, we were given a space down the street from the venue,...

Read More

Staring Down The Path North American Tour Journal Day 17 November 26, 2011 Manhattan After arriving back at our home on the bridge overlooking the Empire State building, we made a trip down to the 24-hour deli and surprised the staff with a large order of cheeseburgers at 4:00 am.  I settled into my claustrophobic bunk with a sore back soon after eating and watched Netflix on my phone for a bit, trying to forget the stress from the night before.  I woke to a new day and we were all mates again.  We went into the day with a new sense of togetherness and the show in Manhattan proved...

Read More

Staring Down The Path North American Tour Journal Day 16 November 25, 2011 Brooklyn, NY After our Thanksgiving feast in Brooklyn, we settled back into our spot on the bridge for the night.  Just before parking, some of the group decided to take a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge at 11:00 pm.  I opted to rest my feet and stay on the bus with a few others.  Our tour bus did not make the height requirement to enter the Brooklyn Bridge, so we had to make some turns and hit the Manhattan Bridge.  We then had to rendezvous with the rest of the group on the other side inside Manhattan. ...

Read More

Staring Down The Path North American Tour Journal Day 14 & 15 November 23 & 24, 2011 New York City I had to mentally prepare for our arrival in New York.  I would be waking up on the bus in a location unknown.  It turned out, Sam, our driver, found a fantastic spot on an overpass above a subway transit area.  It’s proximity to a 24-hour shop & deli was ideal and the police do not mess with busses & trucks parked on the side of the street.  We are parked on 11th avenue near 30th street and have a great view of the empire state building.  Navigating through the city...

Read More

Staring Down The Path North American Tour Journal Day 13 November 22, 2011 Cambridge, MA We left Rochester at about 6:00 am and headed towards Boston, which would be one of our shorter drives.  We woke up to Mark yelling about the fact that the bus satellite did not have the channel that carried the Manchester City game.  He attempted to stream it on the computer, which halfway worked, and the rest of us watched the Manchester United soccer match on television. Before we slept a few hours, we boarded the bus and listened to music on the iPod, all of us tightly packed in the bus living...

Read More

Staring Down The Path North American Tour Journal Day 12 / November 21, 2011 Rochester, NY We wound up leaving Chicago around 5:00 am for Rochester.  My parents met in Rochester, which eventually led to my place in the universe.  I really wanted to take in some sights and visit some places in Rochester I hadn’t seen in many years, but it was not to be.  We arrived an hour late for load in at The Water Street Music Hall and had to rush through sound check once again.  The taste of the deli at Wegman’s Grocery and the smooth custard at Abbott’s would have to wait till my next...

Read More

Staring Down The Path North American Tour Journal Day 11 November 20, 2011 Chicago, IL We drove many hours more than we should have in the middle of the evening in order to make up some time lost in the storm in Wyoming. After making it through the state of Nebraska, we stopped off at a Days Inn Motel right inside of Iowa near some large casinos. It was 3:00 am by the time I checked our driver into a room (for which he would sleep about six hours) and then I retired to the snow & dirt covered bus for a total of five hours sleep. I met Sam in the lobby the next morning, so I could...

Read More