Hard to believe we’re finally at this point. The last few weeks have been the stuff I’ve been day dreaming about since the van purchase, but I’ll be damned if I haven’t been more stressed now than I ever have been in my life. Here’s a status update on all the things:

• The van is completely road-worthy. I say this while fervently knocking on the nearest wooden object as every time I look at the van wrong lately something decides to break. Example A: this morning we picked up the van from its final shop visit before we leave (where I had just spent a lot of money on a ton of maintenance), and I arrived home to find the gas pedal had literally just fallen completely off. Turned out to be an easy fix, but there’s something like that every day it seems. That said, mechanically she’s never run better than she does right now and I’m pretty excited about that. She’s also now equipped with: 3 super-high-tech security/backup cameras, an electrical system that won’t accidentally kill us (that was a fun project..), a generator that no longer spews smoke into our living room, a fridge that won’t dump its contents onto the floor when turning corners, and like 50 other little things that will make it a lot less like living in a van and a lot more like a tiny house on wheels. So as long as the small stuff stops breaking every single day, things are solid here.
• We’re about a third moved into the van and out of the apartment. Moving sucks, and it sucks more when you can’t take three quarters of your things with you. Add to that carrying things up and down stairs in January in Buffalo, and it’s basically a recipie for misery. Note to future self: do not move during the winter ever again.
• Greg and I both left our full time jobs over a month ago. However, I was asked and agreed to stay on part time as a remote worker more or less indefinitely. So, at the current moment I work three part time remote jobs on top of booking the tour, advertising shows, coordinating with promoters, etc etc etc…. Somehow I’m busier now than I was when I was working full time. Second note to future self: stop biting off way more than you can chew, you ambitious idiot.
• Speaking of the tour, it actually is just about completely booked. We’re currently sitting at 42 gigs. For a first ever tour 100% booked by cold-calling people from the internet, I’m pretty damn satisfied with that number. We’re just one week away from gig numero uno (and that part of it STILL doesn’t feel real to me, lol).
• We did announce the tour as soon as Greg and I had both put in our notice at our jobs. And honestly one of the best parts of this has been the absolutely awesome reception this has gotten from our friends, family, and fans. People have been overwhelmingly supportive and excited for us. It has been so fun to talk about our plans with everyone and it definitely helped to keep my spirits lifted on days where things were not going so smoothly. Our last gig in Hamburg was on Sunday, and I was so humbled by the amount of people that came out to wish us luck on the tour. It was great to see everyone and play music with some of my best friends one more time before we head out.

That’s a pretty good summary of where things are at. With all of this going on, I’m basically nothing but a ball of nervous energy. Maybe even borderline neurotic if you ask Greg (stress tends to make me… irritable, to put it mildly).

I’m hoping once we actually get on the road and start to get settled in I’ll be able to breathe a little easier. I’m mostly hoping to take a big step back from this administrative/secretarial minutiae and spend a lot more time on the actual point of this whole ordeal: the music.

Now that we’re in the thick of it, I plan to update a lot more regularly! Next time you’ll hear from me is from the road. 🙂 And do me a favor and pray for some warm weather in Georgia! It’s looking like our first couple nights are gonna be real chilly.