Road Diary - Day 1

Voorhees, NJ, Wednesday, January 25, 7:41 PM
This is our first time keeping a road diary. It's also our first time touring for more than 2 weeks in the U.S. We almost didn't make it out of the house today. We had both burned the midnight oil getting ready for the trip. We made lists and sub-lists of things to do, things to buy, things to pack, and more. I took the van in for a tune-up, sent publicity materials out for the shows, reserved 12 hotel rooms and compiled 22 sets of directions along with gig and hotel information into a binder. Paul changed the strings on all his guitars and picked out 6 bottles of wine to get us through the long drives. I would trade places with him in a second if it didn't involve major surgery.
More...

...We were supposed to leave at 9:30 for our first day's drive south. We were up at 6 AM, dragging tons of equipment, clothing, and munchies, much more of all of these than we really need, into the van. I was taking care of some last minute details, "almost" ready to leave. I'm always "almost" ready to leave. If I look at clock and it says 8:21, I can eat breakfast, take a shower, get dressed, check the email, read the funnies, listen to a couple of tunes, brush my teeth, check my harps and pack them up and it's still 8:21 in my mind. I don't know where this comes from, but everybody has their means of escape from reality and this is mine and I'm not giving it up without a fight. The sun climbed in the sky and the van kept sinking lower as we threw amps,guitars, pedals, harmonicas, shoes, CDs, cutlery, the wine, and some chutneys into the vehicle's spacious interior. At 9:30 exactly, When Paul added the last item, the all-important Pillows From Home, he noticed that the van seemed a little too low. Sure enough, the left rear tire had gone flat. The workmen who are tearing down the house next door must have tossed a few nails in our driveway the day before. It reminded me of the very first time I went on the road with Paul, almost exactly 13 years ago, when I got a flat tire the night before we left. Something has to go wrong the first day or it's not a real road trip.
We finally made it to southern New Jersey, and we're catching up on Seinfeld and enjoying a very nice BV Merlot. The hotel offered a free "manager's reception" and dinner in the lobby, which consisted of pasta, chicken and salad and was really not bad.
I'll sign off now, I see that I'm inclined to ramble, but I'm sure I will cut down once we actually start playing. If anybody has any suggestions for features I should include in this road diary, feel free to offer them along with your comments. Next stop: Ashland, Virginia, home of Hohner Harmonicas and the Smoky Pig. No gig yet, just more driving and spending money. Who booked this tour anyway? Oh, yeah.
See you tomorrow.