Everything looks more glamorous in pictures. Looking through photos from this tour, I begin thinking “when did that happen?” “man, that is beautiful!” “everything sure looks cool”. It’s funny/sad how these moments pass me by. All the miles and hours on the road make things blur together, like an out of focus picture. Or photos of a track meet in slow shutter. I love the way the colors come out, after the fact. Who knew a bathroom looked that beautiful?
We are officially headed west, for the first time this tour. I miss Seattle very much. I can’t wait to see the colors of the fall taking over in the Evergreen State. As we drive through countless county lines, I feel the seasons begin to change. It’s a slow turning over. I miss the rain and that smell in the air halfway through the afternoon on a autumn day in Washington.
I have Deathcab’s “Photo Album” in my headphones here in Lawrence, Kansas. Ben Gibbard is making me homesick. I apologize for falling behind with the blogs. Time for internet has been very limited. I have found the Midwest lacks the number of coffeehouses we so unconsciously take for granted in the Northwest. This tour, like every tour, has been unlike any before it. Although seeing new parts of the country has been eye-opening, we’ve decided to take a break from touring after the end of this one. We want to become a band and with that want to spend a lot of time honing our sound and skills. Abby will be finishing school this year and needs to focus a lot of her energy on that. So I’ll be getting a job in Seattle and Travis, Ivan, and I will be moving up there. I’m excited and nervous for this big change. We have lofty goals, but couldn’t settle for less.
Our time in Chicago has been the most memorable part of this tour so far. I can’t stop saying how amazing everyone at Northpark University is. We were welcomed with open arms, over a hundred people showing up for our show in the tiny campus coffee house. Thank you Tom Rorem, The Thunderdome, The Lady’s Nextdoor, and everybody else who was so kind to us. Unfortunately, while on campus, we discovered Travis’s 1970s Precision Bass had mysteriously disappeared. Thankfully, we were able to scrounge together enough money to buy another great bass, for a miraculously great price. So things worked out.
Yesterday we said goodbye to Abby, our tour princess, who flew home from St. Louis to start school. It’s very strange not having her around. I miss her already.
I’ll try and keep up with the blogs.
Noah
