We've been on tour for a little over three weeks and have another week left. It's our first full US tour, and the longest we've ever been on tour together. We've been able to play some of our favorite places in the eastern half of the US and ventured west of Texas for the first time. I had never seen the desert before, or the Pacific Ocean, not to mention the Rockies or the Great Plains. I think that has been some of the most exciting things so far, just getting to see so much of the country that we'd never have the opportunity to see otherwise.

We've had some great luck on this tour, having every single show be a really good time, meeting awesome people and playing with bands we really enjoy. I honestly can't think of a "bad" show. Playing Gilman Street in Berkeley, California was probably the most exciting think we've done so far. Onion Flavored Rings played, along with Trainwreck Riders, Sourpatch, and Kicked In, none of whom I'd ever seen live before but they were all fantastic. Our friend Danny set up the show there for us and she rules. It was so awesome to be walking in from the parking lot and hear my bandmates yell "Holy shit! No stagediving!" when they saw it on the wall behind the stage, something we've seen in so many photos from bands playing there. The show was a blast and was definitely a high point of tour so far.

We played a basement show in Portland that was especially awesome. It was supposed to be Drunken Boat and Osama Ben Weasel (yep, a Screeching Weasel cover band) made up of some of the members from Old Growth. Originally, Old Growth couldn't play, which really bummed me out cause they're one of my favorite bands, but when we showed up to the house it turned out that they were going to play after all. They're a band I found out about through a mixtape and was totally blown away by. They're no less amazing live and play awesome jams that I want to call southern or kind of loud country, but I'm horrible at describing bands so I'll just say go check them out if you can. Drunken Boat were amazing as per usual and packed the basement before Osama Ben Weasel played one big sing-a-long. Portland is one of a few places we joke around about moving after this tour. Such a cool place with awesome bands and great people.

Right now we're in the midwest and it's been colder than I thought humanly possible. Minot, North Dakota was -22 degrees outside after the show. I never want to be that cold ever again. I had almost forgotten it was January for a little while there, until we hit Montana and everything was covered in snow. I'm skinny and hate the cold so this isn't my favorite part of traveling but it's no better in New Jersey right now so I guess I should just get used to it. I'm glad to be on the way home but know I'll want to be back hanging out in Gainesville like we did on New Years or walking around the amusement park under the Space Needle once we're back home. Next up, Chicago.