Cruise control

When you're on a long roadtrip, the best thing you can do is stock up on sodas & beef jerky, slip into the right lane and set your cruise control. Exit when you need to, rest when you're tired and drive at the speed you're comfortable at.

That's where I'm at: the right lane, cruising comfortably.

When the reunion was announced in 2008, I was prepared to get in my car and race to my destination, see what I came to see and then return home. That's not what happened.

What happened was I realized how much I missed "road trips." And my friends. And the guys. So when 2009 hit, I decided I was going to get in that left lane (with my besties, of course) and ride like the wind. And ride, we did. We sped to destination after destination, city to city, resting only when we were so exhausted we couldn't keep our eyes open. Starbucks and Twizzlers fueled us, most days. Other days, it was sheer adrenaline...almost like being on the autobahn. Not that I've ever been to Germany, but...anyway..what was I saying? Oh yeah. Speeding down the highway.

When the end of Full Service came about, I welcomed a bit of a rest stop. I didn't want the trip to end, of course, but the turtle crawl of life was a welcome reprieve. Caught up on sleep and much of my debt. And common sense took over for me and many of us. We realized that while the tour was over, the reunion wasn't (like so many of us had feared) and we could sit back and reevaluate what we really wanted out of this ride.

After 6,000 miles in 2009 (no, I'm not exaggerating), I personally came to the decision in 2010 that I wasn't going to do it again. Not that much, anyway. I just didn't have it in me. Some of the fans were starting to get on my nerves and even a couple of the guys tended to push my buttons a little bit at times, too. I was wearing out. So when the "CasiNO Tour" was announced, I didn't get excited. They weren't hitting cities nearby and honestly? I was tired of traveling all over the damn country for them. Then a friend pointed out that Hammond, Indiana was actually just across the state line from Chicago.

Well, shit.

There went that.

But..we kept it in perspective and only did the three shows in Hammond. Okay, yes, so we did three shows and technically, that's probably kinda crazy, but when you considered that when we did three shows the year before, we drove 3,000 miles and this time we were only driving about 600 or so for this one, we really weren't doing so bad.

And other than the trip to NYC for the Joe/Eman show in October, I stuck to my guns about not going nuts in 2010.

Now that our guys have announced this joint tour with BSB, while I don't want the ride to end, I'm not all that rushed about getting back on the highway. Did I buy tickets this morning? Yes. One pair. For ONE show. I'm entertaining the thought of a second show in another city, but if we don't get them, I'm not going to be sad.

I gotta be honest, the view from the right lane is peaceful. And I don't have the same road rage I had when we first decided to pack up the car. I like the pace on cruise control.