I'm having a record year.

The Gather Again Tour ended last night in New York City.

After every tour, I set a goal for the next one. In 2017, I wanted to go to Nashville. In 2019, I went. In 2019, I wanted Washington D.C., after talking to fans and having many, many of them tell me that I should go check out The Anthem if I was ever able to get there.

In December 2021, I went, by myself. 

I drove to the Kansas City airport, and almost chickened out when I hit the parking lot. I figured I could go back to my little town, hide out for a few days, and just lie and tell people I went.

I did not chicken out, though. 

I planned that trip pretty carefully, more carefully than I've planned any trip before. Flying across the country alone requires some advance thought, like not drinking much and being able to keep yourself alive through it.

I did drink, and I do not regret it.

I loved D.C. I love that I went by myself, I love that I walked around the listened to music, and I love that I saw that beautiful city in December, my favorite month of the year. 

--

The first show post-pandemic was in Durant, Oklahoma, in June 2021. 

I was supposed to buy a house that morning. I arranged dog care, and figured I'd sign the paperwork and be out of town at noon.

Life did not work out that way. 

I got to Durant at 8:25 p.m., and the first show in 18 months started at 8:30 p.m.

What followed that day was probably one of the worst things that happened to me, but what also followed those days were eight more concerts, seven of which were Eric Church shows. 

There's good and bad in life, and sometimes, you get to experience both of those things at the same time.

Wyoming was next on the concert list, two weeks after I injured my knee and could barely walk.

I stood in the pit line, in excruciating pain, all right, and then hobbled back to my car afterward. There was a new statue at Cheyenne Frontier Days of Chris LeDoux, a man I loved since my childhood.

I did not go see it, because I couldn't walk that far. 

I bought these tickets before my knee injury and before I got really sick. I wasn't even sure going to the rest of the shows was doable for me.

We worked through it, my body and I, along with doctors and a surgeon and other people, too. 

Not traveling is not an option in my world.

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And then there's Denver, where Monica from Kansas and Ashley from Church happened.

All I wanted at that show was someone to share this with. A friend, family member, lover, whatever. I would have been happy if anyone had been by my side.

It turns out that you can let new people in to experience that.

Denver was the first time that I experienced the front row and waiting outside in the pit line. They were my people. 

And then there's D.C. 

Do we even need to talk about how much I loved D.C.? No, I think my love for that city speaks for itself. 

And then there's Kansas City, the best show of the tour, and Tulsa and then St. Louis. 

It was a record year.

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Traveling sometimes comes with perils.

I hit a pothole in Missouri that led to two new tires. I smoked my brakes in Colorado and had to get them replaced, which was the first time that's ever happened to me — usually I get them replace a couple of weeks after I return to Kansas.

Oops.

It turns out that what I spent the last year doing now has a name — revenge travel.

From this website: "With these travel thoughts come extensive price tags as well as stacked vacations, as 2021 might just be the year where travelers extend their time away from home by one, two, or even three weeks or more as they get 'revenge' on all the ways that 2020 stripped them of a normal vacation."

Not only did 2020 strip me of a normal vacation, it stripped me of everything, ever. Don't even get me started of everything I lost because of 2020. 

(I lost everything I didn't need.)

Revenge travel is a thing, and I did it eight times in the past 11 months.

So here we are, halfway through 2022. We're starting over. Why am I starting over at 37 years old?

Because shit happens and sometimes you have to move, change, start over and move on, all at once.

Change is hard, but it's easier and better than staying where you're at.

--

Jojo deserves her own photo. 💛

The Gather Again Tour was about healing. It was also about letting go, moving on, meeting new people and experiencing new places. 

It was early morning airport visits, prioritizing myself, drinking with newfound friends, seeing new things and sitting on a rooftop bar in a huge city drinking with those newfound friends.

And sitting on a park bench in D.C., listening to the 10 minute version of All Too Well and deleting the past.

It's gone.

In a word, the Gather Again Tour was perfect.

Perfect.

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My goal for the next tour is New York City. 

Washington, D.C. was a test to see if I could do a big city by myself. 

I nailed it.

Eventually, I'll get to NYC, a place I dreamed about my whole life and wanted to live in very much when I was younger. 

I know it's possible, and I'll get there, eventually. 

I always do.

I'm having a record year.

We see you.

I'm going to take a little bit of time in this next post to talk about the performers.

Yes, I know, I'm skipping all over the place. Whatever. Let's roll with it, here.

So the weird thing about the concert was that Eric Church’s fan club members, the Church Choir, did not have seats directly by the stage.

Those seats were reserved for rodeo sponsors. That’s fine, and money and rodeo sponsors talk, but those people were not die-hard fans like the rest of us.

It didn’t take Eric long to spot us, the Church Choir, over to the side of the stage.

He gave us attention the whole night.

In the photo above, he was singing "Some of It," which is always a favorite of mine. He looked right at us, the Choir, and smiled.

He acknowledged us all right, from the flag the people in front of me were flying to the records we held up during the song Record Year.

(His words: "I see you. I can't get to you. But I see you.")

We see you too, Eric.

We see you.

The seating situation was kind of lame, and something that I've never encountered at one of his concerts ever before.

But the weather was beautiful, that big Wyoming sky was the backdrop, and I had a really good time going to a rodeo that's better than my hometown's rodeo.

Overall, it was solid.

Solid.

Plus, we got this update on his social media accounts after the show.

I think he liked us.

:)

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This is the first time I saw Ashley McBryde perform, and I loved every minute of her.

My only complaint is that the show should have started sooner so she could play longer.

She talked a lot during her set, which I liked a lot.

She thanked the people in the crowd for bringing kids to the show. In her words: "If kids never stand there (in the crowd), they'll never stand here (on the stage)."

:)

She also said that the fans don't show up because the artist shows up, the artists show up because the fans show up.

She has a point there.

Overall, I'd give her a 10/10.

I appreciate a good cheatin' song, I appreciate a good 'find yourself' song, and I appreciate a song about killing someone (it ain't murder if I bury you alive, Martha Divine).

She's also solid. Plus, it was her birthday that day.

Thanks for working on your birthday, Ashley. It was pretty badass.