First Night

We’ve had a lot of ‘first nights’ with this journey already, but this one is undeniable. We’re on the road, headed out into a year in a big world. We’re all feeling the adventure and settling into our studio and home for the next year.

I can confidently say that my days are long and full of excitement and growth since starting this venture. Life is vibrant if you follow your heart.

In leaving Madison – my home, my family, my lover, my friends – to chase a dream on a bus I’ve faced my life in ways I never had before. It’s made me look at everything I have there for what it is, and the experience has been pretty overwhelming.

I love my Madison people so much, and it gives me courage and inspiration to know that I’m part of such a great group. I realized what a team we have. We work together to live, to be happy, to succeed, to help each other when we need, and to laugh when we’re free to. Life is meant to be lived in teams, and everyone is on one. I’d recommend thinking about that and enjoying it.

What’s cool about this day and age is that teams can grow way larger than they used to thanks to communication technology and they don’t have to be geographically centered. That’s one contributor to why I’m putting my roots down in a mobile studio. I want to explore how a geographically diverse team can function, and in what ways it has some powerful advantages. For one, it makes a traveling lifestyle easier :)

Our vessel itself has been dependable as usual… but we’ve already had a few funny mishaps. We taped up a windshield wiper, lost an insulating towel to the road and when we got in the bus for our big ‘send-off’ the engine wouldn’t start. Poor connection on a battery wire and the starter couldn’t get enough thrust, who knew?

Still, thanks to the ever generous help of Chris Meyer and Eric Powers at Sector67, we got it fixed up right as rain. And it turned out for the better; we got to have one last fantastic dinner with our loved ones. What a great send-off.

We’re headed for LaCrosse tonight and the Twin Cities tomorrow… and we have some great people saving us parking spots. What exactly we’re gonna do with them I don’t think any of us knows, but we’re pretty excited to find out.