2018 Smile Tour Archives - Champagne Sunday

Day 24: The Final Bow at Blacksmith

With only 3 or so hours to go to Stevensville, Montana’s “First settlement in 1841”, and not having to play until 6, we woke up with the sun, grabbed some peaches at a local fruit stand, and merrily we rolled along! About 30 min outside “Stevi” (pronounced “Steve eye”, which is what the locals call...

Day 22 & 23: Great Falls

4 years ago1 year ago

Jessi Fredeen

Day 22: Sun’s up. Toes in the dust. Bladders emptied. Dressed. Coffee bought. On to Great Falls. Our gig was a return show at Mighty Mo Brewing and we were looking forward to it! We were scheduled to play 5:00-8:00, so we wanted to get into town and check into our hotel around 2:00. That...

Day 21: Adieu, South Dakota

4 years ago1 year ago

Jessi Fredeen

Waking up in Keystone, SD for the last time was tough. This town, in spite of all of its tourist-y attractions, was one of our favorites, and I’ll go as far as to say that, whether we book here again or not (which we will!), we’ll be back! Our sweet barista at Grapes and Grinds...

Days 11 – 14 revisited: The Nashville Gigs

4 years ago1 year ago

Jared Fredeen

Nashville: Both Jared and I worked on this one. Maybe you’ll be able to tell who’s voice is who’s…but maybe not. There are times you drink for fun. There are times you drink to mourn. There are times you drink alone. There are times you drink to celebrate. Then, there are times…times when you’ve just...

Day 20: Return to the Past

4 years ago1 year ago

Jessi Fredeen

Waking up between the buzzing generators of sleepy semi trucks has become comfortable now. Bladders relieved, apples cut, jammies changed and blankets folded, we put our “temporary home” back together for forward motion and began day 20 in search of gas, coffee and ice for the cooler. It’s the simple motions of the morning, the...

Day 19: Human Kindness is Overflowing

4 years ago1 year ago

Jessi Fredeen

Oh my gosh, you guys! Today was a special day!! So, last night we stopped at the Days Inn in Souix City. We were in no rush. We had about a 7-hour haul we needed to make in 2 days. We stopped a hundred times and talked and laughed. Our intention was to find somewhere...

Day 18: Time to Think

4 years ago1 year ago

Jessi Fredeen

Rudy’s soundtrack: Dancin’ Machine, Making Christmas, Bring It On Home To Me, Iron Man, Mr. Roboto, Beat It, Back In Black, Spoon Man, Dance Magic Dance, I’m Down, Start Wearing Purple… Musings on travel: A separation begins to really set in. It’s like they say, two weeks to start a habit. Or is it two...

Day 17: Chicago and Geneva

4 years ago1 year ago

Jessi Fredeen

Chicago. You really can feel the age of this city. The way you may look at someone approaching their “golden years” that, at some point, was glorious. Someone who really lived a life. Excitement and drama, zest and fervor. Someone who worked hard, played harder and someone who was probably mixed up with the wrong...

Day 16: An Old Church in Monticello

4 years ago1 year ago

Jessi Fredeen 1 comment

“When I’m 5 I’m going to do some sneaky stuff in the bathroom.” When your child informs you of this almost first thing in the morning, you wonder what the rest of your day may hold. Actually, the day was really normal. We found a YMCA in Champaign, Illinois (a few minutes from our gig)...

Day 15: Into the Corn Desert

4 years ago1 year ago

Jessi Fredeen

Since we wanted to get out of Nashville ASAP, Jared drove us to a rest stop in Whitehaven, Kentucky (right on the KY / IL border). We all slept amazingly and were blissfully woken by the sound of birds and the golden sunshine. The promise of a new day has always been one of my...