Editor's Note: J. Tom Hnatow from These United States is writing a tour diary for DCist chronicling the band's latest national tour. In this entry, he discusses breaking in a new drummer, chair racing and the importance of Christa.

July 18, 2007

I made the long solo drive to Lexington without incident and spent the rest of the night catching up with the gents from The Scourge of the Sea – who I spent this past January touring with as a bassist. In the morning, Robby Cosenza and I load up his drums and make the drive from Lexington to Elgin, IL – and make the brilliant call of driving through Chicago during rush hour traffic. We also discover that it is necessary to have change to exit the various toll roads – and end up digging around our pockets and bags while shoveling any change we find into the machine until it finally takes pity on us. We eventually pick up Jesse at his parents' house and make our way to DeKalb, IL for the show.

The show goes as expected – it's our "warm up" show for the tour. Jesse and I haven't played together for a few weeks, and Robby hasn't played the songs for almost a year. Despite a few small miscues we manage to hold together pretty well – Jesse and I have certainly played enough shows together, and Robby is one of the most intuitive and talented drummers I've ever played with.

One of the most inspiring things about traveling is getting to see an endless progression of fantastic bands and ideas. Ten Speed, the night's headliner, are a semi-improvisational duo with a guitarist who plays a custom built foot pedal unit to trigger bass sounds (This is all much cooler sounding than I'm describing it). And our tour partner Cartright's "pirate-folk" is truly a thing to behold -– I'm looking forward to absorbing it over the next few weeks.

Photos by J. Tom Hnatow

Just as the show is about to start, the skies open up in an epic downpour…which seriously decreases any DeKalb-ians desires to go outside –- much less come to a rock show. Nonetheless, the venue treats us well and we're content with this as a beginning. We make the short drive back to Elgin and head off to bed.

July 19, 2007

Our day off. A day to sleep in, enjoy the beautiful, breezy Elgin weather, and get in an actual rehearsal. It feels great to have a day to knock the rust off and get ready for the run ahead, and we're planning to make the most of our night –- build a fire in the backyard and relax. Aside from the initial drives, this is about the easiest start of a tour I've had yet.

July 20, 2007

After drinking every drop of booze in the Elliott household, we (unsurprisingly) spend the morning recovering, then off to Chicago. After our load-in and soundcheck, we've got an hour to kill so we walk around the Wicker Park neighborhood. I always try to at least wander around the immediate neighborhood –- although it is a little sad that my opinion of most cities is based on the club and the 2 blocks surrounding it.

At the Note, we have our first great show of the tour –- the sound onstage is fantastic and Jesse brings out his rowdy hometown crowd. The few hours of rehearsal clearly paid off –- as soon as we start playing, everything clicks. We take the party back to Jesse's friend Missy's house (not coincidentally, the place we're crashing) and continue the fun late into the night. We end up on the roof of the apartment building, lighting sparklers and admiring the Chicago skyline. It's a beautiful, surreal ending to the evening.

July 21, 2007

Our host Missy wakes us up with coffee and homemade pancakes. We've been extraordinarily lucky – through all of our tours with These United States, we've never stayed in a hotel. From parents to old friends to bands we've just met, we've always managed to find some kind hearted person to offer us, at the very least, a floor to crash on.

We make a brief detour to the shores of Lake Michigan, then hit the road for the suburbs of Detroit.

The people of Detroit have had a great afternoon – there apparently was a huge, all day street festival with bands and food. Unfortunately, it means that the people of Detroit are ready to go to bed around the time we hit the stage. So we basically have a paid rehearsal. Nonetheless, we have a good time. And we spend the remainder of the night partying with Josh (from The Silent Years) –- who also provides our floor for the evening. So far –- 4 nights out, 4 parties –- which, contrary to stereotypes, is rare/unprecedented for us.

July 22, 2007

Compliments of the upgrade on the rental car, we have met our new girlfriend. Christa. She's the name (for reasons unknown) Robby has given our onboard GPS system. Never have the words "turn left in 2 miles" sounded so sexy. It really feels like cheating to be able to get in the car, punch in the address, and drive off –- with no maps, handwritten directions, etc. Our atlas has had a lonely time of it this trip.

We hit Indianapolis, load into the Irving Theater, and sit outside enjoying the beautiful weather and catching up with Dickie and Kristen from Petticoat, Petticoat, a Lexington, KY based band that I met on a tour I did in January. Then on to the show. During the Petticoat's set, Robby and I join them for a few songs –- despite us winging it (I had a chord chart taped to my steel), it comes off really well. The TUS set is boisterously fun. Now that we've got a few shows under our belt, we're a lot more relaxed.

After the show, the real fun begins…we discover that due to the inclined floor in the huge Irving Theater, we can race chairs…which we do, for the next hour. Amazingly, no one is injured.

This is the typical type of fun we have on tour –- slightly stupid, sleep deprived weirdness. The people at the venue are amazingly kind to us. Not only do we have a great show, but they also take us out for a 2 a.m. "dinner" after the show. Then off to yet another floor. It's a beautiful, cool night outside and I take my mattress to the balcony and crash. Week 1 of tour is over.