NEXSW Tour 2023: Richmond to Berkeley Springs

Tour recap: June 8, 2023

The NEXSW 2023 tour began on Thursday, June 8. Heading out on a long tour is both stressful and exciting! Gotta take care of all the little things at home, make sure the pet sitters have clear instructions and plenty of supplies, and hope we've packed everything we need for several weeks. Packing the van with bulky music and camping gear, plus personal items, is part art, part science. We had a good system down with the old van, but with the new van, things have to be arranged differently to fit the cargo space, and secured so nothing topples over or comes flying into the backs of our heads when we brake or take a sharp turn. At the beginning of the NEXSW tour, we were still figuring things out. We managed to pack in such a way that we had a little gap to see through in the back window. 

That lasted exactly one day.

Our first gig of the tour was at Cacapon Mountain Brewing Co., in Berkeley Springs, WV, about 200 miles from home. I had gotten somewhat familiar with the area back in the early days of my career at DCR, when I was mapping vegetation at National Capital Region parks. Pretty sure this brewery didn't exist back then, or I would have known about it!

We got a warm welcome when we introduced ourselves as the musicians for the evening. We decided not to bring in the piano for this gig because we were only playing two hours, and the space designated for musicians wasn't that big, and setup is simply faster and easier without it. We have plenty of repertoire for two hours, with or without the piano.

The crowd inside was not large, but they seemed to appreciate what we were doing. One guy was exceptionally enthusiastic, which he conveyed with much chair dancing. A number of people were sitting outside but one of them, while dropping a tip in the jar, told us they could hear us out there. Someone asked if we did any John Prine; alas, the only John Prine in our repertoire was "Angel from Montgomery", which I play on the piano. They suggested that we learn "In Spite of Ourselves". I knew and liked the song but had never played it, and John wasn't familiar with it at all. Mental note filed.

We finished playing at 7:30. By the time we packed everything back into the van it would be 8:30. We had stupidly not ordered food during our break, and now it was going to be a challenge to find anything other than fast food at this "late" hour. Luckily there was a Chinese restaurant where we got takeout, which we brought back to our little efficiency cabin at Cacapon Resort State Park. The cabin itself was perfect for a couple. You could sleep up to six in there if you wanted to, since it has bunk beds and a loft. It has a fully equipped kitchen, and a screened-in porch where we ate our late dinner. 

The loft has two little cots tucked into the eaves.

View of the kitchen from the loft.

There was some craziness going on at the cabin across the way, but finally that settled down after a truck roared off into the night, and the peacefulness of the surrounding woods took over.

*****

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