Welcome compadres!
Let's jump right in.
Living the roadie life is a lot like trying to have your cake and eating it too. (I've always hated that saying because I never understood the idea of having cake if you couldn't eat it, but I suppose that's the point ultimately... anyway- now cake sounds good, damn.)
You're always trying to take every job that comes your way (as the roadie) because being self-employed is feast or famine, and you're always trying to do everything you can to have as much time home with family as possible too. In a perfect world, that would be easy. But Bernie Sanders isn't president, so this obviously isn't a perfect world.
We're always searching and waiting for what seems like the right answer so we can find a way to strike that unattainable balance. Taking smaller tour's means not being away from home for such long periods of time, but it also means smaller invoices and more searching for consistent work to fill those holes. Longer tours are great job security, but they wreak havoc on family relationships. So then the question becomes, "To tour, or not to tour... and still, where will I find the work?"
People often ask me why we moved up to the Pacific Northwest if we don't have any friends or family up here, and I can't help but chuckle because its complicated for people living this life, and there isn't one simple answer that sums it all up.
Most tours seem to stop in town with a day off, which usually meant a small break up in tour runs. A great airport that meant less connecting flights and more opportunity for jobs verses in a small town, where flights were substantially more expensive. Clean air and water, a bigger city with stuff to do, getting on the property ladder where we'd have a smart investment opportunity, blah, blah, blah.
And then we got pregnant a month after moving here. HA! Expect the unexpected.
Cut to 2 years later, and we're still trying to strike that balance.
Luckily, the roadie's had the opportunity to work more consistently with one company in particular. So the rock n' roll touring has been less this last year, compared to the passed 7 (years) we've been used to; still doing the same job, but now in the corporate avenue of the industry. Shorter periods away from home so our 1yr old doesn't have to be without his daddy as much, the mama doesn't have to survive the thunder-dome with the toddler for extended bouts, and still working enough to make ends meat. The downside's are that he comes and goes a lot more, putting all our eggs in one basket means depending on one entity for job security, paying a lot more in taxes sucks, and being far away from family and friends is becoming a lot more difficult than I bargained for.
So we take it one day at a time. Every day, we toss around a new "solution."
"Let's move to Vegas; then I can be home almost every night with you guys. I'd go on gig's- but a lot of them seem to be happening in Vegas that we've noticed, so I'd be home a lot more and could work in the shop when its slow." Which to me, means that he'll travel for work still and will also be working when he's home too- on top of living on the surface of the sun.
"They're eventually opening a shop in Chicago, so you never know... I could be a project manager and be home every night. I'd still go out on gig's 'sometimes' but at least I'd be home more consistently, right?" But what I'm hearing is that the shop would be an hour outside of Chicago, and so would we... and that also moves us further away from everyone, so we'd still be without a tribe.
"Let's just move to Canada then. That's where they're based and I could work in the shop and get off the road entirely. We'd have healthcare and this country's circling the toilet anyway, so...?" Me: "Let's do it!" Get's online to check out the Canadian immigration process, then thinks about the whole ordeal with trying to get 2 large dogs and 1 bitchy cat across the boarder, changing banks and currency, ooh- something shiny... brain redirects to Facebook news feed, 10min. later, "What was I looking for again...?"
So here, we stay. Our home as the solution, but always trying to remain open in case an opportunity presents itself. Always living one foot out the door.
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