The morning after the CD release, I woke up late and chaotically assembled all the stuff that I'm bringing - I've never done a tour this long before so I have no idea what to expect. Thank god I didn't go with the Smart Car idea though - the Rent-a-Wreck VW bug (I need a name for her - send me some ideas - winner gets a prize!) barely holds everything, but it fits.

The car is great - really, you had me at "seat warmers" - especially for a winter tour - but it's also incredibly easy to find in a parking lot, has a little holder for a flower (still don't have one - what else can go in there?) and instead of a CD player has a tape player. The last point, might not be a plus for most of you, but after some frantic digging through old boxes, I came up with an acid-wash cassette holder filled with some awesome old tapes. Driving North I listened to Crash Test Dummies, Spirit of the West, Blue Rodeo and Cowboy Junkies - getting all Canadian-ized up for crossing the country.

Before I left, Irene and I stopped back at Healey's to get a picture of the billboard that I missed the night before. I'm still high on the release party - it went so quick! Thank you all for your well wishes and CD purchases.

Had to say goodbye to Marty, my small, black kitten - he's going to have his birthday while I'm away and will be gigantic when I get back. I hope he remembers me. Much harder was saying goodbye to my wonderful wife, Irene, who has been amazingly supportive about the tour. I don't know how other musicians do this. I'll just have to convince her to come sing with me next time. If you're in Toronto, her Second City class is performing this Sunday afternoon! Plus it's FREE! (http://www.secondcity.com/?id=theatres/toronto)

In press terms, Stagefright will be played on Jay Moonah's podcast (http://onlinemusicmarketing.com/), we're setting up an interview with the East York Mirror, and I think there'll be a review of the show soon.

Driving North was beautiful - the land slowly changes as the Canadian shield rises up in magnificent structures along the road. And about 2 hours North, the trees burst into yellows like they're on fire. I took some pictures (yes, I take pictures of trees) that totally don't do them justice, but they're stunning. Just as quick, the leaves and pine needles fall off and the trees are bare. The temperature drops and my guitar goes out of tune.

Aside from Canajun rock on old tapes, I listened to CBC for a bit - the most interesting story I heard was about a bank in Denmark that accepts art for money - check it out at www.art-money.org. How cool is that?

And apparently I'm used to sitting still for hours at a time (Thanks, Aviva!) so I wasn't all that sore (but wait for the 8 hour drive to Wawa and we'll see...).

I arrived in North Bay in 3.5 hours (5.5 hrs my ass, Google maps...) and was welcomed with open arms by the Green family who had called out every cousin and co-worker to a barbecue in my honour. Thanks to Tracey and Paul (and Tessa their beautiful 6-month old... and Layla the beatiful german sheppard... and Boston, the barky dog) for probably the best meal I'll have all tour and to Gail for letting me crash on her pullout couch (and getting me a bathroom kit and everything). They're totally spoiling me for the rest of the trip.

100 Georges (www.100georges.com) seems to be the place to play in North Bay. The bar was packed to the rafters and they'd put my posters up all over the club and "David Hein - Tonight at 9pm" was glowing in the sign outside. Still makes me happy. A great musician named Jim opened up the night for me and then I played for 2 hours - seriously running out of vocals and songs near the end... 100 Georges is what I'd call a background music gig - most of the crowd is there to drink and talk and dance and I'm there to provide background music. So it was a pleasure when I got dancers, sing-a-longs, laughter (North Bay likes Guilt Trip Song a LOT), and people who came out to listen to the music. I sold a bunch of CDs - two girls in the back tipped me $5 in exchange for a personal rendition of 5 Days in May by Blue Rodeo. And a nice innebriated guy bought me a beer and told Allison to make sure she told me that "he's a good guy."

We hung out for a little while more and then headed back to Gail's to crash. Today I slept in, had a hot shower and feel relaxed, organized, and pysched about the rest of the tour. I'm at Tracey and Paul's again using their internet - Tessa is sleeping and Boston the barky dog has accepted me as a friend.