Jeremy: Seriously, Jeff.  I know that Elle has her own little lingo, but Nerfly Hooded?  Your wordspouting powers are becoming more erratic, and expanding outward into other realms.  I personally worry for your sanity, and the sanity of this comic.  Yet, my hand continues to draw, almost without my permission…

Speaking of Elle, I feel like I am starting to get a good handle on consistently creating her, and that she is looking better to boot.  Her facial structure is a lot easier for me to map out, almost as if Elle was guiding my drawing hand… What is it with all the outside control of my role in this comic?!

Does anyone have a guess as to what Lancaster PA venue the Bros (and the Belles) will be playing? Shouldn’t be that difficult to recognize for you Lancaster types, plus for everyone else, the clue is written in plain text somewhere on this page…

Having said that, I managed to put points of ellipsis in three consecutive paragraphs!

Jeff: Yeah, I’m not completely sure where “nerfly-hooded” came from, but it has a perfectly logical exegesis. The prefix “nerfly”, of course comes from everyone’s favorite toy-based foam, Nerf. Balls, darts, and other projectiles made of this soft, spongy material are inherently harmless. Not only that, but they’re tough little buggers. Take a Nerf ball, squish it down in your hand as tight as you can, and release. You know what you get? The same Nerf ball you started with.

So, coupled with the suffix, “-hooded”, of course, refers to the fact that Elle’s head (her head, here, is a metaphorical stand-in for her brain, really) was protected and/or resilient enough to realize that she needed coffee. See? Couldn’t make more sense if I tried to explain it out in a couple of paragraphs.

Ahem.

Jeremy: (added 2/3/11 – 8:35 am) A Facebook comment about this particular strip brought up a good point, that “Arriving at your destination hours ahead of schedule was one of the worst and best parts about touring.” (thanks, Dick Miller!).  On one hand, if you arrived in a really cool town, it allowed you the opportunity to go exploring, which could be a really nice break in the drudgery of traveling.  Sometimes, early arrivals would be hoped for, just as a break in routine.

Other times, you arrive in a place where there is absolutely nothing to do, and then you just hope the time passes quickly.  Our go-to in this situation was to try to find the local large bookseller (like Barnes & Noble, Borders, etc.), and just sit and read for hours on end until it was time to be at the venue for load-in.