Texting/Messaging after Date Planned, but before actual Date

I was just curious about everyones thoughts here. If you have a date planned (date/time/location) do you continue messaging back and forth or just sort of step back a bit and wait to continue the conversation in person?

I (39m) am new to this whole online dating scene so I am just figuring all this out. I am looking for similarly situated individuals and with kids/jobs/etc. it can take a week or so for schedules to line up.

Thoughts?