"I can't fit my arm under the seat unless you pull over," Landon Smith says a bit sarcastically as he searches for the legions of quarters that I lost in the seat the previous day.  He's looking for them so that we can pay the toll on I-94 heading back into Illinois after our night spend in Waukesha, WI. 

We are certainly not used to it being this cold. How cold is it? It's so cold, well, if I still had feet I would tell you. Oh wait - I do still have feet, I just can't feel them. Landon fishes out the quarters and we pay the toll and barrel down the highway and check into our hotel before we head to the show.

Enter: Sharks. We pull up to our show in Round Lake, IL at a place called Sharky's. It's right by the train station, so a colorful bunch of people await our arrival as we set up and start the show.  Elvis, Maralyn Monroe, and James Dean adorn the stage where we play (wish I could say they were the opening act), and Landon beings the music for the night...

About 20 minutes into Landon's set, I am confronted with the typical Midwestern congeniality - some people want to teach me a game where they are throwing bean bags into a hole in a wooden appartus.  I keep calling the game "beans" because we use bean bags, but alas, I'm corrected numerous times but obviously inebriated patrons. To my dismay, I find out that my arc in tossing the bags needs development. Dang.

Beyond my apparent lack of skills in the new game, a few members of the audience reassure me that it's ok to suck at "bags" if you play music. For that I thank them and join them in a toast - I'm drinking water tonight, which someone assures me Chicago has the best tasting tap water in the nation. What an odd thing to say...

We close out the show after having a blast with the audience that braved the snow and head back to our hotel. The snow drifts in the parking lot rival the height of some of the trees there...sheesh, cold weather, warm people though. See you guys at Louie's in Shorewood tonight Midwesterners!

Day 2: done.

-TRMJ