Well yesterday sure was an exciting day! We drove all the way from St. Louis to northern Illinois on Saturday night after a fun show at Red Sea Underground (across the street from a really sweet vintage record store in "the loop"). Why you ask? We wanted to get to the factory with enough time to enjoy the sweet smell of sugar and our subsequent bellyaches (the tours stop at 4pm, which is still morning --albeit late morning--for us. . .) We had a chance to tour the factory--wearing FDA mandated hats of course--

got free samples--not only in bag format, but at the "sample counter" you can try anything--and left with a pound and a half of our favorite 35 jelly belly flavors. There's nothing like nutritious snacks for the road. . .

The day just kept getting better--we arrived at Points East Pub in Milwaukee and were greeted by Rasta, an adorable, energetic, fuzzy puppy who interpreted setting a guitar case down as a precursor to playing. We had teriffic sound (thanks, Dave!) and thouroughly enjoyed sharing a bill with Casey Stang and Bill Mallonee and Moriah. Turns out, Bill and Moriah--from Athens, GA--began their tour two days after ours and are completing theirs two days after ours! We stuck around and chatted until we were chased out. . .it's a good thing Chicago's not too far!