III

Though we received much spiritual food, by this time we were quite hungry, so headed to one of my favorite restaurants to visit when I'm in Illinois. I'm talkin' about Steak n' Shake. My beloved absolutely LOVED their chocolate shake, so much so that she drank not only her own, but half of mine. Their burger and fry really hit the spot for me.

Thank God smoking is no longer allowed in restaurants in Illinois. I've been to Steak n' Shake too many times when I had to endure the stench of 'rette smoke even though I was in the non-smoking session. I asked the waitress why they weren't playing any music in the restaurant. She said that too many people complained about the type they played (the kids didn't like hearing 50's stuff, the old folks didn't dig hearing Snoop), so they decided not to play anything. Most of the patrons there that evening were young people. Here is a pic of me at the restaurant (our waitress can be seen in the background):



After eating, we headed back to the hotel to unwind and hit the hay. The hotel had its own parking ramp which was pretty cool. Now to the room. As I indicated earlier, we were on the 18th floor, so we had a pretty decent view. Yes, indeed, down below, I could see all the people walking in and out of Target. Cool, huh? The room was something else. First of all, we had a king-size bed which was totally off-the-hook (we have a queen-size one at home). With my wife on one side of the bed and me on the other, it felt like she was in another time zone. The bed also had a body pillow for those who liked to sleep holding on to something.

We watched some TV before hitting the sack. The telly was about 30" or so, was widescreen, and had hi-def capability. It really is incredible just how much clearer the picture is in hi-def (you've haven't seen Wheel of Fortune until you've seen it in HD). As we got ready for bed, I eagerly thought about what was scheduled for the following day. First up was a panel discussion by four authors including my guy, NDW. Would it be all that I had hoped for?

I found out from Chad (the guy taking care of our dog) that it hailed that evening in Minnesota and that Zoe had put hail stones in her mouth in the backyard and tried to get him to chase her when she was doing so. Wish I coulda saw that, but seeing Deepak instead will have to suffice.