A Highway 20 Ride to See Zac Brown Band

     I saw the Zac Brown Band open for Keith Urban several time before they really hit it big. Ever since they started headlining their own tour, I have been trying to make it one of their shows. But it seemed that every time they were scheduled to play some place close, I had a conflict..... my husband's Irishfest, my daughter's wedding. But I finally found a date that would work when they announced a show in Peoria, IL - with the added benefit that Peoria has a somewhat smaller arena. Peoria is about 4 hours away from me, but only two hours away for my daughter Sara in Chicago, so I popped her an email to see if she might want to come as well.  Yes! She and hubby Sam were available! So I arranged a "double date" of sorts with them. Jim would come along for the ride and drinking and dining, even though I couldn't talk him into the concert.

     It happens that I live not far off of Highway 20 here in Iowa and take it east towards Illinois, so I mused that I was on a Highway 20 ride to hear "Highway 20 Ride" ! : )  One of my favorite songs.

     We met Sara and Sam at our hotel for the evening, then headed off to the Rhodell Brewery to sample some of the local craft beers. Sam was already very familiar with Rhodell from frequent stops there to pick up a growler on his way to visit Sara in Champaign-Urbana when she was doing her graduate work there.
Now, although Sara is an engineer and Sam works in insurance, they brew beer in their apartment and fantasize, I think, about having a microbrewery of their own sometime in the future.

     The beer was tasty but then it was time to catch some dinner before the show. We tried to go to an Italian place just around the corner from Rhodell's.but the concert crowd had them booked solid. Then we tried Joe's Crab Shack which was also wall to wall with concert goers waiting to eat, but at least they had a waiting list. It took about 45 minutes but we finally got a booth. Sam and I are both seafood fiends so were delighted that we got to eat there.

   I had an excellent 3rd row riser-next-to the stage seat from the arena's presale so had a perfect view for the Zac Brown Band's terrific show. I really enjoyed every minute of their music. Here are a few more samples:

As She is Walking Away
Colder Weather
Toes
Sweet Annie
Free   - Just the best!!

    Unfortunately our warm glow from a great concert rapidly chilled when we went outside and found the temperature had dropped precipitously. Sleet and freezing rain pelted us mercilessly and everything was covered with a sheet of slick ice. We weren't dressed appropriately, I feared a fall with every step and we really hadn't made a good pick-up plan with Jim. After struggling a block or two we found a building lobby to huddle in until Jim (also lost in the nasty weather) managed to rescue us. Not the way I like to end a concert evening!

     We made it back to the hotel but in the morning all the vehicles in the hotel lot were encased in thick ice.
Good thing that the kids have strong ice-chipping arms!! Breakfast at Bob Evans and then we headed back for another Highway 20 ride.