By Theresa Carter

We’re at Aroma Cafe in Champaign-Urbana. It’s a comfortable coffee/sandwich shop with a southwestern motif, a really good Cuban sandwich, and college students studying intently for finals. It’s also the first “official” gig on this tour.

It was dark by the time we got outside Chicago’s city limits and it’s so close to the train station we both felt like we had just stepped off the El. The station was cleaner and not nearly as crowded, but it still doesn’t really feel like we’ve gotten out of Chicago. David thinks the whole tour may feel that way, but after just spending the weekend in Indianapolis and the accompanying drive up and back on I-65, I can guarantee as soon as we board the train in the morning and speed through fields and open plains to Mattoon, it will finally hit us that we aren’t in Chicago any more.

As David sings I wonder what it’s like for him to look out and see everyone concentrating on their computer screens, including me, but then the song ends and all of us stop what we’re doing and clap and shout and he smiles.

He’s singing “Bone Dry Boulevard” now. I’d say it’s one of my favorites, but I honestly don’t know which one of his I like the best. There are many reasons I’m on this tour, not the least of which is I know he’s good enough that I won’t be sick of seeing him play after 6 straight days!