Snow Emergency

Saturday December 15th, 2007 - Dixon, IL/Lake Villa, IL

Nasty weather makes comedy even more difficult than it already is. There is a big snowy front dumping all kinds of it on the upper part of the country and Chicago is in the path of it all. I was scheduled to be on a show tonight with Jim McHugh and Mike Preston and we almost didn’t make it because of the snow. Situations like this really add a lot of stress to a business which is already packed with it. A relatively easy drive turns into a horror story.

I was going to drive to Jim’s house and then he would pick up Mike Preston who was to be waiting at a freeway exit so we could all drive together to the gig in Dixon, IL. It’s only about 100 miles from Chicago but with this weather all bets were off. I was late right from the start because everyone was driving 10mph and on edge. Getting to Jim‘s was an issue.

Sliding around in the snow is nerve racking enough but to make it worse I hit a big piece of metal in the middle of the road as I crossed an intersection. I don’t know what it was or where it came from but about five minutes later I heard a ‘thwap thwap thwap’ sound that only means flat tire and that’s exactly what it was. Whatever I hit must have punctured my left rear tire and I was plum in the middle of nowhere. The sloppy snow made it the worst possible scenario and I called Jim to tell him I’d be late. This was not at all good timing.

If I would have called a tow truck it would have made me way late. Waiting for Jim was not what I wanted because then we’d both be frazzled and probably dirty from changing a tire in our performance clothes. I opted to nurse the car on the flat tire over to Jim’s house so we could at least decide what to do about it after the show. Time was now a big issue.

I got to Jim’s house and the tire was completely shredded. We decided to nurse it to the Firestone tire store a mile away so I shredded it even more. They were open until 7:00 and the guy behind the counter said he could fix it by then but I told him I had to leave to do a show. It’s against their policy to leave keys in a car but I told him I’d buy four new tires to make it worth his while and he said he would do it. There went all my money for tonight.

I’m ok with it though. This is a good car and new tires will last me the whole year. I had few other options so I took the deal and we started driving. We picked up Mike and had a knuckle biter the whole way to Dixon. Those 100 miles went slowly as we slid around the highway trying not to get knocked off the road by semi trucks. It’s never fun to do that.

We barely made it to the show on time but we did get there. It was a holiday party for a local hospital and there were a lot of doctors and nurses and they looked very stodgy. The sound system was horrible and there weren’t any stage lights but we still had a fun show. I like working with Mike and Jim and we had another guy named Brian Hicks with us too.

Everyone did great and they loved us. After the show they fed us a delicious meal and it made it worth the trip. They were thrilled we braved the elements to come and perform for them and it’s always nice to be appreciated. The snow was over by the time we were done so we decided to drive home. I’ll remember this night for as long as I have my new tires.