CAIRO, Ill. -- Kathy Salvi, wife of Al Salvi, a Republican candidate for U.S. senator from Illinois, says she and her family are taking a "vacation."

The vacation entails getting together all five children, a press secretary, a campaign manager, grandma, and, of course, Al, loading them up in a tour bus and heading off on a 1,000-mile, 43-county, eight-day trip through the heart of Illinois.

"This is fun, this is a family vacation for us," Kathy Salvi said after the tour's stop at Mack's Barbecue Stand in Cairo, one of 12 stops on Wednesday's agenda for the Salvi family.

The vacation was minus one participant for some of Mack's famous barbecue sandwiches -- the candidate. Al Salvi, an Illinois state representative from Lake County, had to miss Wednesday's campaigning because he was asked to speak at the Republican Convention in San Diego.

"It was kind of a last-minute thing," Kathy Salvi said. "It's kind of a long way to go to spend so little time."

Al Salvi, who flew out Tuesday, was scheduled to rejoin the tour Thursday night.

Most of Mack's customers Wednesday didn't seem too disappointed that the Republican challenger for Paul Simon's Senate seat was represented solely by his wife and children.

"It was somewhat of a disappointment, but we'll get him down here yet," said Shapley Hunter of Tamms. "He had an important job to do out in California so no one holds him at fault" for not showing up in Cairo.

Hunter, a Republican candidate for Congress this year, was just one of many local candidates who came out to offer their support for Salvi's campaign and maybe make some connections themselves.

"My campaign is going along slowly," he said. Incumbent Jerry Costello "has me beat in the financial arena, but I think we've got him beat in the arena of ideas."

Mack's Barbecue was transformed for almost an hour as the Salvi campaign blew through with Kathy Salvi leading the way. Showing no signs of slowing down, even though the tour is heading into its last days, Salvi gave a brief speech outlining her husband's ideals, which prompted a rousing, if not barbecue-splattered, cheer from the crowd.

Salvi is running on a platform that endorses lowering taxes and reducing government.

"He's committed to being a lightning rod for change," Kathy Salvi said. "Government has a role but it's gotten out of hand. He believes that it is not the family that should be responsible for government, but government that should answer to the family."