Bloomington, IL

We spent a little less than a week in Bloomington IL. We were lucky (or unlucky) enough to be there during a heat wave. The days were 95+ and humid and the nights were just darker than the days. It was a beautiful little city with an unfortunate sprawl problem.

The first night we were there, after setting up at Kamp Komfort, we set our GPS to take us to dinner at a local smokehouse. When we arrived and found the restaurant closed, but happened upon an amazing sushi place right next door.

We spent the next few mornings and afternoons at the Coffee Hound, a really good coffee shop with AIR CONDITIONING! We also happened to be in town for the Shakespeare Festival that was performing in the park. We immediately bought tickets for Love's Labor's Lost and enjoyed an amazing picnic dinner on the lawn of an incredible estate. The play was brilliantly acted, the set beautiful and the occasional breezes that swept through the outdoor theater few and far between.

The second to last night we were there I had a hankering for pizza. We looked up the local pizza place and found Lucca Bar and Grill. After parking our truck in a somewhat dark and deserted part of town we found the back entrance of the restaurant. The smell of good food, and loud laughter engulfed us as we made our way toward two seats at the bar. What followed will be one of my favorite memories from our trip. The pizza was delicious, the drinks were expertly made and we met some great people sitting next to us who were amazed that we had found "the best pizza place in town" without really trying. At some point, someone started telling dirty jokes, of course we all tried to one up each other. The winner and champion was one of our new friends who shamelessly brought an innocent bystander into the mix with a really funny joke that you will just have to make me repeat to you in person.

We headed out the next morning in search of grease and of course immediately thought of Lucca's. When we stopped by, the owner remembered us, was impressed with our truck and was happy to let us fill up.

By the next day we were ready to move on from Bloomington. We packed up and headed almost due north to Madison WI hoping to escape the heat.