Rain, rain, go away!

For the record, I do love thunderstorms. Just not so much when I’m sleeping in a tent in one. The good news is that the tent does not leak! (Thanks again, Dave and Louise!!) The only water in here came from us as we were setting the darn thing up just as the rain started. I will say that the rain was a welcome change from the heat of the day.

We began our day in Indiana at Pokagon State Park – it was so pretty that we were sort of sad that we couldn’t stay a second day. Of course, as we were lamenting that fact, it started to warm up and we realized that it was probably going to be another hot and humid day. That air conditioned car looked pretty darn good!

Knowing that we had delicious Chicago pizza ahead of us, we decided to take it easy for breakfast and just get coffee (and a muffin for me) at this little place called Coachlight Coffee House in Angola, Indiana. For the record, the coffee was delicious!

Anyway, we hit the road and soon realized that we had managed to land ourselves back in Amish territory again! I have a thing for the Amish. They completely fascinate me – and not just because they don’t have iPhones. It must be so hard to see everyone around them using so many things that would make their work easier and faster – and not cheat and use them! If I had to plow a field with a horse-drawn plow, you better believe I’d figure out a way to get one of my neighbors with a tractor to help me out! That, and I don’t know how they can drive their buggies down a busy road – I’m afraid for them! Anyway, we got a bit distracted and wound up taking a route that was a bit more scenic than we expected.

We had intended to be in Chicago for lunch, but when noon rolled around and we were still in Indiana, we decided that we best have a little something. Of course, we were in podunk nowhere so our choices were rather limited. Finally, we drove by Jimmie’s Coney Island, and it looked like it was actually open, and not too scary, and there were cars in the parking lot! The trifecta! so that’s how we came to have Coney Island dogs in Indiana. They were delicious.

From there we drove through South Chicago. Yes, really. We always manage to find the slums when heading for the larger cities (and the smaller cities for that matter), and Chicago would be no different. The houses were actually really cool (the ones that weren’t boarded up anyway), and we’re pretty glad that we took that route. We’ve decided that the worst part about driving through the run down areas is seeing the schools that have been shut down. In both Detroit and south Chicago we saw several large schools that had been closed and were either boarded up or had tons of broken windows. It was pretty sad.

Anyway, eventually we made it to downtown Chicago, and man! What a difference from Detroit! Downtown Detroit was empty. There were very few cars, and fewer people, and most of the storefronts were closed. Not so in Chicago! Everywhere you looked there were people and cars and stores and excitement! Now, I’ve been to Chicago before, but I hadn’t realized that this was Mike’s first trip! We quickly decided that there was no way for us to do Chicago justice in one short day, so we just drove around a bit to see the buildings and the hustle and bustle before we headed to the burbs to get some of that pizza everyone talks about. We’re already plotting a return trip to Chicago so that we can do it right. (Of course, we’ll have to get jobs and save up a bit first!)

Anyway, we stopped at Lou Malnati’s for some real Chicago deep dish pizza. Yes, it’s a chain, but they do a crust free pizza (gluten free!) so we compromised on our no chain restaurant rule and found the original Lou’s just to help us justify it. I have to say, it was a great exception to the rule. I had a little personal size cheese pizza all to myself and Mike got a slightly larger crustless one so that he could share with me a bit. It was delicious! Instead of a crust, they do a layer of sausage and then pile the cheese and toppings on that. It was good! I hope we can get jobs quickly so we can go back soon! We really liked Chicago (even though we were only there for a few hours) so we decided to add it to our ‘places we might want to live someday’ list (along with Austin, TX, Savannah, GA, and New York, NY.)

Now, when we were in Tyler, Texas, we went to Andy’s frozen custard and that reminded us how much we love frozen custard. Well, between Lou Malnati’s and our campsite, we just happened to pass by Greg’s Frozen Custard, and we just had to stop. It was so worth the detour! The flavor of the day was green tea, which isn’t my thing, but Mike really liked it – and they even had a gluten free cone for him! I had chocolate and vanilla, which was just perfect. It wasn’t quite an ooey gooey like we had at Andy’s, but it was definitely tasty!

As you’ve probably noticed, we’ve been a bit behind with posting our pictures. Apparently this has been weighing on Mike, because he requested a stop at a coffee shop with wifi so he could get a bit caught up. Of course, by the time we decided this, we were sort of in the middle of nowhere, so our choices were extremely limited. Starbucks to the rescue! We camped out in their air conditioned lobby for a couple hours, and maybe you’ll get to see some more pictures soon as a result.

The only bad part about that was that we sat there long enough for the storm to roll in. As we drove to our campsite, the wind was whipping and there was lightning all around. Hmmm…maybe this wasn’t the best night to camp? Ever the Boy Scout, Mike was determined to stick it out. At the park office, one ranger urged us to hurry and set up our tent to beat the weather while the other suggested that we just sleep in our car. It was pretty funny.

I tell you what! It’s a good thing we’ve had some practice with this tent! We had just put the car in park when the rain started! We busted a move and had the tent set up in no time. We were inside and (mostly) dry when the rain began in earnest. For the record, rain on a tent is really loud! We did manage to get some sleep, and once we get motivated to pack up this wet tent, we’ll hit the road for Wisconsin. I’m gonna get me some cheese today!