We set out Friday morning on the first leg of our new road trip. Destination: Bloomington, IN. We packed up Carl and head out down Interstate 90 to the Skyway between Chicago and Indiana. It being a holiday weekend, there was more traffic than expected but our spirits remained high. Just as we were approaching Indianapolis only am hour and a half from our Bloomington destination, a warning light lite hit the dash. Tire pressure- critically low and dropping fast! Fortunately, this is not our first road trip rodeo and we came prepared for such mishaps. Luckily, we were right next to a giant parking lot where we pulled over to assess the sitch. Our tire was losing air quick, a puncture we obtained somewhere between Wendy’s and our current location. The tire was hissing like a boiling tea kettle and sun was beating down onto the 100 degree asphalt. But, never fear. We have a patch kit.Unfortunately, the kit and our car jack was buried beneath our car bed and carefully arranged camping gear. We unloaded and grabbed the necessary tools- the jack, wrench, patch kit and auto tire inflator. Fooz made quick work of the repair and we were back on the road within 30 min, sweaty but not discouraged!
Not before long we found ourselves being warmly greeted by our friends and their kids in their lovely Bloomington home. Tucker and Cindy are long time friends from Alex’s college days and they relocated to Indy 1 year prior after spending their adult lives up to this point nearby us in Chicago. They have 2 spirited children- Chloe, 4 and Ryley, almost 2. We settled in to their house and Tucker cooked up some stir fry with local veg and then we headed for dessert at their local mom and pop ice cream shop. The next day we filled our water bottles, put on our hiking shoes and went for a walk in the woods. We found lanky daddy long legs, a tiny green snake, multiple mushrooms and wild persimmon! Our group of 6 made a 3 mile loop and successfully spotted green things, brown things, yellow things, red things and Chloe’s challenge- a purple thing! We returned to the car hot and hungry and ready for lunch. We headed to Scenic View Restaurant where we ate sandwiches and looked out onto Lake Monroe. Our bellies full, we returned home for an afternoon siesta the started a lazy evening with a Backgammon challenge where the kids learned how to throw/ roll dice- an activity that Ryley found endlessly amusing 🙂 The babysitter rang at 6pm and the adults headed out for a night downtown Bloomington. Bloomington, IN is home to Indiana University, a big ten school with the previous years national championship winning football team. This Saturday was their first home game of the 2026 season and The Hoosier fans were out to celebrate the team’s crushing victory against some small Texas school. The sights and smells brought Fooz and I back to our Big Ten college days spending Saturday mornings drinking beer and showing our school pride. But now, we’re boring adults and instead of ripping beer bongs and playing the pong tables we sat down w our friends at a classy, quiet Italian restaurant. We enjoyed fresh pasta and great company and capped off the night at a local cocktail bar followed by a peaceful stargazing in their back yard. Sunday morning we awoke to Chloe merrily singing “If youre happy and you know it” and joined their family in the kitchen for a home made everything bagel and lox tart and fresh brewed espresso. Caffeinated and full, we ventured through their back yard to a creek full of treasure. The creek was mostly dry from the absence of summer rain and we spent time looking for fossils and geodes of which there were plenty! We took a few souvenirs and said our goodbyes to our gracious hosts and head out to our next destination- Pittsburgh, PA!