October 10, 2014. Western Illinois to Springfield

CAMPGROUND: Singchris State Park. 3 stars out of 5.  Overpriced at $20.  On lake, but not near campground. Pit toilets only. Electricity. Dump station.  New grills. About 15 miles from town.  

LOCATION:  Outside of Springfield, in middle of Illinois

WEATHER:  Some rain. Cooler. Highs in 50s

We drove east from the Mississippi to Springfield, about 170 miles.  We drove by many large cornfields and soybean fields with farmers harvesting their crops with huge equipment.  

We want to spend some time here in Springfield visiting the Lincoln sites.  

We hit town in time for a late lunch. We stopped at a microbrewery called Obed and isaac's.  It is in the historical district, in an old refurbished mansion.  They have 4 of their own IPAs on tap!  I had a black IPA and George had a Session  IPA.  We shared a huge "horseshoe" sandwich, a Springfield tradition.  It is an open-faced sandwich served with your choice of meat (we chose lamb burger), slathered with melted cheese, then sprinkled with French fries.  

It is like a Springfield version of Canadian poutine.  

Then, we drove to the state park campground.  We will stay here tonight only, then go back to Springfield and stay in a motel tomorrow.  

We took a hike on one of the park's trails.   Interesting fungus on a tree.

 It started to drizzle a bit, so we hunkered down inside.  We have some TV connections, so watched cooking shows, then a play on PBS.

DINNER:  Spinach salad and pasta.  For the pasta, I jazzed up canned pasta sauce with sautéed onion, scallions, and sliced jalapeño sausage.  At the end of cooking, I added some spinach leaves, to use them up before they spoil.  Molto bono!