The next stop on our trip was Springfield, Illinois. To get to Springfield from Dayton, Ohio, we drove across Indiana. One fun thing Indiana boasts is the home to the gym where Hoosiers was filmed. Unfortunately for us, it is open for tours everyday but Sunday. And yes, Sunday was our only available day. But we thought we’ll go check it out anyway, it wasn’t too far off our route.

The gym is in a small town called Knightstown. We went to the gym and tried to look through the windows in the doors but as advertised, it was closed. Larry walked around the gym and a neighbor came out and talked to him about it, and what it was like when they filmed the movie there. Obviously lots of activity and excitement, and yes he got to shake hands with Gene Hackman.

He also told Larry that the gym was going to be demolished. But people came forward and said hey, why don’t we save it? They did and it is now a cool gym for the community along with a tourist attraction. They also hold some high school basketball tournaments there, and they just had one the previous day.

I checked on Zillow and a small but decent house was valued about $150,000 – $200,000. That was right across the street from the Hoosier gym. Knightstown is a very small town, so when I looked up a grocery store to buy some picnic items, there wasn’t much to choose from. We went to the one place that was open, and it was like stepping back in time. There were a few grocery items and some clothing too. The prices were really low, and marked with an old-school red sticker.

I felt pretty conspicuous in our Patagonia jackets buying Evian water (to be fair there was only Evian and Fiji water to choose from), and a few other items. We stood in line to purchase our groceries and the guy in front of us talked to us about the sun coming out and he was so happy to be able to ride his scooter, etc. He was a local and everyone knew him, the cashier called him by name. When it was our turn she was very nice to us too, joking about our healthy food but then also our one Twinkie.

What a friendly town! From the neighbor Hoosier guy Larry talked to, to the grocery store experience. I was impressed. I thought people might not like us outsiders. But I guess that’s a lesson for me. I was judging them, thinking they would be judging me.

So after our picnic, we got back on the road and headed to Springfield, Illinois and the land of Lincoln.