Day 13 - ending at Chesterton, IN - Northern Indiana on the Open Road

September 11, 2011

Day 13 - ending at Chesterton, IN

rode on Calumet Trail

Posted via email Mon Sep 12 06:29:01 2011 PDT

Awake at 7:15am. Took time to translate the Google Maps bicycle route Kris had sent me to GPS waypoints for getting to today's destination: Indiana Dunes State Park.

When I finally got out of the tent, the neighbor camper offered me a cup of coffee. I really enjoyed that. Later he offered breakfast, but I needed to keep packing.

Other campers came over to talk. It was fun, but also slowing me down. Things were dry and it looked like it would be a good riding day.

Left the campsite at 11:27am. Decided to try a bike trail for the ride to the park exit. It worked well. Arrived at the park exit at 12:18pm, after a break at the Visitors Center.

Almost all the roads the route put me on today were signed "Bicycle Route". On New Road, at 1:25pm EDT, I crossed the Kankakee River into LaPorte County, and back into Central Time. It was now 12:25pm - I'd been looking forward to getting this hour back.

I went off-route near LaPorte (city) to see if the Door Prairie Auto Museum was open. I wanted to see the Tucker automobile they have, but it looked like they were closed. I stayed off-route looking for a place to eat. Found a Dairy Queen at 2:54pm, and ordered a Grilled Chicken Sandwich and a large mint shake at the window.

Reconnected with the GPS-route, heading west out of town. Later the GPS (the Magellan MAP330 that had the waypoints) got "lost". That made following the route a little harder. Eventually it (and me) were back on track. I was impressed how well the Google Maps bicycle route worked today at keeping me out of heavy traffic in this populated area.

I passed a dog sitting outside his fenced yard. He ran back inside the fence to bark at me.

At 5:43pm, I was at the Calumet Trail, ready to head west to the park. The trail parallels the South Shore Line, and I got to see two of their electric trains go by.

Arrived at the park to find roads are different than when I was here last time (many years ago). Checked in and was at my assigned campsite (#108) at 6:52pm. Sunset was at 7:05pm, and I was torn between setting up the tent or going to the beach to watch the sunset. Decided to set up the tent. I'll check the beach out in the morning.

My camping neighbor here came over shortly after I arrived and offered me supper - leftover retirement party food. He'd retired last Friday. I declined the food offer to get the tent set up and finish the Dr. Pepper I'd bought at the camp store on my way in.

Took shower. It's a beautiful night with all the moonlight.

Spent: $7.47 (DQ lunch), $17.34 (camping fee), $1.07 (soda).

Went: 54 miles.

Jeff

Day 13 - North Liberty, IN to Chesterton, IN

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+ plus signs indicate pictures added after returning home from the trip +