Day 8 – July 5, 2003

Chicago Avoidance Day

Ride from Madison, Wisconsin to South Bend, Indiana

We started early this morning. We were actually on the road by 7:00 am. We decided it was time to get out of town because it had rained hard most of the night and there were more very nasty clouds closing in on us. It was like we were trying to outrun the clouds. It seems we were heading in the correct direction, because we missed any more rain. We decided to stop for breakfast and wait for the rest of the clouds to pass.

We stopped for breakfast at Ray’s Family Restaurant. I had biscuits and sausage gravy and Karen had the usual. The biscuits were fantastic and the service was better than most of the places we’ve stopped. Shortly after we ate, we crossed into Illinois.

Back on the road and with the sun out again, we see some more of the beautiful scenes this country has to offer. I wasn’t too worried about the exact route because my main goal was to avoid going through Chicago, but rather to go around it. The time it would take was just more than I was willing to spend. As it was it took us several hours longer than I had planned. On one of our many detours we had the opportunity to watch the bridge we just went over to split in the middle and rise well over the river to allow the passing of a large vessel. Because we were on the byways rather than the main highways, we were able to miss most of the traffic, but when we when we did finally get on I80, traffic seemed to just stop and crawl. We were able to view an extremely large quarry that appeared to have been dug under the freeway. I think Karen got just a little bored with this slow moving traffic and you are not allowed to split lanes here.

Once the traffic finally got passed the main Chicago exits and the traffic let up, we crossed into Indiana. Oh I forgot to mention that this is a toll road. I was surprised to fine the incredible toll of 30 cents. We decided to stop for the night in Michigan City, but after being told that the only I’d be allowed to take a picture of the Lake Michigan, was to pay a $5 entrance fee each to the beach area. Considering the sign right behind her indicated it was $2 for bikes, and her attitude, and the size of the lake, I decided to locate another location. We drove up the coast another mile or so and got all the pictures we wanted, then went on to South Bend to spend the night.

Well it’s late and I’m tired, so till next time, I’ll see you on the byways……………