While I was in Texas this past weekend I bought at the
Hotter N Hell consumer show a light jacket for the rest of the trip “just in
case.” Well, just in case happened this
morning. When I left the Hampton Inn in
South Bend for this last state ride of my almost two week trip, it was in the
50’s and very windy. The jacket kept me warm and comfortable for the
first half hour of the ride before it finally came off.
This morning’s ride left the hotel and after heading west
for a mile, turned north. The route was
quickly out of the suburban area and into farmland. After a couple of miles of riding through
Indiana, the road passed into Michigan without any notice. Soon I was riding past cornfields that were
indeed “high as an elephant’s eye.” A
turn to the west put me right into the face of a strong headwind. While the country roads were not smooth as I
might have wished for, they were not bad except for a short patch of “chip seal”
that seemed to have recently received a new coating.
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| In this picture I'm just as shadow of myself! |
When the road passed back into Indiana,
passing the state line was very noticeable.
The loose chip seal on the road turned into previously repaved chip seal
with the surface somewhat smoother and noticeably darker. Also, at that point the stateline was
indicated with an understated stone marker that had Michigan on the north side
and Indiana on the south side.
After turning onto a southbound road that passed under the Indiana Tollway, the headwind turned to a crosswind and then at mile 20 a turn east to head back to South Bend put the wind at my back for most of the last 10 miles. That was a welcome respite!
Less than a mile from the hotel there was a bike path that
offered a route over a creek via a metal bridge that looked reminiscent of the
bridges I’ve seen in old pictures of the Chicago, South Shore and South Bend
interurban. Can anybody confirm that my
suspicion is correct?
With this ride I completed the goal of adding eight states
to my running total during this trip. I
now have 43 states, and after tomorrow when I go to a Cleveland Indians-Detroit
Tigers game in Detroit I’ll have 26 of the 30 current major league stadiums.
Tonight I’m in Windsor, Ontario and plan to take a 10 mile
ride along the waterfront in the morning before putting the bicycle back into
the car for the last time until I arrive home on Friday night. Over the weekend I’ll add one more post
wrapping up this trip and setting the scene for next summer’s pursuit on the
final seven states (and four ballparks).
If you want to see the data from this morning’s ride, check
here:
Thanks for following along.
Bruce
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