August 2, 1998 - Chicago - Indiana Dunes State Park Campground

DISTANCE TRAVELED: 40.07 Miles

TIME: 3 Hours 15 Minutes

AVERAGE SPEED: 16.2 Miles/Hour

TRAVEL CONDITIONS: Warm and sunny in the morning, turning to a humid and overcast afternoon. A small headwind was against us the entire trip.

ROAD CONDITIONS: Rough fairly narrow roads the entire trip. Many bad potholes

TERRAIN/DIFFICULTY LEVEL: Small rolling hills the entire trip. A very easy day.

DAILY JOURNAL COMMENTS:
I woke up at 8:45 and found out that we had to get everything into the basement by 9:30 so that people could get the keys back and then go to church. I quickly packed up and was downstairs in time. Fortunately there was food for us so I had a very small breakfast of a half of a muffin, a piece of bread with jam, and a glass of orange juice. After eating, we sat around for a while until our hosts decided that they wanted us to have a meeting so that we would know what was going on. They were trying to get us organized since it didn't appear to them that we were. Sometimes we aren't but everything still seems to get done! So we all met for about 30 minutes which was followed by our hosts taking some pictures of us in their garden. I was planning on going to a Cubs game with a few others but it didn't start until 1:15 and it was sold out so we would have had to buy some very expensive tickets. I decided to leave since it didn't seem like too much was happening so at about 11:45, Tom and I started off for the day. We were on a bike path for about 5 miles that we thought would take us about 15-20 miles. It ended much too soon and we were back onto a very bad road. We came to the border of Illinois and Indiana(Picture85) where we decided to get some lunch(we were hoping for breakfast) at McDonnalds. I got a Big Mac, fries, and a soda which did a fairly good job at filling me up. We continued on and took a picture at the state line with the beautiful industrial background of smoke stacks with tons of polution pouring out. As we continued, we went past a few refineries which must have decreased my life by 10 years. After going through, Tom and I felt very lightheaded. We passed through many places like this and then went into Gary. It looked like it was deserted since there was no one walking on the streets and there were no cars parked. We passed through quickly and then got onto a more scenic road which took us into the state park. Jen, Abigail, and Jade caught up when we made another stop to buy a $1.35 Powerade (which was normally only $.99) and we then rode together for a little while before they continued on at another stop. We left a little while later and finally arrived at the park. We paid our $.50 to get in and then registered at the campground. We went to the site and found Dan already there. He had gone to the Phish concert the day before and had been dropped off 25 miles away by some "hippies in a Uhaul" at 5 in the morning. He arrived at the campground at 9! Once again he managed to get something else for free! We had numerous Dunkin Donuts which were a real treat especially since they were fresh. After eating, we went to another general store and bought another Powerade for the normal price and some candy. I went back while Tom made a phone call and sat around the camp for a while waiting for the SAG to come. Soon afterwards, the SAG arrived and we unloaded the gear.(Picture86) I set up my tent and talked for a while as people slowly came in. It became time to make dinner so I helped out even though I wasn't on the cooking crew for the night. It was fun since we cooked on a fire in one of the firepits. We started out by cooking the corn which we put directly onto the grates. Unfortunately someone had pulled off the husks so we couldn't just throw the ears of corn into the coals. I found two ears that still had the husks and put them right in the fire. We pulled everything off and mine seemed like they had been boiled in water except that they had a smoky flavor which was much better. As it got dark, we threw on some hamburgers, gardenburgers, and chicken.(Picture87) The grates were to far apart so we put tin foil over it but this made the grease collect. Whenever flame would hit the grease we would have to blow it out quickly to prevent the meat from burning with it. We were joking around and saying that it was like a Burger King Flame Broiled Hamburger. We cooked everything that we had and it all dissappeared very fast. After eating, we had a safety meeting and talked about the SAG responsibilites. We met until about 10:30 and I then went into my tent to type for a while before going to sleep around 11:30.

TRIP ROUTE:
41 (lakeshore) to Indiana. Becomes Indianeapolis Blvd at split take 12/20thru Gary. Follow 12 at Miller Viaduct. See signs for park on left to Indian Dunes State Park.