Thread by @greenfieldjohn

After a fun PG-13 bachelor party in the Indiana Dunes (hikes, homemade pizza, guitars, soft drug use by my companions, hot tub) I’m leaving Beverly Shores for West Lafayette today, home of Purdue, then on to the closest #WaffleHouse to Chicago in Avon, outside Indy, tomorrow.

I rode 70 miles to the dunes from Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood on Friday night. On a clear day you can see the Chicago skyline from here. 104 miles to go to my motel in West Lafayette. This will be my longest ride in a day for about a decade. Let’s see how I do...

Here’s the vintage station for the @southshoreline in Beverly Shores. Service is suspended on the east leg of the route, replaced by bus shuttles, for a double tracking project. 103 miles to go today.
chi.streetsblog.org/2021/05/14/goo…

The temperature is just about ideal at 64F, and the scenery is pretty. 97 miles to go.

On County Road 450 E., for some reason there are a bunch of giant Christmas ornaments hung from the trees.

Trump 2024?! 91 miles to go to West Lafayette.

Stopping at a gas station by the Porter County airport, outside Valparaiso, for a coffee and donut break, and pick up supplies for lunch, since I’m mostly riding through unpopulated areas today. 83 miles to go.

As I traveled further south of the lake, the scenery has flattened out it looks pretty similar to a typical Illinois setting. 73 miles to go.

Stopped for lunch by Dunn’s bridge on the Kankakee River, reportedly constructed from steel beams salvaged from the very first Ferris wheel from the 1893 worlds fair in Chicago. 64 miles to go.

There’s a light rain, but it’s not unpleasant. After a few miles of riding on gravel in Jasper Pulaski nature area, I’m at a shooting range. “Respect other shooters.“ 58 miles to go.

I’m in Medaryville now, sort of an interesting place. Google maps is taking me on several gravel farm roads, which is not ideal but I’ve got 28 mm tires that can handle it reasonably well. Meet these friendly dogs on the way. (Actually they were pretty gruff.)

I like the mascot for Pizza King in Medaryville. Note that the pizza is cut in a grid, Chicago-style. 50 miles to go out of 104, so I’m more than halfway there.

Rainy baseball game in Francesville. 43 miles to go.

The Whistle Stop restaurant in Monon, IN, is surrounded by vintage trains. Unfortunately, it closed a few hours before I arrived, but the daily special of ham steak with au gratin potatoes sounds pretty good right now. 36 miles to go, which means I’m about 2/3 done. @stevevance

Monon, IN.

I like this mural.

Aargh, the farm road Google maps sent me on as an alternative to 421 turned into coarse gravel, and I’ve already done enough gravel riding today. I’m gonna go back to 421, which should be fine. Anyone know a hack for a voiding gravel roads when using the Google maps app?

And appetizing restaurant name in Reynolds, Indiana.

And of course it wouldn’t be Indiana without a fireworks store. I’m in Brookston, 14 miles to go.

Hmm, still not too late to go home...

Five more miles to go tonight.

All right made it to the city limits. Just climbed a huge mountain like hill, Soldier’s Home Road. Sort of fun. 3.7 more miles.

Made it! Well, that was a long day, but it’s good to know I can still do more than a century. And I feel pretty good. Time to get a good night’s rest and then get up and do it again. But there are waffles in my future…

Thanks for following and have a good night.