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May 18, 2021 36 tweets 13 min read Read on X
Day 3 of my ride from Chicago to the nearest Waffle House in Avon, IN, outside of Indianapolis. After a good night’s sleep at this cheap motel in northeast West Lafayette, home of Purdue, I’ve got 69 miles to WH, 82 to my hotel near the circle in downtown Indy.
Downtown West Lafayette.
A nice concrete protected bike lane on State Street by Von’s Books. West Lafayette is a @BikeLeague-designated Bike Friendly Community.
Fancy stones for sale on the sidewalk outside Von’s.
It seems like all the names of student-friendly eateries in this town are drug references.
Well you think of Indiana as being a flat place, this is a hilly town, sloping down to the Wabash River.
And the restaurants that aren’t named for drug references seem to be named for porn references. This place is famous for its root beer. Unfortunately it’s closed on Tuesdays.
Since Triple X was closed, I got an excellent meal of a savory crepe (pregaming for Waffle House) with a squeezed-in-house orange juice at nearby Greyhouse Cafe. Their donuts also look great.
The ornamentation on the building I’m eating lunch next to looked familiar. I correctly guessed that it was designed by Chicago architect and Frank Loyd Wright disciple Louis Sullivan. It’s the Purdue State Bank building.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purdue_St…
Whoops, actually it’s the other way around: Frank Lloyd Wright was a disciple of Sullivan.
Crossing the Wabash River into Lafayette. There are some nice trails along the river it appears, although this bridge is not bike friendly so I’m taking the sidewalk.
Main street in Lafayette. This mural is Seurat’s “Sunday Afternoon...”, on display at the Art Institute of Chicago, except everyone is looking at their phone.
Scooters in front of the Tippecanoe County Courthouse. Lots of nice old buildings here.
Cool building.
Scooter parking rack in Lafayette, Indiana.
Brick Street where the Lafayette farmers market takes place.
Mural outside the GOAT music venue, based on Edward Hopper’s “ Nighthawks at a Diner,” also at AIC.
Intersection treatment at 10th and Main.
Virtuous cycles bike shop.
Heading out of town now. It’s really lovely here.64 miles to waffle house.
This is the most memorable car wash I’ve seen.
Wildcat creek on route 38 east of Dayton, Indiana. Got slightly off route so they were 59 miles to go to waffle house from there.
I’ve been stair-stepping southeast on farm roads, luckily all paved. I’ve got a pretty hostile wind out of the southeast but I’ll just keep on keeping on like I did yesterday with unfriendly winds. 49 miles to waffle house.
Colfax, Indiana. 42 miles to waffle house.
On a nice trail out of Colfax now.
Scenes from Thorntown. Passing through on a nice bike trail to Lebanon. 35 miles to Waffle House.
Mural under I-65 on the trail near Lebanon. 26 miles until waffle house.
Railroad crosswalk in Lebanon.
Lebanon has a nice courthouse Square.
A purple giraffe with Christmas lights on it in front of an auction store. There’s also a blue one. Lebanon Indiana.
I’ve been steer stepping south east on farm and suburban back roads, all paved. After the head wind died down and the sun came out it’s been very nice riding. I’m in Brownsburg no. Interesting mascot at this Christian school. 11 miles to waffle house, 14 more to Indy.
Picked up the B & O trail, very nice. 5 miles until waffle house.
Made it! Very nice last few miles, all on trails and suburban subdivision roads. I love it when a plan comes together! Now it’s time to feast...
A meal worth riding 260 miles for: Hashbrowns all the way, plus eggs, and a pecan waffle.
#Indianapolis skyline, coming in from the west.
And with my arrival at the soldiers and sailors monument, I think we can call this Indiana adventure a wrap. I’ll be taking greyhound home to Chicago tomorrow morning. Thanks for following and enjoy the rest of the week.

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More from @greenfieldjohn

Nov 8, 2022
Some news: Tracy Baim, far left, publisher of The Reader just called to say they're going to pay me for last 2/6 branded features she hired me to write, but the series is cancelled and they don't want me pitch again. The timing suggests this is due to my Hideout reporting. Image
Here's my Medium post about the closure of the The Hideout music venue after an IG post by ex-booker Mykele Deville w/ accusations that it was a racist, workplace. One of Deville's Black coworkers reportedly said Deville's allegations may be exaggerated. medium.com/@johngreenfiel…
No hard feelings against Tracy, who is a heroic figure in the Chicago media landscape. She recently helped save @Chicago_Reader from going out of business, and she's been very supportive of my work in the past, including getting me this 6-part series. I wish her all the best
Read 14 tweets
May 17, 2021
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. Image
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... Image
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… Image
Read 22 tweets
May 14, 2021
I’m leaving Chicago’s Uptown nabe to bike to the closest #WaffleHouse in Avon, Indiana, outside Indianapolis. 70 miles to ride tonight to a bachelor party in the Indiana Dunes, where I’ll spend the weekend. It’s going to be a long night, but it’s a familiar route on trails. My bicycle parked outside J...
That last place was Jake’s Pup in the Ruf, specializing in broasted (pressure-fried) chicken.

Chicago’s Lakefront Trail is super busy today thanks to the gorgeous weather. Good to see that the separate pedestrian path south of Fullerton Avenue is repaired and re-opened. Image
The city is looking pretty today. Image
Read 22 tweets
Feb 20, 2021
It's wild that for the past 24+ hours right-wing columnist @John_Kass's pinned tweet has been one throwing shade on me via a quote from Irish writer and gay icon #OscarWilde.

While I appreciate the exposure, here's why Kass should probably keep Wilde's name out of his mouth.
Here's the Kass tweet, still pinned to the top of his Twitter profile two days after I first critiqued his glowing eulogy for Rush Limbaugh, the radio host who was notorious for his hateful comments about LGBTQ people, and just about every other marginalized group.
This is my tweet that started this latest exchange, noting that, rather than taking a clear-eyed look at Rush Limbaugh's legacy, including his outspoken homophobia, Kass's eulogy was nearly all hagiography.
Read 16 tweets
Jul 26, 2020
THREAD: Last week right-wing @chicagotribune columnist @John_Kass ran a column blaming rising crime and civil unrest in big cities like Chicago on "left-wing billionaire George Soros [spending] millions of dollars to help elect liberal social justice warriors as prosecutors."
"[Soros] remakes the justice system in urban America, flying under the radar," Kass wrote. "The Soros-funded prosecutors... are the ones who help release the violent on little or no bond." The piece ran with a photo of Soros a frequent target of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.
There was quite a backlash to Kass' Soros column. Some argued that while the Trib is laying off lots of actual reporters, Kass is getting paid 6 figures to spout off "anti-Semitic garbage," with terrible writing to boot.
Read 46 tweets
Jun 18, 2019
Thread: An argument I've been hearing about the high U.S. scooter fatality rate (2X as many deaths as U.S. bike-share in 1/10 the time) is "Scooters aren't the problem, cars & car-centric streets are." I think that's half right. Our car-centric system IS dangerous for everyone.
Obviously, to reduce overall traffic fatality and injury rates, we need to encourage alternatives to driving, and better enforce laws against reckless, intoxicated, and distracted driving. That's a lot of what I advocate for on Streetsblog.
And a big potential positive about scooters is that they appeal to people who aren't interested in biking. They don't want to exercise or risk getting sweaty while commuting. By attracting these people, scooters can help build political support for more protected car-free lanes.
Read 9 tweets

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