The beginning of the day was a little stressful, as I had to bike through city traffic to get to the Lakefront. The urban cyclist is a plucky hero that moves with fearless grace amidst the monsters of the road. ...I am not of their kind. I'm a trail and highway rider. But I got through it, and it was honestly far less dangerous than any random stretch of Omaha...
But then I reached the Lakefront. And my goodness, it is gorgeous, wonderful biking. I had been to Chicago before, seen several of the museums, the skydeck, even gone on a six mile run through the city, but I hadn't really seen what it had to offer until biking the Lakefront Trail. Several times as I could see all the hectic traffic racing by on the adjacent road and then looked at the peaceful trail, cyclists smoothly moving around slower moving pedestrians, cyclists, roller skaters, walkers, and joggers all brought together on one path without fear of one another's respective paces...I thought, damn, that road over there is the world as it is and this here is what it could be. It was great. I loved every minute of it, even when there were a couple detours here and there. I stopped to take it in and to take pictures often, which meant I made slow time on my already late start.
But the Lakefront couldn't last forever. The huge mass of people gradually trickled off as I rode further south away from downtown. And eventually the trail unceremoniously ended, spitting me out on the road, then on a bike lane on a highway, and all other cyclists were gone, and I was back on familiar territory, biking somewhere only the tourists and commuters bike. There was a lot of navigation after that, going well out of the direct route in order to avoid the hell I've been told is Gary, Indiana. At one point, following signs for a bike route, I ended up off the right path, the supposedly bike route coming to an abrupt end in the middle of urban nowhere. I had to go through an ugly, in every way, stretch to get back on track. For the most part I got to be on bike trail after that though, even if not always the most scenic and often with one stop sign after another.
The big problem of the day was a lack of a place for the night. Between three Warmshowers and one Couchsurfing host in the area I wanted to end up, I had no positive replies, none at all from two of them. I met a friendly older cyclist along one of these trails, who along with telling me about some of the bits of navigating I'd have to do to stay on trail, told me how I should camp at the Indiana Dunes State Park, being as I didn't know where I was ending up. He volunteers here and so is a big advocate for it.
In the end, with no other choice, after waiting as long as I felt I could to hear back from the hosts that hadn't replied, it is where I ended up. I wasn't too happy about it, paying not only $25 to camp, but a $2 bicycle entrance fee on top of that as a sort of insult to injury (especially considering I've never encountered such before). I set up my hammock in a sour mood, my rain tarp as well as it's supposed to rain tonight (though regrettably not my bugnet, as I am now discovering; though it is presently thrown over my head). After eating some of my provisions and a microwave burrito from the camp store, I was about to just go to bed...or hammock as the case may be.
I'm glad I didn't. I decided if I was paying for this place I might as well see what the hype was about. I hiked the sandy path through the woods, up a lengthy boardwalk stair, down another, and then... I was rewarded with a beautiful view of the lake afrom the sandy shore. As I hiked along it, I even discovered I could see Chicago, a mere silhouette, right against the setting sun. It was well worth it, reminded me of why I'm out here doing this, even when things do get frustrating. I had fun filling my shoes to the brim with sand heading up and then down a huge dune on the way back.
Of course, the downswing to follow the up is that I managed to fall out of my hammock for the first time, this place is swarming with bugs, AND I just had a brazen raccoon try to raid my panniers. It's been a long day, but sleep is not going to be easy tonight...
But you have to take the bad with the good. That's just how it works. I'm smiling right now, even in my stress and discomfort, or maybe even, because of it.
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