We’re Back At It!

After our journey across the Southern Tier we never dreamed it would be seven years until we embarked on another adventure. Better late than never though.

A lot has changed for us since 2018. We’re grandparents! Bruce has fully retired, and our daughter, Elizabeth got married! We also lost Kelley’s mom in 2019, Bruce’s dad in 2021 and his mom in 2023.

So here we are. We decided to cycle around Lake Michigan, starting in our “Finest City” as Kelley’s mom always said, Chicago. We had a time just getting out of Louisville. Kelley’s back tire exploded three times! Once was while we were sitting at an outside restaurant. The whole patio thought a gun was fired! But Dan at Parkside Bikes to the rescue. He found that Kelley’s tires were shot, ordered new ones and put us at the top of the list. We picked up the bike, loaded the car so we could get a nice early start, and BOOM! the tire exploded again as we were driving. We called the shop first thing, and once again Dan saved the day and we were on the road just slightly behind schedule.

We arrived in Chicago on quite possibly the hottest day that we’ve ever experienced in the city. Undeterred, we wandered around Chinatown before checking into our hotel. Later on we were walking through Millennium Park and stumbled upon a free orchestra concert.

The next day we were set to take our car to a friend of a friend to leave for 6 weeks. Claudia McCrocklin hooked us up with Jill Weinberger and we drove to the northwest suburbs. Before driving out, we walked the mile to` the parking garage, only to realize that Kelley left the car key in the room, so a mile run back to the hotel, and a mile back before we drove out. Once we dropped our car, we bicycled 38 miles back to the hotel. A good shake out ride without any gear.

Anyone who has followed our past trips knows that we tend to over pack. After multiple long bicycle excursions, you would have thought we’d learned our lesson. Maybe next time. After a long morning packing up and getting the gear on the bikes, we were ready to go. Ai-yi yi! Starting your trip on North MIchican Avenue with probably 60 pounds of gear is not the wisest idea! However, it’s just a few blocks to the Lakefront Trail and we were off!

The Lakefront Trail is one of our favorite parts of Chicago. So many people exercising in so many ways~ runners, walkers, skaters, cyclists. Folks doing yoga, paddle boarding, and trapeze! We had so many folks give us good wishes it really set the tone for the day!

As with any adventure, there are always missed turns, mis-read directions and the frustration of getting lost. Today was no execption. But after a couple of false starts, we were back on track and didn’t add too many miles on to our total.

The majority of the day was on a variety of bicycle trails, which made for a safe, scenic ride. We rode past the Skokie Sculpture Garden for many miles as well as the Chicago Botanical Gardens. They have a bike path through the gardens, but we opted to save that for another day.

By the end of the day, we were both pretty tired, and pedaling slowly. However, we were rewarded at day’s end by staying at the Illinois Beach State Park, and enjoyed a beautiful sunset walk along the beach.

Total mileage: Thursday 38 miles

Friday 54 miles

We have a few pictures- but we are out of space~ for now!