june 20
day 42
27 miles
total 1,100
how do i describe this day?
words are inadequate.
gary indiana was yet another post-apocalyptic landscape of collapsing buildings and vacant lots.
huge industrial buildings sat empty.
if you took away the traffic
you could make end of the world movies there…
but everyone we saw was friendly.
there were still a lot of beautiful buildings
and the steelyard baseball field was as pretty as you will find anywhere.
heading north for chicago
i was getting excited about how far i was going to get.
my magic phone was getting excited about running me down another rabbit hole.
i would have been a little more unhappy
had the trip not been so entertaining.
we made our way through a warren of bizarre neighborhoods
where every house was uniquely designed.
we cut through parking lots
under overpasses
and went past miles of abandoned steel mills.
we crossed a drawbridge that dropped a foot when a truck drove across,
inspiring a mad dash to;
“get off this dam bridge!”
after an extended tour of the standard oil refinery
i finally came to a lovely park on the shore of lake michigan.
illinois was only a couple of miles away…
as the crow flies.
about 5 miles of backtracking as laz walks.
between me, michael, ally, elaine, and the cursed phone
we patched together a mixture of trails, roads, and cross country to finally get me into illinois….
with minimal backtracking.
i wonder what adventures are waiting for me tomorrow!
laz