Amish, Gary and The Windy City....

I didn’t have time previously to include the video I made when riding around Middlebury in Indiana, which is Amish country. I found the area very interesting, but I knew little of Amish ways and culture, so I read a little on the web and looked forward to seeing some of the ways of the Amish people. Rather than write about this, I have included the highlights of what I saw riding through Amish country in the video below....



Yesterday I was both disappointed and very pleased. I went to Gary, Indiana and was hugely disappointed. I then went to one of my favourite cities – Chicago. I also added another 2 states to my growing list – Michigan and Illinois.

I started the day in an funny way. I was loading up my bike and got into a discussion with a guy and his wife from Georgia. They were looking at the paint job on my bike, playing a guess-who-the-pictures-are-of game and they complained about the “drought we are having in Georgia”.

Having seen so many ridiculous sized pick-ups around I said that is probably the global warming we are all now seeing and that people should stop driving such huge cars for everyday journeys like shopping and taking the kids to school. I continued by saying that I didn’t really understand why people thought they needed such big vehicles and the woman berated me saying that people had the right to have them if they wanted, and they need them to go off-road, to haul the grandkids around etc etc. I told her I didn’t agree they needed to be so big and the rest of the world seemed to get along just fine without them. She was getting quite upset and my stance and walked away shaking her head. He husband just gave me a knowing smile and walked off in her wake. I could tell who wore the trousers in that marriage! I watched them go across the car park and climb into the biggest pick-up I have ever seen! I waved as the pick-up drove passed me, with just the two of them inside....

I spotted this Plymouth on the side of the road – a lovely old car....





















Some severe weather had gone through the area in the past few days, mainly at night. I saw the evidence of it along this road with a whole line of trees blown down....

Soon I entered Michigan. My step-daughter is called Michele, or Mish for short and was named after this state....

I had intended to go into Warren Dunes State Park on the edge of Lake Michigan, put the queue of cars waiting to get in was so long, I decided against doing so. Instead I just found the road along the lake edge near Michigan City called Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, which was stunning....

I had no idea that there were dunes along the southern edge of Lake Michigan....

If you click on this picture to enlarge it, you can just make out the skyline of Chicago across the lake.... it was quite spectacular....

Right in Michigan City, I rode over a bridge and saw this.... it would be a fantastic place to live....

This gas station sign made me laugh....




























I was then riding towards Gary, Indiana and I was keen to see what the city that shared my name was like. I was sure it would be a splendid place. It wasn’t. If I can be blunt, it was dreadful and was so run down with dilapidated buildings that were a poor reflection of its past. I think Gary had a big steel industry that has probably now diminished and it seems the heart of the city went with it. I have to say it was a very depressing place and sadly, probably the worse I have seen so far. But in honour of its name, I did stop and take a picture of the statue of Elbert H. Gary who founded the city in 1906....




























Soon though I was headed towards Chicago, a place I have been too a few times before. I love Chicago, for its vibrancy, its parks, its cleanliness and its drive to succeed.

Despite the traffic, Chicago is a very welcoming city....

I just love the view from the Observatory area. Absolutely stunning....

One of Chicago’s many street canyons....

A couple of the roads near where I was staying were closed as filming of the movie “Transformers 3” was happening there. The public were kept well back and from what I could see, the scenery was quite amazing....

The hotel I checked into, The Wit, was recommended as being a new funky hotel and it certainly was. Very modern, very chick, very cool. Here was my bedroom before I messed it up with all my gear

A very strange, but good decoration above the bed...

Here is my friend Jack as we shared an after dinner drink. Jack and I worked together at the time of Chicago’s bid for the 2016 Olympic Games....

Here is a shot of Jack talking to an about to be elected Barack Obama....






















After dinner I went for a short walk and took a couple of pictures of the theatre next to the hotel....

I love Chicago!!

By the way. Chicago has the nickname of “the windy city” and some like a lot of people, I originally thought that was because of the wind that blows across Lake Michigan into the city. I did find out many years ago that is not the reason it has this name, but instead it is thought to originate from Chicago’s rivalry with the city of Cincinnati, when Politicians possibly referred to Chicago as the “windy city” in order to convince some that Cincinnati was superior.

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A Post With A Difference

Today’s post is slightly different than usual as Bobscoot offered to write it for me, so I sent him the pictures from today and I have included below what he wrote on my behalf. Of course, Bob didn’t have any idea about the story behind the pictures, so he has made everything up using his judgement and creativity. After Bobs piece, I have included the same pictures with my words. I have to say that Bod has done a remarkable job, having obviously done some research about what he saw in my pictures. If you read Bobs words and then mine, you will see they are really not that different.

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So from the keyboard of Bobscoot....

Day 32

I woke up refreshed from the Holiday Inn and it was a good feeling to have clean clothes on for a change using the hotel’s laundry service. Yesterday I was very hot it was a luxury to have a place with air conditioning. Luckily my room had an adjustable thermostat so I cranked it down a few degrees and relished in the cool air while I was sorting out my pictures for the blog. I am getting used to the new blogger software now and it is not as cumbersome as I had believed.

As I left Fort Wayne I noticed a statue in the main square of people dancing....

In the background there was a faint sound of music. Cool. They have a sound system which plays dance music to get you into the mood. I don’t notice any dance halls in the area and I wonder what significance this means. Maybe this was the site of something famous which only the locals know.

Farther down the street there is this man wearing a patriotic swim suit....

The leading ladies has become very filthy and I thought it would be a good idea to get my bike washed. I am very fussy with my custom paint job so I inquired what kind of towels he would use as to not scratch my paint. Fearing that he would scratch my paint, we struck a deal where I would use his supplies to wash the bike myself. It felt good to be rolling down the road with a clean bike again. Clean bike and clean clothes, what more could a person ask for.
I didn’t know what to expect when I crossed into Indiana but I see fields of wheat and grain silos....

This must be a prosperous farm as they have their own crop duster. I can only imagine the freedom of flying to be similar to riding my Harley....

The roads are unchallenging and are straight as an arrow. Miles and miles of straight roads lulls me into a hypnotic trans . Did I mention that it is very hot. I am looking for somewhere to stop with shade so I can open up another bottle of water and snack on a granola bar.
Finally I spot some water ahead....

It appears to be a man made lake. Cool. We don’t have any of these in the UK. In America it seems that money is no object if you desire to have a waterfront cottage

Then you can have your own beach and a place to dock your boat or jet ski....

It isn’t long before I come across the Kruse Military History Museum . There are live displays and people wearing period costumes....

I think of what it must have been like a hundred years ago going into combat with muskets and hand to hand combat.

This bloke is so realistic looking. It`s as if he is really living the part, right down to his unshaven beard. I was tempted to give it a tug to see if it was real, or not, but didn`t....

I`m not sure I would really want a job playing in the past, especially in the heat of Indiana but it looks like they have fun showing the tourists how it was like

I turned around when they fired their guns. The sound they make is deafening. These are the old muskets that you fill with gunpowder and push a rod down with the bullets. I wonder how fast you can reload when your enemy is charging towards you....

This is a neat place and if you are in the Fort Wayne area, you should stop here. They have displays from every era. I managed to have a few words with these servicemen who were actually visiting the museum too. They were a friendly bunch....

I think he said his name was Al and I asked if they would mind posing for a group photo....

And here it is. The two guys in the back were actually wearing old German uniforms. It was great talking to them.....

There seems to be a lot going on. Next was the medieval display....

And then we were given a short demonstration of the type of fighting during the time of King Arthur, with lances and shields....

In addition to military displays, this is also an Automotive museum and parked on the side of the building there was an actual Nascar on display. Of course it is retired now but it is complete exactly as it was raced many years ago.

I asked one of the servicemen if it would be alright to pose on the fender while he snapped my photo....

It`s not often I can get a photo of myself on this tour as I did not have room to bring my tripod. Especially while wearing my favourite Ace Café T-shirt, which was finally washed. I expect that even in this sweltering heat I will be able to wear it another two times


I don’t know why I snapped a photo of this bus but it was neat looking. We don’t have any of this type in the UK. All of ours are Red and have two levels (double deckers)

I was just thinking that perhaps on my next cross country tour I should just purchase a bus of this type and have all of my friends come along with me....

Soon it was time to leave.

Luckily I don’t have far to travel today as Auburn is just up the road along SR426 which parallels hwy 69 . There is not much traffic along this section as is my preference to take slower routes, but really, this is so boring. They should have put a few turns in here....

I caught another glimpse of a small lake along the way but there was no place to pull over and stop. I continued on my way and found a small B&B in Auburn to spend the night . Not many miles today, perhaps only 30 miles but its not easy in this heat but a big day tomorrow as I head to South Bend....

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Now, here are my words....



Today was an interesting day.

There was a huge thunderstorm last night and I copied a couple of other bikers and moved my bike, the Leading Ladies, to under the entrance canopy of the hotel, just before the heavens opened. The benefit was a dry bike this morning.

Not long after leaving this morning, I stooped in Auburn for something to drink and I walked around a little. The town has a number of statues of everyday people dotted around the streets, They are by an artist called Seward Johnson. This excellent public art at its best, Sadly I didn’t take my camera with me, but I did find  another blog that features some of the statues

I did retrieve my camera and take a picture of the largest statue, which is 25 foot (7.5m) high....

I saw this guy promoting a car wash. I just had time to grab the camera and take one photo as I rode by him. Quite why he was doing this, I will never know, but it did make me laugh....

I was told today that there is not much in Indiana except corn. I am sure that is unfair, but there really is a huge amount of corn. Mile after mile of the stuff. Here they are on both sides of the road I was on....

I guess you have made in big in the area of corn growing when you have your own crop sprayer plane, or even two crop sprayers!....

I passed this house, the owners of which have, like a few in the area, dug themselves a pond to swim in to keep cool during the summer months....,

Ok, I hear you say – nothing special about that. But look again! Whoever dug this pond made it big enough for.... A JET SKI !!! How cool would that be!! Wow, to use a jet ski in your own pond!!

As I was leaving Auburn, I saw a sign for a car museum and I decided to go take a look. It didn’t go as I thought it might because rather than go see the cars, I stayed in the museums grounds where there was a military history festival taking place. Essentially this consisted of a number of different groups dressed up in past military uniforms and they gave demonstrations of the weapons of the time and these people were very enthusiastic. Now, I have never really understood why people do this, but I have to admit it was fun to see. I did feel sorry for them as they looked very hot in their thick uniforms.

This guy told me he was dressed as an early German solider, but I may have mis-understood him. I am hoping that Sonja or Bleiglass will be able to confirm if this looks right....

There were a few guys dressed from the American Civil War period

A few US WW2 soldiers....

German soldiers from WW2.... I described these guys as being “dressed up” just now, but to be fair to all of the groups, they tried to speak the language of the people they were portraying and even had names befitting the nationality. There were a couple of Franz and a Hans included in this group....

A few Vikings. I had no idea that the Vikings made it to the USA. Did they really travel all that way in their fighting boats?....

I did at least walk up to the entrance to the car museum, if only to look at this NASCAR (at least I think that is what it is). Somebody kindly offered to take my picture....

This bus intrigued me for a while and I was fooled by the design of its paint scheme. I recognised the crest and it all looked very Presidential, but I soon realised it wasn’t. It was actually a promotion bus for a radio station that broadcasts from Kendallville and it was there to support the historical festival. It was a guy that stepped out of the bus that took the picture of me on the car and I asked him to explain what the bus and radio station was about. He started by saying they were a country within a country and I lost him at that point....

I looked on the map of Indiana and noticed some very long straight roads, so I went and had a look. We don’t get roads like this in the UK (this one was about as long as the UK) so for me it was quite a sight....

Finally I went into Potato Creek State Park., which was very beautiful, but I didn’t see any potatoes....

Now, don’t you think Bob did a great job? The only real thing wrong was there was no way I would let that guy wash my bike - that would just be too wierd!  I think Bob such a good job, I might just employ him as my ghost writer!

I also made a short video today of the area around Middlebury in Indiana, which I knew was populated by Amish people. I had to go take a look.  I have made the video, but run out of time to upload it today. I will do it later!

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