Day 8: Indiana

Short day today, started down the East Coast of Lake Michigan, 1^st stop was the town of Holland.  Founded in the 1840’s by Dutch religious separatists and it stayed over 90% Dutch for 100 years. Pretty little town with the last authentic windmill the Dutch government allowed to leave the Netherlands.

From there, the next stop was the town of Saugatuck.  An artsy community along the shores of Lake Michigan where I grabbed a cup of coffee looking out at the boats.

Next stop was South Bend Indiana, I drove by the town of Benton Harbor.  It reminded me of my second trip from Vermont to Colorado in 1979.  On this trip it was myself, Ted, and my cousin Kim.  We each had our own cars and somehow, we managed to follow each other, without cell phones or GPS the 2000 miles.  We stopped in Benton Harbor to pick up Ted’s roommate and from there 4 of us in 3 cars made it to Colorado.  We would agree on where the next stop would be and sometimes, we would see each other on the highway, other times we would go hours without seeing each other, but we never lost each other.  That reminds me of another benefit to doing this drive now, the speed limit then was 55, now it’s at least 65 but in many places it’s 70 or 75.

When I got to South Bend, I walked around the campus of Norte Dame, really beautiful campus, I was glad to see almost all of the students walking around with masks, even outside and even when they were socially distanced.

Song of the Day: Indiana Wants me, Eddie Taylor – I think I remember this from a 70’s KTell record.

Podcast: Over the Road – nothing today

Book on Tape: The Pioneers – how the Steam Engine Paddle Wheeler changed life on the Ohio and Mississippi.

Beer of the Day: Asked for a local IPA, Waitress gave me an Elysian – I looked it up, it’s a Seattle Beer, but was bought by Anheuser-Busch a few years ago – so who knows, maybe is made locally?

Total Miles 160