Day 9: Illinois

Who knew Indiana had a beach and sand dunes?  From South Bend I headed to Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.  There is a 15 mile stretch on the Southern Shore of Lake Michigan with beaches and dunes that rival any costal beach. 

In contrast to the beach, I next headed 20 miles west to Gary Indiana. It has one of the highest murder rates per capita in the US.  The only site the Trip Advisor had for me was the birthplace of Michael Jackson.  I found his house, but as you can see from the picture, you wouldn’t know it, except for the signs hanging outside on the fence on the side of the house. I drove around Gary and all the houses were similar to the Jackson house, all look well maintained and the yards were well cared for.  I saw a lot of closed businesses and there was not much of a downtown, but it’s not like the residential parts of Detroit I have seen in the past where many homes look abandoned.

From Gary I headed to Chicago, driving up along the lake to Evanston, and then back down to Wrigley Field. Rather than stay in Chicago I am staying out in the suburbs of Schaumburg.  In 1983 I moved here from Denver, for a job.  One of the regrets I have about that time is why did I live in the suburbs at age 24, why wasn’t I living in downtown Chicago?  At the time, I’m sure my decision was based on being close to work and having an affordable apartment.  Whenever I go back to Chicago, I think, “man would I have had fun living in Chicago”.  Instead I would go home from work and watch the Cubs on TV.  I watched so much baseball that I can still name ½ of the starting 9 from the 1984 Cubs.  Leon Durham, Ryan Sandberg, Ron Cey…. You get the picture.  As the saying goes “Youth is wasted on the young”. My other memory is one day having just moved here from Denver, I was at the grocery store in November or December, a guy walks by and see my Colorado license plates and said something like “What’s wrong with you, why would you move here from Colorado?” I think I just shook my head and said I’m not sure. I did find my old apartment and old office location.

Song of the Day:  Sweet Home Chicago – the Blues Brother edition

Podcast: Today I started Smartless with Jason Bateman and Will Arnett – they had Jimmy Kimmel on today. I’m not sure if I will keep listening.

Book on Tape: The Pioneers – The push to keep Slavery out of the Ohio territory and the Underground railroad.

Beer of the Day: Anti Hero Revolution Brewing

Total Miles 175