Sunday, January 19, 2014

Lost in Indiana

August 8th, 2013

Being a guest at Ed & Dianne's for a couple of days had made me spoiled but I had to start my trek home.  I still had a long way to go but which route should I take.  We looked at some maps and I considered the Canadian route but when Ed mentioned he had to return his riding boots and I also wanted to visit some cousins in London, so we headed East on Hwy 401 where we parted ways at this rest stop


and as I had arranged the day before I headed out on my own to see my Aunt & cousins whom I had not seen since 1988 at the last family reunion that I attended


You know how it goes.  You plan to stay an hour but you keep talking and soon it's over 2 hours.   Cousin Sarah is into photography too and belongs to the local camera club.   She snapped a few of me and I snapped back.    I was soon back on the road


and decided to re-enter the USA through Sarnia,  Over the Blue Water Bridge.    I had been over this bridge before but many years ago in our rented car back around 1973 when we visited my Uncle in Detroit


Soon I am riding on the Blue Water bridge which is the no-man's land between the USA and Canada


Welcome to Michigan coming up and I have to turn my cameras off before I hit the customs booth.  They actually asked me about it when I was being questioned

After I crossed the border the highway splits South and West and I was not familiar with the names of the towns so I kept to the left which was a big mistake.   I didn't know it but I was heading straight into Detroit and my plan was to go around.  I got lost and exited the freeway and tried to find my bearings.   I couldn't figure it out because the road atlas I brought wasn't detailed enough and my GPS was too detailed and I couldn't find the names of the places on my paper map so I continued to ride in circles.   I thought that I could go into the McDonalds to use their WiFi on my phone but they didn't have WiFi.   Then I realized that the reason was they didn't want the wrong people hanging around so it was a warning to me to get out of there

I decided to make this an early day so I ended up in Columbia City, IN for a sit down dinner at a Chinese Restaurant


It wasn't so bad.  Broccoli & Beef with fried rice topped off with a fortune cookie.   With a full tummy now I had to find a home for the night.   I rode around and didn't see much.  Mostly run down motels so I decided to grap a marginal one right along side of the highway.   It was a seedy looking place where I had to talk through plexi-class and pay cash before I could get the key.


I prefer places where you can park in front of your door and I put my bike cover on


It was a hot day and the A/C was very cold and it had FAST  internet too.   It was clean enough and I would stay there again if I were by myself.


Notice that I was just West of Fort Wayne on the Lincoln Highway.   The next morning I headed south towards Kokomo, IN and got myself lost


You don't get a good feeling when everything around you looks run down and you are staring at the County Jail.   I kept on the backroads in exploration mode watching the farmlands roll by.   Soon I found myself in Marion, IN and after a few wrong turns ended up in Kokomo where I entered another depressing area


This Motel looked cleaner than the one I stayed and the rates were cheaper.  In fact the surrounding Motels had similar rates and even so, it would appear that all of them had no customers


I wandered around for a while getting a feel for the town and had lunch before I headed on my way.   I tried to find my way out of town but again I took the wrong turn and ended up riding through miles and miles of corn fields  (video at the end)


I used my intuition to find a Northward route and try to get back to I-80 but also to avoid the toll roads near Chicago but the traffic was gridlocked and now I was on secondary roads riding through small towns


Eventually I made it to Ottawa, Illinois which was my new home for the night.  I spent hours trying to find my way out of the corn fields and trying to follow my GPS as you will see . . .






9 comments:

  1. Does this seem like just yesterday as you reminisce about your trip, or does it seem so long ago?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Trobairitz:

      I was not able to edit video during my trip so I have to set the scene before I post them. Gives me a chance to say a few more things to supplement what had already been posted "months ago" . I just followed the purple line on my GPS and look where it took me. To a narrow road along the river.

      That road along the corn fields ended up at a dead end and I had to back track. Hard to believe it's been 5 months. It's like it never happened

      Delete
  2. Endless corn fields… isn't there a Stephen King story featuring such? Scary thoughts.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sonja:

      actually, I wasn't getting a good feeling riding there. I was going the wrong way and there was little traffic and I was in the middle of farmlands. Eventually the road narrowed and I had to turn around. I thought about stopping and going into the corn fields but then, that would be trespassing. There were so many corn fields

      Delete
  3. That is why I don't use GPS Bob. The folks programing them don't have any idea where those roads go or don't go that they send you on. I can get lost perfectly fine on my own.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Paul:

      the GPS got me in trouble many times during my trip. I just follow the purple line and hope for the best. I have found that the GPS always gets you there but not necessarily in the most expedient manner, or most direct route

      I had a hard time finding my bearings from Kokomo, IN. and it took me hours to get back to I-80 on backroads without a map

      Delete
  4. That's a lot of food for one meal! I'm enjoying your videos and stories. GPS in conjunction with a map works well. Pick a spot like 1000+ miles away for your destination and not a daily destination.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Richard:

      I've only got a few videos left to post so I am including more "unseen" photos and perhaps more thoughts now that I had more time to think about things.

      I guess I was hungry because I ate it all

      Delete
  5. Ed:

    I wished I had more time to stop and just watch the river go by. I thought about it but then those were private docks. It seemed that the road cut across their property with the homes on the left and they also had the riverfront. I was miles and miles away from malls but I eventually found a place to stop and try to wait out the Chicago traffic. I was waiting for an email before I got too far west but in the end I just tried to make time and headed West on I-80 until I got hungry and decided to stop for a dinner break

    ReplyDelete