Day 3: We woke up in Indiana Dunes State Park after a warm night serenaded by screeching owls. The nine of us left early this morning taking the backroads to La Porte where we stopped for groceries. Early in the day, the group took a break in a basketball court to shoot hoops with an obnoxiously awkward ball one trekker is determined to carry on the back of their bike despite the countless times it’s rolled out from under their bungees. Some of us broke away to visit a bike shop after two broken spokes derailed our morning momentarily. We have many kinks to work out with bike mechanic upkeep, after a laundry list of roadside fixes defining our first day out on the road yesterday.
Leaving La Porte this afternoon, we travelled through quiet roads surrounded by corn fields. On the route, we saw lots of wildlife, including deer, rabbits, horses, cows, alpacas, one ferret crossing the road, and one random zebra. The zebra was a representation of the surprise Indiana has given us, from pot holes and power plants to lush forests and roadside berries. Indiana is an unexpected and interesting state to bike through. We’ve got some quirky games going, like a banana being strapped to the bicycle of the person designated as the “Heath and Safety Manager,” so they can remember their role in the group that day. But most impressively, we have a science experiment in process where we are carrying one blue cheese pizza slice in a Ziploc bag that was leftover from a dinner in Chicago in which we plan to take all the way to NYC. This experiment started with a joke about a side-by-side taste testing of the two city’s pizzas. Some of the Trekkers are determined to take a bite of the well-travelled pizza on the final day. Good thing I’ll be passing them off to their parents by then. The night was topped off by changing time zones and gaining more daylight, then settling in at Potato Creek State Park for a night under the stars and laughing at the ridiculousness of delirious bikers while next to a fire and consuming way too much Oreos and peanut butter. Not a bad way to kiss a beautiful day goodnight.
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AuthorKatie Elizabeth: Writer, Wonderer, Wanderer. Archives
April 2022
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