Monday September 1, 2025 – Day 20 of the adventure road trip and time to head home to Franklin NC. Was packed and out the door at 8 am central… going to lose a hour heading to eastern time zone. Planned to break up the ride home with a stop at campground in southern Indiana.
After about 3 or 4 hours on the road it was decided to just bite the bullet and drive all the way home… I was in zone and really did not need another night of camping…
Ende up being a 12 hours drive (with stops). Rolled into Franklin at 9pm in the dark, rain and fog. Always weird to drive in the dark the first time in fall, right?
And with that the adventure is over…. here are some details
2412 total driving miles
visited 7 states
drove through 9 states
rode rail / canal trails in 6 states
166 miles on the bike
2 national parks visited
0 – number of Buc-ee’s visited
Next adventure – 11 days on the Appalachian trial starting September 9
Friday August 29, 2025 – Day 17 of the road trip. I am almost caught up with posting…. now doing two a day !
Woke up and found I rolled over on my glasses and popped a lens. So part of the day today will be searching for eyeglass repair… all part of the adventure I guess. Had breakfast, coffee and packed up the van to hit the road again… first a bike trail not far away and then the dreaded drive into Chicago.
The Prairie Duneland Trail in Chesterton Indiana, a few miles south of Lake Michigan is a nice suburban trail. It was a railway at one time. It was well shaded as is goes through different neighborhoods. I rode out 8.5 miles to a park that seemed like a good turn around and gave me a 17 mile ride.
After the ride I was able to find a eye doctors office that would fix my glasses. I gave them some cash and said lunch was on me. They gave me a good suggestion for breakfast and it was nice to have my first hot breakfast for some time. So good
I had some time to kill before heading into Chicago (Brenden had to work in the morning). I found a nice coffee shop in downtown Chesterton. I setup the computer and did some journaling and updates on the blog. Sat outside for some time… the coffee shop was very warm inside for some reason. There was a good amount of train traffic through the town and I can understand why I saw signs that said NO TRAIN HORN as I suspect their were trying to get the trains to not blow their horns as they went through town – they were load and frequent while I was there.
Finally it was time to drive to Chicago and as expected it was a slow, lots of traffic and stressful…. not used to so much traffic coming from Franklin NC – smiles
Met Brenden at his condo and was able to park in their parking lot spot after we got the bike off the top of the van – would not fit through the gate. Turns out this parking spot cost $20k when they bought the condo – yikes !
I go a tour of the condo, and we were able to walk to dinner. He live in Edgewater / Andersonville neighborhood north of downtown. Very nice area with many options for restaurants. We ate on the patio of Hopleaf.
It was nice to catch up with Brenden. I ended up crashing early when we got back from dinner. I real bed felt so good.
Wednesday August 27, 2025 – Road trip day #15 – Was up at 7 and on the road y 8 am. I think I have this down to a science now !
Drove to Shipshewana Indiana to ride the Pumpkinvine Trail. This is a rail trial that runs about 18 miles to Goshen. I planned to go out 10 miles for about a 20 mile ride.
This was a wonderful trail. Fully tree lined and shaded with views between the trees of Amish farms. Traveled though the town of Middlebury before the turn to head back.
Both Shipshewanna and Middlebury seemed like very nice little towns. Lots of Amish in the area and even saw the Amish on the bike trail. Saw a restaurant called Blue Gate (or Bluegate ??) that was huge and had a ton of people going in… must be the local tourist attractions… I did not try
Drove about 2 hours to Indiana Dunes. I was happy that google took me on US20 instead of 80/90. I was a nice snice drive for the most part.
Since I had not missed my first night reservation I was a little concerned I would not have a site. When I checked all was good and the gentleman working for the park was very nice and was sure to provide all the information needed for my stay. I think my camp site was the only site that was had sun. This made things a bitt warm when I was setting up, but the shade should cover the site in the afternoon. Park was very nice, bathrooms and showers were very clean.
Once set up I jumped on the bile to explore the area. The lake was only a mile or so up the the road with very little traffic. The lake views were beattifull
Dinner and early to bed in the evening… tired… lots of miles today on the bike
Monday August 18, 2025 – After a full breakfast at the motel in Scranton headed out early to Simpson PA to ride the D&H Trail this is a 39 mile rail trail and runs north to the NY state …. I will not be doing those kind of miles – smiles.
Starting out northbound from Simpson the trail is a slight up and also has a bit of head wind as well… so it was a slow morning ride ! The temps have finally broken from hot and humid and needed a jacket for the ride. Took an hour to go 7.5 miles and decided to turn around to make a 15 miles ride in total. Trail was a nice wide cinder trail with view of the Lackawanna River.
The ride passed through the town of Forest City with a very nice parking area for trail. After the ride I headed to this parking area to make some coffee and second breakfast before heading back on the road. I was entrained by a college cross country team training that morning with a very colorful / funny coach. Nver did find out what school they were from.
Drove about 3 hours to Rome NY and Delta Lake State Park. Have 3 nights planned here. Got check in to the campground and set up the campsite. Good sized campsites… RV heaven here with each site having electricity. Rode my bike around the campground and the park beach area. Very nice park. There had been a drought in the area and the lake water levels where way down.
So glad the temps have broken to be cool, and clear skies…. so nice. Made dinner, cleaned up and jumped in the van early for the night. Plan is for bike ride on Erie Canalway Trail tomorrow, rain coming the day after.
Sunday August 17, 2025 – Full breakfast in the morning and final sessions of the ATC meeting. We were finished before noon and they even had a “to go” lunch for us to take with us. So nice.
The plan was to hit the road and head north to a state park in Pennsylvania with a rail trail ride the next day. The whole weekend in Maryland was hot and humid the low 90’s. I had no desire to camp in that kind of weather. So I booked a room near Scranton PA.
The driver was going to be about three hours. Was able to stay off 81 for at least half of the ride. Traveling on 15 past Gettysburg. End up get off the highway at one point to drive around a traffic stoppage. Got to the motel about 4 pm and had no issues with check engine light on the car ! Got checked in and headed to local pizza shop for cauliflower pizza and gluten free beer. This pizza place had been around since 1958 and kind of reminded me of the older neighborhoods in Cleveland with lots of businesses with Italian names..smiles.
Tomorrow will be bike ride on the D& H Trail not very far from the motel. Spent the evening planning.
August 14, 2025 – One of the goals of the trip is to bike and on a number of “Rail Trails”. I had found trail just a bit north of Lexington VA that I had planned for the day.
Got up early at 7am , breakfast and packed up the “camper van” to head for the trail. Did not have cell service at the campground last night so had to drive a bit this morning for service to determine where I was going. Arrived at the Blue Ridge Railway Trail by 8:30
Trail was nice and shaded, gravel trail. Just enough elevation to get the heart going. Rode to the dead end of the trail which was kind of different. Total ride was 13.7 miles, 1 hour and 28 min for a average pace of 9.3 mph.. Not bad, I am not a fast rider !!
After the ride I changed clothes and hit the road heading to Fredrick Maryland. Google took my on I-29 north which very scenic and a nice ride for the start of the ride. However things got more and more congested the further north I went due to DC traffic I assume. I route also had numerous traffic light and this got frustrating. In addition to add the the frustration the check engine light appeared…. so I have that going for me…
The motel I reserved in Frederick looked a little sketchy so I found a different motel near by and check in …. headed to a auto parts store to get the error code form the check engine and found to may be a sensor related to the crankshaft position. They reset the error and it did not come right back on so decided to carry on.
Traveled to downtown Fredrick looking for a spot for drink after the day of travel and car trouble. Parking was a issue but eventually found a spot and a drink at Jo Jo’s. Once I found they has a full glutted free menu I ordered a check sandwich on a gluten free bun ! yeah
The rest of the night was uneventful and happy to be in the air conditioning as the temps and humidity were still high.
Wed 8/7/25 – My apologies, I have not posted anything since May. I had hoped to get in a section hike in GA in June but the heat was just too much. I don’t do well in heat and humidity and I have an aversion to dehydration.
I have been doing day hikes and bike rides (rail trails) in Western NC – my home base. To maintain my fitness, I have tried to so something at least every other day.
Below are some pictures from various hikes and bike rides. Some of my favorite trips are listed below
Adventures of an AT Section hiker "Mapless" 