Adventures of an AT Section hiker "Mapless"

Tag: vanlife

  • Prairie Duneland Rail Trail and Chicago

    Prairie Duneland Rail Trail and Chicago

    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.

  • Day 2 at Indiana Dunes NP

    Day 2 at Indiana Dunes NP

    Thursday August 28, 2025 – Adventure Road Trip Day #16 – It rained overnight and woke up and it was still raining. The radar showed the rain would clear by mid morning. I had a bad sleep score and my Garmin showed I was in need of some recovery time. The plan was to take it easy today.

    Had to break out the citronella candle and incense to ward off the mosquitos.

    I was looking forward to seeing Brenden this weekend but was not looking forward to the drive into Chicago traffic.

    After I recharged my power station on the bathroom, I was bored and decided to head to the lake. I jumed on the bike, it was only 1 mile to the lake. I had a nice walk on the beach and bike ride to Mt Baldy. So much for taking it easy today. I saw the 1933 Wolds Fair historical houses, I rode the Calumet Trail and saw a turkey at the campground. Found there is train that you can ride from downtown Chicago to the park. Would make a great day trip for those living in the city .

    Back at camp I made dinner. I had to make a trip the the store outside the camp for propane for the camp store…. good thing the store was there… did not plan that correctly — opps

    I jumped in the van for the night and did way too much screen scrolling… this probably means the sleep score will not be great again…. maybe I can rest in Chicago when I have a real bed.

  • Back on the road again…

    Tuesday August 26, 2025 – Day 14 of the road trip adventure. Headed back to Westside Toyota for service on the van. Finger crossed that do not have to replace the whole differential but only the magnetic coupler between the drive shat and the differential.

    It was a long wait but service was done at noon with only the coupler replaced. This saved a whole bunch of labor and the cost of the differential. Still the total cost of the repair was in excess of $3,000. I guess this is why we have credit cards…

    Stopped to pick up my bike at Stothard,s and said goodbye to Phyliss. Thank you guys ! Hit the road heading for Indiana. I am off my original schedule by a day. I have a reservation at Indian Dune National Park but I do not want to drive 6 hours . I found a $20 camp site at Pokagon State Park not far over the Indiana line from Ohio. Stopped at rest stop and had some food and coffee… said goodbye to Ohio !

    Arrived a Pokagon State Park about 4 pm. Seemed like a very nice park and campground. I set up the van for the night and cooked some dinner. Did a little walking around the campground to stretch my legs and climbed in the van for the night

    I found the next days bike ride about a 45 minutes away… sounds like a great rail trail ! Excited to ride.