Biking, Day 28: August 13, 2009

Day 28: Tinley Park, IL to Rochester, IN
Distance: 115 miles
Route: Through Tinley Park to link up with Route 30E. 30 E to route 17 into Culver, IN. Route 117 around Lake Maxinkukee, Route 110 E to Route 31 South to Rochester, IN
Lodging: Rochester Motel, $40, sh*tbox.

I woke up around 6am today and chatted with Melissa for a bit. She showered to head to work, and I made the most of the free breakfast provided by La Quinta. There is nothing I love more than filling three of the excessively small cups with coffee and making my own waffle to start my day with just the right amount of caffeine and sugar. I've always been a coffee person - it's what makes me a morning person. The promise of coffee literally gets me excited when I go to bed at night. Breakfast has never been a big thing for me, but a free make-my-own waffle? Sign me up.

I started riding out of the suburbs of Chicago around 7:30. About 5 miles into my route, the road was closed. The cop let me go through since I was only on a bike. I told him I was biking across the country. I feel like I'm telling everyone now - just mentioning it in passing. you know, no big thang.

I got on Route 30E, which would be the road I would be on for the vast majority of the day. The suburbs of Chicago just kept going and going. It got a little dodgy right before Indiana, bu I really expected to hit cornfields sooner. Tinley Park is not exactly downtown Chicago, either. I know I mentioned it yesterday, but the suburbs of Chicago just go and go and go.

I crossed into Indiana and rode for a bit before taking my morning break about 10 miles before Vallparaiso, IN. I got a message from a friend about some REALLY good job news, so I called her to congratulate her (yay, you know who you are!!!).

I got back on the road and hit strip mall after strip mall after strip mall. Seriously, Route 30E, you are very ugly. I hit Valparaiso, which is practically a suburb of Chicago, and the strip malls continued. Finally, about 50 miles outside Tinley Park, where I started, there started to be some farms.

It was a hot and dry day and the scenery wasn't fantastic. Neither was the road. But I had good podcasts and new music that a friend sent (thanks, you know who you are!!).

I took another break about 15 miles from Culver, IN, a sight-seeing stop and the reason for my route. I talked with a friend who's going through a rough time (you rock, you know who you are!!!).

I got back on the road and got excited to see Culver. I spent 5 summers at Culver Military Academy. Three were spent as a camper in upper camps, two as a counselor. Culver, in many ways, shaped my leadership and what athletics I chose to compete in. The experience had a profound influence on my life and who I am as a person. When i attended the summer program, the military aspect really jived with me. I had started going down the 'wrong path' (which, admittedly, in Rocky River, Ohio really isn't that bad), but Culver really made me reassess how I wanted to live my life.

Needless to say, I have many, many fond memories of Culver, both from my days as a camper and my days as a counselor. Also, it's a gorgeous campus. I fully expect to send my kids there for the summer program.

I pulled into Culver around 3:45PM. It was as beautiful as ever. Campers were, for the most part, gone, so it was a pretty quiet campus. The lake looked great, all the buildings and fields were fantastic. I rode through, took some pictures, walked around a bit, and then decided to head out. I would have loved to have seen the campers marching around, but graduation was last weekend.

Culver doesn't have an abundance of lodging (read: none), so I decided to spend the night in Rochester, IN, about 25 miles southeast of Culver.

I rode around Lake Maxinkukee and then through the cornfields to Rte 31, which led into Rochester (and eventually Indianapolis).

During this time, my phone died. I have no idea how it went through all its juice in 12 hours, but it did. My blackberry was also doing that thing where it deletes texts before you can read them. I hate that. So, my phone shut itself off and I had to go by memory into Rochester as opposed to the googlemaps on my phone. I stopped right before Rochester and got a Big Red pop, which, if you're from Indiana, you know it is totally the bomb. As I was leaving the truck stop, I found $20. Nice.

I had booked myself at the Rochester motel, which got moderately good reviews and was cheap. I got into Rochester, went to a grocery store to get some actual fresh food and then planned to go to my motel. I asked at the kroger where the Rochester Motel was and the girl knew, which was great. The checkout girl also told me that Obama was no longer going to let women induce labor. Thats right - only c-sections and regular births from now on. I have no idea what inspired her to tell me this, but she did. She also let me use her Kroger card to get the sale prices on several items. Really, she was a gem.

I came to my hotel and the parking lot was pretty much empty. I went into the office, which seemed a bit trashed. Still, I figured one night, whatever. I rang the bell and was greeted by a woman who barely spoke english. i asked about internet, she said they had it, and then she couldn't figure out the credit card so she just gave me the key and said her son would come by to charge me later.

I went to my room, and wasn't very impressed. I think they had just re-opened the room or something. Among my list of complaints: not very clean, trash behind furniture, no soap, no towels, pop machine not working, everything in the room unplugged, TV cable not working, no extra toilet paper, internet passcode not given clearly, poor color choices, credit card receipt illegible.

I know, I should have just left. But after riding 115 miles a bed and a shower are really all you can think about. I got a little bitchy with them about some of the issues, even though, as my dad said, for $40, what do you expect? Agreed, but my expectations have always been too high for my own good.

I finally settled into my room after getting a little snarky with the owners.

It was great to see friends the past 2 days. I have been doing this bike thing for the past 4 weeks. I can't believe that I only have 5 more days of biking. That's right. Five more days of biking. I expect to get to DC on Wednesday. From Ohio, where I go tomorrow, it's only 400 miles to DC. Hard to believe.

Oh, and happy birthday, you know who you are!!!