For the curious among us (myself included), I stayed in Plymouth, Indiana last night. I was unsure of the town due to the 412 miles, cold, rain, evil and getting lost. Turns out it was Plymouth, a town on Lincoln Highway. I should have just stayed on the Lincoln Highway all day yesterday, but I didn’t.

In a way, I guess it’s a good thing. Today I took Lincoln Highway from Plymouth to Valparaiso, Indiana. I woke to a cool, but wildly sunny and cloudless morning. Because I knew that I didn’t have too far to travel today, I took my time.

I even took in a small breakfast of this amazing trail mix that Chris hooked me up with and a Clif Bar. An amazing breakfast, isn’t it?

By this time, a very ambitious member of the cleaning staff tried to break my door down, so I loaded up Ruby and rode a block down the road to Krogers. I walked more aimlessly than not around the super market. I was looking for juice or… something. I have no idea. I was hungry and just wanted … something.

I found nothing to my liking and left with empty hands.

A bit farther down, I found the Lincoln Highway, hung a right and found myself speeding down back roads - some busy, some nearly forgotten.

I first stumbled upon a ruin of an esteemed diner simply called “EAT.” It’s illegal to not stop at EAT. I pulled over and took a few pics. How could I not? What a brilliant idea - to name your restaurant “EAT.” I should have named the bookstore “READ.” There should be a gas station named “PUMP.” These things are important. Ahh, the nights we’d linger over brandy at EAT. And so passed the “EAT” phase of my life.¹

That thrilled me.

So anyway, up next was Hamlet, the town that, when the wind is southerly, knows a hawk from a handsaw.² Hamlet was an old railroad town. It’s still thriving, somehow, and got me jazzed up because they had a short line engine (The Wisconsin & South) just sitting there next to a grain elevator. Who is as excited as me?! Thanks Hamlet!

Lincoln Highway, at this point, followed the tracks. I was hoping for a train, but nothing doing for this fellow here.

As I mentioned before, Lincoln Highway, in this part of the county, is what would late become US Route 30. And when trying to follow the old Highway, you find yourself entering and exiting a four-lane Route 30. Much of the old road is gone, so it’s really difficult to tell what exactly the alignment was. I followed some dead ends and some roads I was hoping were Lincoln Highway. And who knows, maybe some where.

Next to Hamlet is Hanna. Hanna was much like Hamlet. Hanna was co-founded by a delightful chap named “Nimrod West.” Poor guy. But nice town with a GREAT railroad intersection. I’ve been wanting to see one of these for a long time. Thankfully, I got my chance!

I took Lincoln Highway to Valpraiso and discovered that I was now in the central time zone. I don’t know where it changed, you think they’d mark that better than they do. But no. I’m now an hour behind most everyone reading this.

A right I took on Indiana 49, passing US 6, I-80, I-94 and US 20 to US 12. Before me was the gates to the Indiana Dunes Park. I was told by someone to check this out and I really wanted to. But it was $10 to get in and if I’m going to pay that much, I’d want to spend a bit more time there. I’ve seen some pictures of it and it looks really great.

I took US 12 and then US 20 and then US 12 again into Gary, Indiana. Gary is pretty beat up. I’m not sure if it was ever not beat up.

Chicago was coming up and I was a bit nervous about riding in it. I easily found my way to Lakeshore Drive, zipping and zapping around turns. The traffic was almost nonexistent. I’ve driven this twice before and it was pretty busy. But on a Sunday morning, no problem!

My tummy was grumblin’, so I decided to find the Chicago Diner³ . I thought I knew where it was. I took Lake Shore to Foster and then Foster for several miles and … hey… nothing at all looks familiar! You guessed it, I was lost in Chicago. I rode around 30 or 40 miles through uptown and midtown looking for something familiar. I couldn’t remember the name of the street, the section of town or really anything. I knew the general location, but wasn’t really sure where I was.

I was all over. I wish I could remember where, exactly. I didn’t panic or anything. I was hungry and wanted to eat, but traffic was light and it was sort of fun. Beautiful day for such dealings.

But I did finally find it. I rode not three blocks from it a couple of hours earlier. That’s how it works.

Anyway, I was lucky enough to get the last seat in the diner. The place was literally packed. I bot a Dagwood and a vanilla shake. Delicious as usual, folks.

I’m glad I went. It’s not like I’ll be able to get vegan vittles so easy as today. Mostly, I’ll be reduced to Subway.

Well, enough putting it off, it’s time to start Route 66. I found my way (without getting lost) to Michigan Street. And there it was. “Historic Route 66 - Beginning.” I was going to try to take a pic of Ruby and the sign, but traffic was now pretty heavy. Nothing doing. So I waved as I rode by.

Route 66 through Chicago isn’t all that special. I guess there are a few things, but nothing stands out. The Mother Road graces the towns of Cicero, Lyons, McCook, Romeoville and finally, Joliet. Mostly, with the exception of Joliet, the towns run into each other. It’s all part of Chicago’s sprawl.

I saw a few of the sights to see and then after a few miles, I was in Joliet.

Joliet must have been a pretty big place during the early 1900’s. You’ve got three main east to west US highways all passing through this one town.

I was pretty confused about what was where in Joliet, so I rode around a bit and found a Circuit City so I could by a recharger for my phone. They had nothing. I went to the AT&T store at “the mall.” Same story. So then I went to Radio Shack and got a new phone. I had to re-up with AT&T, but whatever, dudes⁴.

Joliet was all starting to make some sense to me, so I found my hotel room and and decided to do some more exploring. I went to the Route 66 park (it was ok) and tried to see if I could find the Collins Street Prison, where part of the Blues Brothers movie was filmed (this part). After a bit of wandering, I found it. Huge place. It’s one of those castle-style prisons. Neat too.

And since it was now nearly dark, I headed back to the hotel and am ready to start Route 66 in earnest tomorrow. Woo!

Miles traveled today: 226
Miles traveled total: 953

High temp: 73
Low temp: 48

I forgot nothing today. But I *did* find my hat! Yay!

Here are my pics from today.

1. If you would like to know why I like this, go here. [↩]
2. Please, someone get this! [↩]
3. I’m a vegan - I don’t eat meat, eggs or dairy. Finding *good* road food is a tough one for me. Usually, it’s just Subway or something boring like that. So when I find a good, vegan place to eat, I’m THERE! [↩]
4. It was cheaper, you see, to get a free phone vs. a $30 charger for an old, craptastic phone [↩]