It became crystal clear to me in June of 2021 as I was planning my return trip to Maine and ultimately to Campobello that the only way I was going to reach Michigan on my way from Charleston, SC to Mackinac Island on the Upper Peninsula was to traverse Indiana, bottom to top. This piece of geography was actually good news because Indiana was the 47th state on my list and if I didn’t visit it now, when would I? The issue quickly became, what will I do in Indiana that will make it a good memory destination? Undaunted by inherent prejudices and everything I had ever heard about Indiana, I set out to discover good memories while visiting the state.
My first inkling of what I might do on the trip came when I was visiting my favorite cheese shop in Charleston, goat, sheep, cow. https://goatsheepcow.com/ One of my favorite cheeses there was a goat cheese called Wabash Cannonball. I did a little research and learned that the cheese was made in Greenville, Indiana, at Capriole Goat Farm, just across the river from Louisville, Kentucky. Wabash Cannonball is an American cheese made from pasteurized goat’s milk and it’s named after a famous folk song. Underneath its fluffy, bloomy, ash-coated rind, the texture is semi-soft, dense, crumbly, and creamy. I knew my first stop in Indiana would have to be the goat farm. Alas that stop never happened because due to lingering COVID restrictions the goat farm remained closed to visitors. https://www.capriolegoatcheese.com/ However, a small retail store was located not too far away and I had a field day buying cheese and a charcuterie take out box, all of which went into my cooler and fed me while I traveled north to Michigan. I have a picture of Wally and me dining on the cheese in the car, because pandemic restrictions were still in play and we were not visiting inside restaurants.
My next stop in Indiana was in the northern part of the state, at our then newest National Park, Indiana Dunes on Lake Michigan. https://www.nps.gov/indu/index.htm It is what I would describe as an urban National Park, located adjacent to Gary, Indiana. The Dunes are magnificent, the bike trails a bit shall we say, challenging. My first stop was at the Visitors’ Center in order to get the lay of the land. The nice ranger there informed me that the bikes trails I had read about in the visitors’ guides were currently closed for renovations and the only paved and safely passable bike trail ran along Lake Michigan, through dunes, in an entirely different section of the park. He gave me directions and I set off for the entrance to this Park annex which was to the west and even closer to the city of Gary. I got hopelessly lost and wound up in a rather run down section of what passes for suburban Gary. Finally a nice family in a beat up old car told me where the Park entrance could be found. It was very close to my current location. After a few more slight detours, my trusty bike and I arrived in the parking lot, got unloaded and pedaled our way into the dunes.
Once I reached the entrance booth to the parking lot the woman inside was cordial, but not very helpful. I asked her where to park for the trailhead to the bicycle trail the ranger had described to me. She said she really didn’t know where that was located. So far I felt the excursion was not going very well. Nevertheless I proceeded into the Park and after driving around a circular roadway which was apparently used for unloading jet skis and small boats I came upon a parking area. The jet ski unloading is featured in the picture at the top of the page. I pulled in and saw a sign pointing toward a paved walkway/bike trail. I saw a woman pushing a man in a wheelchair onto the trail and I concluded I had reached my destination. I discovered a very pleasant five mile trail that I was able to convert into a loop trail by cutting over to a pleasant residential area and then going back to the parking lot just as the first ranger had described. I enjoyed the flat paved loop so much that I did it twice, the second time taking more pictures and stopping to watch people picnicking and enjoying the Park. Apparently, from the signs I saw and the structures built along the lake, this annex had once been some sort of city park. The bathhouses and other structures seemed to date from the 1920’s. It was a strange part of a national park, but a really enjoyable bike ride nevertheless.
Before I leave Indiana I have to mention one rather unpleasant memory I have. I spent the night on the 9th or 10th floor of a high rise motel the day before I intended to visit Indiana Dunes. In the middle of the night a loud siren sounded and the loudspeaker PA in the motel blared a tornado was approaching the motel and everyone was ordered to go to the basement. Wally and I ventured into the hall and it was complete pandemonium with people everywhere and crowded corridors and elevators. Wally, of course, hated other dogs and scurrying people and I made the decision that if my time was up, my time was up, we would remain in the room. I closed the curtains, made sure the windows were tightly closed, and moved away from them into the bathroom. Wally and I sat on the floor for about 1/2 hour. He was in a frenzy. He hated thunderstorms and the way his hair was standing up on the back of his neck, the mother of all thunderstorms was approaching and we were about to head for Oz just like Dorothy and Toto. In the end, nothing happened although there were tornadoes in the area and some damage did occur. The all clear sounded and we went back to bed after I took Wally out for a late night walk and he calmed down. Actually, given the happy ending to this tale, it really isn’t even an unpleasant memory anymore. It was just one of those things that happens in Indiana. Another thing that happens in Indiana is apparently people walk willy nilly off the paved bike trail into the surrounding dunes, creating footpaths right up a steep dune overlooking Lake Michigan creating not only an eyesore, but probably some erosion as well.
Memories - A Second Chance at Happiness 