Day #81 - 6/1/2011 - Racine, Wisconsin to Glencoe, Illinois - 45 miles

We biked 25 traffic-challenged miles to Waukegan, followed by 20 miles on the Metra.  This is how we went, not including all the dead ends trying to find a quiet path.

Our motel room featured a full-sized refrigerator, a cabinet
and a utility sink positioned over  metal shelving.  Why?
Bizarre.

I took a few minutes to survey our last quirky motel, this one being quirkier than most.

We were sorta able to pull our bikes into the closet.  Adjacent was a door to the next motel room, convincingly sealed with duct tape.  The temptation to rip off the tape and violate the next room was overwhelming...you have no idea.  Or, do you?

The furniture ensemble was clearly assembled with care to ensure that no two pieces matched.

Breakfast of Champions: Oatmeal and Diet Coke

We were up at 4am, ready for an early start without traffic. Murphy's Law inserted itself when I saw that my front tire had gone completely flat over night.  One last time, Lani brought to bear her crazy cycle skills and patched the leak.

Lani got to be really, really good at this.

Tire patched, panniers loaded, we were anxious to bike yet wistful about the trip coming to an end.

Florida tourists at Racine's Seeker Motel.

It was now 5:30am and the sun was now above the the horizon and above Lake Michigan meaning even if I found the lake, the sunrise was history. We turned South and biked on a generally level road with a crosswind. It turned out that we were never going to get close enough to Lake Michigan to even see it.

We departed from the highway as often as we could, looking for a quieter route and often being rewarded with some special local sites.

Built by the federal government in 1866, the Kenosha Lighthouse provided the first navigational illumination a mariner would see upon entering Wisconsin from the Chicago area. The lighhouse originally contained a fourth order Fresnel lens, fueled by kerosene with a fixed-white light which varied by flashes. Officially discontinued in 1906 the lighthouse has been restored and holds an automated electric light.

Bike paths appeared, then disappeared, taking us through parks and nice neighborhoods, then returning us to the highway.  It was all good until we reached the Illinois border.

Our final state border crossing.  No, I'm not crying on the inside.  (Note the generous bike lane.)

We reached the border and the “Welcome to Illinois” sign with anticipation.  We took our final border crossing photo and moved on, facing worsening traffic.  I was anticipating the bike trail along Lake Michigan, but it was still miles away.  

We'd find scenic detours like this through area parks, but they would always dead-end, returning us to the highway.

There was no shoulder and the morning rush hour traffic intensified.  Cars would often have to stop behind us until they could pass on the inside lane.  

A nearby McDonald's offered free Wi-Fi.  We pulled in and pulled out the netbook to plan a stategery out of the worsening traffic.

We felt unsafe and considered options...we had passed a U-Haul and Enterprise Car Rental, but there was also a Metra station 3 miles a head that was departing in 25 minutes...we took off for the Waukesha Metra Station.   The ticket line was short and moved quickly until the women before us stepped up and proceeded to order multiple multi-day passes.  By the time we had our tickets, it was a minute to the train departure.  Lani and I hauled our bikes and panniers onto the train as a pair of conductors berated us for being late.

Standing, looking at our bikes and realizing that the trip was ending,  I didn't know what to think.

The train left for the final 15 miles to Glencoe.  Lani and I reflected on the past 2.5 months and the end of the adventure.

We reloaded our bikes in Glencoe to ride to a friend's house.  I'd be staying there and Lani with friends elsewhere.

Waiting in Glencoe were Alexandra and Bill Watkin.  Bill and I shared a house together in medical school for three years and have been friends for over 30 years. They have a guest room in their basement where they had hosted me 12 years earlier. I was looking forward to seeing them and their daughters, now teenagers instead of children.


Within minutes, we were there...and we were done.


Tomorrow: shipping the bikes back to Florida.