Level 2...Clear!

Early this afternoon, we finished weaving our way through the southern reaches of Chicago, and arrived at Adam's place in Hyde Park, Chicago.

We managed to follow a paved bike path for most of the way, then had to navigate city streets the last 10 miles or so. There were fun milestones along the way - passing into Illinois, first view of the lake, first view of the skyline...big stuff. Made me think of the TransAmerica route, which is the popular cross-country route I've mentioned before. The route makes it a point not to pass through major cities. They advertise as a feature that the largest town they go through is 30,000 people (or something like that). I think they're missing out on the fun of also going through all the different major cities that are along the way. I suppose that anyone following the route could take their own detour into a city, but I'd bet that most just follow it the whole way. And I think they miss out. Needless to say, I'm happy to be in Chicago.

A sneak peak of Level 3. I think I am going to take tomorrow off. It would probably be good for me, and tomorrow is supposed to be 97 degrees here, so that's as good an excuse as any to not be out on the bike. When I get going, I'm going to follow the Illinois River for a few days (and hope to see Asian Carp) before cutting south towards St. Louis, then following the Missouri River to Kansas City. From there, I think I'm stuck heading due west across Kansas and on to Denver. The other option is to continue along the Missouri up to Omaha, then follow the Platte River towards Colorado. If anyone has any opinions on which route may be more enjoyable (scenery? population? large balls of twine?) I'd love to hear them.

Lastly - everyone in northwest Indiana is a Cubs fan. The White Sox might as well not exist.