I made it to Lincoln State Park in southern Indiana, and set up camp. I can barely get a signal here, so I don’t know if this will post now, or later when I get a better connection.
I left home a little before noon, expecting an 8-hour drive. That was pretty close. The drive was mostly uneventful. A lot of farmland in northern Indiana. I stuck to the interstates and US highways most of the way, going through South Bend, Kokomo, and then around Indianapolis. My god, that Indy ring road is an automotive-era nightmare. (My scooter route would’ve avoided it.)
When I got to Bloomington I left the expressways for some state and county roads. I wasn’t expecting to pass IU as I drove through B’town, but I did. Much of my route after that went through Hoosier Nationa Forest, which is nothing like northern Indiana. I liked it.
These were the kinds of roads I would’ve taken on my scooter. Unfortunately I wasn’t on my scooter, and motorist mentality took over: even though I was taking the scenic route, I didn’t stop to smell any roses. I was traveling to reach a destination.
There was one section of backroads that would’ve been great on my scooter, but ironically I probably couldn’t have ridden it. I depended on complex turn-by-turn instructions from Google Maps, which aren’t practical on a bike.
But lest I sound like an advert for Google, their app screwed up getting me to the state park. I asked it for directions to “Lincoln State Park” which is near Santa Claus, Indiana: it took me to a commercial campground in Santa Claus. Fortunately I had the street address… which I gave to Apple’s map app to get me there. Just to be sure.
I ran into some unexpected, unforecast rain south of Bloomington. It didn’t last long, and the forecast for tomorrow still looks pretty good, except for some partly clouds.
The campground is not full, though the ranger said it was busier than normal due to the eclipse. Since I’d put the bicycle in the car, I used it… to ride over to the adjacent Lincoln Boyhood Home site. It’s underwhelming. Historical and educational, but not much to look at, not even an original log cabin.
Lucky bonus: no mosquitoes that I’ve noticed. Which is nice, because it’s pretty warm, and the campground showers have no temperature adjustment, so I couldn’t use them to cool off. So I’m sitting in the dark at the camp site picnic table in just my underwear.
No internet access means I can’t do any more planning for tomorrow. I have offline maps if needed. I haven’t encountered any eclipsaggeddon traffic yet, but you never know.
It’s only 9pm Central Time, but I’ve had a full day. And hopefully a big day tomorrow. Time for bed.