In September 2018 I packed my bike into the van and drove up to Illinois and Michigan to ride around a few places where I had previously lived. I grew up in Whitehall, MI, a small town of about 2,500 folks on Lake Michigan, about half way up the state. In 1965 we left there when I finished 8th grade and then moved to Park Forest, IL, a southern suburb of Chicago.
I've been back to both places a few times over the years and each time there, had wished I brought my bike with me so I could just putz around town and the countryside, taking my time and slowly winding my way through my growing up years.
There will be six or seven parts to this slide show which will cover one ride in the Park Forest, IL area, two rides in the Whitehall, MI area and then I continued up north in the state for another two rides in the Traverse City, MI area and one last short ride on Mackinaw Island, MI.
I have to apologize and give a disclaimer about the wholly inadequate photography and videos taken on these rides. The ride itself was the primary reason for the trip, so I only took a few videos and photos to document the trip in a general way and these were done with an iPhone. I was riding the bike with one hand, holding the phone out with the other hand taking video and photographs as I rode. The final presentation surely shows a jerky, hard to watch result. Maybe next time I will take my GoPro camera and give a little more thought and time to the documentation part, but as I mentioned, it was really about the ride itself and any photo and video documentation was not given much time or effort for beautiful or pleasing results. :-)
This first part begins in Park Forest on "The Old Plank Road Trail" which is a 'Rails to Trails’ bikeway where they remove the old rails and reconfigure it into a bike and walking trail. The whole length of the trail will take you east to west, from Park Forest to Joliet, IL, which is a distance of about 30 miles one way. I rode out from Park Forest, passing through Matteson, Frankfort and Mokena before making my roundtrip back to Park Forest. When I finished that leg, there was still enough time and light that afternoon to take a short ride around Park Forest and past the high school I graduated from and through what once used to be the Park Forest Mall back when I lived there. But now they have put roads through the mall, right where people used to walk, through the different main arteries and arms of the mall. It is now a much different looking place and unfortunately retains very little of the original idea or sense of a mall that was once there.
This series may only be meaningful to family members who have a history and associated environmental familiarity with the areas shown, but I offer it here for any who wish to view it. The total mileage on this leg of the bike trip was 35 miles.
Click on the photo icon below to join me on Part One of my six part bike ride.