It turned out to be a nice evening, even if the rest of the day was shrouded in grey. I didn't do too much (re: no traveling) and instead cleaned out my van, took out the cot and put one of the back seats up for a second passenger. I am always amazed at lost items I find in my van when I clean it out. The oldest artifacts I found this time was a torn plastic cup with three dried and mildewed limes in it, and a travel brochure from Uvalde, Texas I picked up in February 2008. (The limes, thankfully weren't THAT old!)
I spent about an hour in Chesterton today, a small town settled by French fur trappers but originally a Potawatomi camp. (What town in northern Indiana ISN'T a former Potawatomi settlement?)
Kevin called just as I drove into town, which prompted me to park the van to talk. He sounded in good spirits, and wanted to share his excitement with our expanding garden and to ask me for advice on all the vegetables.
"The potatoes I planted a few weeks ago are now over two feet tall!" he bragged, and let me know the various stages of growth all the other plants were in. More strawberries were coming up. The beets and turnips were coming along just fine, the peppers were in bloom again but the tomatoes just weren't doing too well. His excitement for little things is one thing that made me fall in love with him nine years ago (May 18, 2000 to be specific). Meanwhile here most crops are behind planting season due to the wet fields.
The Michigan Central train tracks cross Main Street going East-West, carrying cargo from Chicago to Detroit and back. I remember when these trains used to haul new cars from the Detroit area to dealerships here.
A train rolled by from either direction every 15 minutes, stopping main street traffic for a few minutes every time and making me have to roll up my windows while on the phone with Kevin. An arts fair was just getting ready to close up its tents as the farmers' market was also ready to shutter up for the week. Well-dressed customers came and went, some even praised Sadie for her behavior.
Just north of town are steel mills lining the southern shores of Lake Michigan. The town is also home to the Indiana Dunes State Park, a place I will visit early next week.
"Look at that skinny dog!" exclaimed one boy to his mother as we walked by.
Beautiful Passion vines grew in several locations in the downtown area, truly a beautiful flower. That is the beauty of living in a Zone 5 growing zone: the colors are exceptionally beautiful in every garden I've walked by.
I took Erin out to eat for a late lunch. She chose a Mexican restaurant, El Saltos in Chesterton, but the sauce on my chicken burrito made me come up with a name for this food style: Mid-Mex. Just like we have Tex-Mex down in Texas, here in the Midwest we have Mid-Mex, a mild-down version of spicy Mexican cuisine where everything tastes sweet and has an overabundance of creme sauce. (I much prefer Tex-Mex!)
I picked up Eric and after a quick visit to the Southlake Mall, which, when it opened in 1975 was the largest mall in Indiana until a mall in Broadripple-Indianapolis overtook Southlake for that title years later. We parked in the shade on the eastern side of the mall so Sadie could stay cool. Neither of us are mall crawlers so all I managed to get were two Notre Dame caps for Kevin's friend Tommy who specifically requested a "green cap with the leprechaun on it."
Now we are relaxing at home as the sun's finally out. Tomorrow Eric and I are going to spend the day in Chicago, walk along Navy Pier and perhaps catch some mouthwatering Chicago-style pizza made with cornbread, beer, oregano and smothered in olive oil and topped with spicy tomato sauce OVER the cheese...
Meanwhile, I am getting updates from my Arizona hiking club on the wildfires across the southern half of the state. Several new fires have been started since yesterday, caused by lightning. One such fire, the Melendrez fire, is burning near Madera Canyon in the Santa Ritas south of Tucson. Those mountains were my last hiking area before leaving on my roadtrip. I hope Arizona can remain safe until the monsoons come in early July.
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