Roadtrip 2019

I will be leaving Monday morning for Chicagoland, or as we Hoosiers say, "The Region," that smelly, industrial part of Northwest Indiana (NWI) consumed by steel mill and power plants along southern Lake Michigan, and flanked on the west by impatient Chicagoans driving rusty Fords and Chevys.  It will be my first summer in ten years back there.  My last summer in NWI was with a young Sadie in 2009, meeting my first grandson Ethan for the first time and then traveling toward Montana to explore most of the Lewis and Clark trail.  In fact, that six-week road trip was the premise for starting this blog.  It was the start of my post-military traveling life.  It's been 11 years and I have no regrets.

I had wanted to make the drive to NWI a five-day endeavor, stopping in Lafayette, AR and Lake of the Ozarks, MO for day hikes.  Hiking the Ha Ha Tonka trail in Missouri has been on my bucket list for a while.  Alas, the constant floods in Oklahoma, Arkansas and Missouri-Illinois this May have made me have to change my plans.  The Mississippi and Missouri rivers haven't seen this kind of flooding since 1993.  Farmers have had to postpone crop planting this year, river towns have had to evacuate and tornado/flood damage has forced towns to close parks, trails and roads.

My nephew Ulrich reports from Little Rock that that town is getting flooded.  At least his home is on high ground in the central-west part of town, and he's still safe.  Friends in Missouri (St James, Columbia and St Louis) all report constant tornado activity this past week.  So, instead of hiking congested trails in the Ozarks, dodging traffic and litter-strewn roads (Missourians like to litter), I've  decided to change my route.  I will travel to Albuquerque and Raton, NM; Trinidad, Pueblo, Colorado Springs, Fort Collins, CO; and Cheyenne, WY, hugging the Rocky Mountain foothills, hiking trails near the cities and chilling in the evening at a brewpub.  Colorado and Wyoming had snow last week and temperatures are rather cool for this time of year.  But at least it won't be humid and bug-infested.  Hiking will be more enjoyable as long as I'm not dodging tornadoes or wildfires. I may even stop in Denver, a town I've yet to experience.

It's driving across the north-central Plains, across Nebraska and Iowa, that may be a challenge for me. Both have had tornadoes these past two weeks, and add to that flooded rivers and driving will be cautionary.  I've already lived through two nighttime tornadoes while on the road and it's a horrifying event as one never knows where the funnel cloud is.  One tornado was as I was leaving Sioux Falls, IA and heading toward Yankton, SD. Once I leave Cheyenne I'll be putting the pedal to the metal on those scenic backroads to get to NWI.  Heck, even Dyer, IN, right on the Illinois-Indiana state line and not too far from Crown Point, had a confirmed tornado touch down on Memorial Day.

I never make concrete plans when I travel because weather always trumps my plans, but these aforementioned towns are on my itinerary for now.  There are several air force bases I can camp at for a few bucks a night along the way.  While hiking trails may not be the best, I can always walk through old railroad and river towns and take in some frontier history.  If I drive through Nebraska I want to see the famed Sand Hills. I'll go where the clear skies take me.  I always enjoy any town I stay at.  That's why I always look forward to my summer road trips.  It's a beautiful country!