Carol had a doctor's visit at 11am. The bus came to get her at 10:30am. It was a bus with a wheelchair lift. After she left, I decided to head out to Kemil Beach, a free public beach just east of the Dunes State Park. I was actually on state park land. Dogs are allowed here.
The parking lot was only half-full and the beach was near empty. There was plenty of space between all the groups on the beach: couples, families with kids, couples with dogs. I only walked as far as I could before plopping down. It was too humid to hike today. I brought my beach umbrella and that was a godsend as it kept us cool. Waters were calm and there wasn't much of a breeze. I regretted not bringing a book to read. What I thought would be one or two hours turned out to be almost five hours.
I'd wade in the water when I got hot. Zeke would follow me, but he was visibly uncomfortable once he lost his footing and would return to shallower water. He never whimpered, though. I wanted to show him that deeper water was safe as I held him around the waist.
I idled time by playing games on my smartphone or doing Spanish lessons. By 1:30 a Lake County speed boat came up and down near the shore. I figured they were still looking for the body of the 17-year-old who went missing in choppy waters off Michigan City and that a Lake County deputy was assisting in the search. But then a uniformed police rode up and down the beach in a dune buggy and then a helicopter flew up and down along the shore. Something was up. The presence of all the law enforcement made some people uncomfortable and they left. I paid my Iowa speeding ticket on time on Monday and knew I was in no trouble.
Things calmed down by 4pm and the beach returned to normal.
A young couple to my left (west) had been near me, sitting on the beach or sitting in the water. They weren't romantic, but they were talking and sitting close to each other. Over the few hours they were there, the woman began speaking louder. It wasn't an argument, but she was using colorful language. The man was less vulgar, but he, too, began speaking louder and used more expletives. I couldn't hear what they were talking about, but then he got out of the water and said "I'm leaving." That prompted the woman to respond with surprise, then anger. The man left, he said, because he was tired of the woman talking about her ex-boyfriend.
What was I witnessing? I never could hear what the conversation was all about. The woman didn't argue with the man leaving her behind. She sat on her towel and cried. Then she cried louder. Did she want sympathy from an audience? Had the man simply abandoned her at the beach?
I left at 5pm, knowing I had a hungry little bird to feed at home. The woman left right behind me. When I got on the road to the parking lot, I saw the man, and eventually they both left in his red pick-up. They had stopped arguing, but I sensed that whatever relationship the couple had was now over.
I wanted to do the short Dune Ridge trail before leaving, a .75-trail starting south of the parking lot. I didn't bother bringing my pack for this short hike. The shade was nice, but as soon as we got into the woods, the biting flies attacked us. It was almost unbearable. These flies left large welts with every bite.
I tracked the course. The trail was marked with wooden posts and "DR" on it for dune ridge, but I wanted to add mileage and went east from the DR, following an unmarked trail that showed up on my GPS. There were many more unmarked trails around me, some cut through the prairie grass. I turned south, went over a small hill, and noticed that the trail I was on was once a former road; pieces of asphalt were visible between the grass. And then I saw the Great Marsh and came up to the former Broadway, the closed-off road I was on a few weeks ago. The biting flies left me alone now, avoiding the exposed sun. Now I knew where I was, looped west along the old road, and came back out on East State Road Boundary Road before returning to my car. I had done just under four miles, three of them away from the beach.
I told Carol about all the law enforcement personnel at the beach and she mentioned there was an announcement of an escaped prisoner from Michigan City who left from a work detail. He was considered armed and dangerous.
https://www.wndu.com/content/news/Cooking-up-storms-this-Wednesday-512519691.html
https://wgntv.com/2019/07/10/search-on-for-dangerous-inmate-who-escaped-from-indiana-state-prison/
My son Eric flew in today with his wife Margaret. He's staying with his dad (my first husband) in Chesterton. My sister Iris called Carol while I was at the beach. She is coming in tomorrow. This last week will be the busiest for me, which means I'll be busy in the morning getting the last errands done.
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