Rock Falls, Illinois – Fort Wayne, Indiana
Coming back to the motel yesterday, for the first time all trip we were driving at night. Wind turbines are everywhere here in the flatlands – in the fields, in parking lots, even in front yards – especially on the horizon as far as you can see. We didn’t realize they have bright red lights when the sun sets; wow, what an eerie sight – hundreds of crimson fireflies blinking simultaneously in the darkness!
We crossed another state line and our last time zone today, a telltale sign of heading home.
Near Hobart, is 1100-acre Deep River County Park with its refurbished John Wood Grist Mill, which “once again grinds corn, wheat, and rye,” but for some unknown reason (after a 30-minute hike to get there) was not in business today.
In Merrillville is the massive Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Cathedral, the only one in the state. Towering over 37 acres, the cathedral’s rotunda measures 100 feet in diameter with 25 stained-glass windows and Byzantine mosaic.
We’ll miss Valparaiso’s Popcorn Festival celebrating native Orville Redenbacher, but enjoyed the Heron Trail and its wooden sculptures at the 300-acre Gabis Arboretum, a preserve of formal gardens, restored woodlands, wetlands, and prairie. Some of the large Bur Oaks are hundreds of years old, and the oak collection has earned several accreditations due to its diversity.
To our great delight, the Railroad Garden featured an outdoor model train display with 3000 feet of track, 1486 cubic yards of soil, 850 tons of limestone, hundreds of dwarf conifers, streams and waterfalls, . . . and at least a dozen trains, including Thomas. Along the tracks are carefully-crafted pint-sized replicas of farms, lumber camps, limestone quarries, coal mines, Civil War battles, and urban areas chronicling the story of the railroads. Of particular interest was the passing of Lincoln’s funeral train through Richmond, Indiana, on its way from Washington, D. C., to Springfield, Illinois. Even though it was 3am, 12,000-15,000 people flocked to the tracks.
Route 30 traffic is increasing, as is constant construction with detours, single lanes, flag people, and a multitude of orange cones and barrels. Sometimes we feel scrunched in between the semis, like standing in a line of growling NFL players as they wait to take to the field.
On the Road Again 