Illinois & Indiana
I’ve made it about 2400 miles so far, and with 533 miles until the Atlantic coast, the hike is starting to build that “final push” momentum. If you’re a video person, catch the next dozen or so videos on my YouTube channel, starting with August 26.
The below collection of photos are from Illinois, Indiana, and a couple of Ohio, which I made it to a few days ago. From the start of this hike, I pictured several sections as likely “tough challenges.” In descending order of difficulty (and coincidentally west-to-east), they were: Montana (longest state, rugged, mountainous, grizzlies) , North Dakota (flat, straight, long), passing through Minnesota (homecoming, trying to meet up with so many folks), Illinois/Indiana (avoiding the urban reach of Chicago), and making it to the Ohio border (unavoidable fatigue and burn-out). With all of that safely in the rear view, my lone remaining focus will be reaching the East coast, which I’m hoping will happen in about a month from now.
I’ve continued to meet all sorts of kind people and received plenty of trail magic gifts of food, drinks and other demonstrations of largesse. The photos in this collection are heavy on signage and other non-hikey vibe stuff, but I can only report on what I’ve observed. I’ve continued to encounter some interesting scenery as well, though perhaps less systematically dramatic.
I’m guessing there may be some who are wondering when I’ll break down and attempt to encapsulate the “meaning” of this kind of project, neatly tying it up in a pithy statement that demonstrates all that wisdom I certainly should have acquired by now. But as I said to a room full of family on my 60th birthday back in December when I was asked to share what I’ve learned in those six decades, I have little to offer that won’t just be a rehash of someone else’s thoughts. Or more accurately, I actually have quite a bit to say, but consider it the height of good manners that I won’t impose my thoughts on anyone else. One of the greatest ideas I ever heard was a tenet of the Baha’i faith of my daughter and son-in-law: their religion prohibits proselytizing! Now that is an idea that makes absolute sense to me. I wish that all those Christian and Muslim zealots would try that one on for size!
So, without further adieu, I hope you enjoy the pictures and videos and you can rest assured that if I do know the truth (smile), I ain’t gonna trouble you with it. Love and peace, Michael, Max, me.
