My friend Krisann and I took a long ride up the north shore yesterday. Chicago's lakeshore bike path ends around where Lakeshore Drive turns into Hollywood, and it can be a bit of a pain getting from 5400 N to 8000 N, where Chicago ends, so we took the Red Line to Howard and started from there. Not knowing anything about proper routes (if there is such a thing) we stayed on Sheridan all the way to Fort Sheridan, where one can get on the North Shore path, a paved trail that runs all the way to Wisconsin. It was a fantastic ride until we hit North Chicago - Sheridan is fairly wide, not too busy, and has a few rolling hills, and the first part of the North Shore path ran through prairie grasses in full bloom. For those unfamiliar with the area, the north shore suburbs are by far the nicest and oldest. The mansions are ridiculous, as mansions tend to be, but there's so much vegetation one hardly notices, except when something truly spectacular like the Baha'i temple appears. North Chicago, on the other hand, is probably the most economically depressed place I have ever seen. Vacant factories, boarded-up restaurants, sleazy roadside inns. Even the bars are closed. All of which you get to see, because the path pretty much ends there and tries to route you through town, but without much in the way of signs. Someone must have had high hopes for the place, because there's an expressway running through the eastern part of town and down to the Great Lakes Naval Training Station, but it doesn't stop in North Chicago any more. The onramps are barricaded off, and I felt like I was on the set of Repo Man.



So we turned around at that point and biked back to Lake Forest, hoping to catch the Metra. The train was late, so we got sandwiches at the deli. Just as we were sitting down the train arrived. There was a valiant effort to catch it, but it's hard to be fast (or dignified) wearing cycling shoes, so we got to eat our sandwiches at the train station. Lake Forest is not much fun to hang out in. It seems to be populated entirely by teenagers driving around in very expensive cars. Also, all of the stores in the "Market Square" have the same green and white striped awnings, and there is nowhere to get a decent cheeseburger. The deli was good, although I'm sure they're better in Highland Park. Given the prospect of waiting there for another hour or so, we biked back to Chicago. About 80 miles round-trip for me. It's amazing how far you can go when there aren't any hills in your way.