![\"STW1](\"http:\/\/www.ourwanderyears.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/STW1-Hop-7.jpg\")
<\/a>STW1 Hop 7<\/p><\/div>220 miles via I-94, US 41, WI 50, US 12, WI 89, US 14 and I-90. Cumulative tow miles: 1439. Truck miles: 282. Cumulative truck miles: 2296.<\/p>\n
See that U-shaped dip on the Wisconsin portion of the route? I can thank the GPS for that. I was following the map until we got to WI, but then I made the mistake of listening to the GPS telling me to turn left onto WI 89. That was a 20-mile detour, apparently due to the fact that the GPS was set to “avoid small roads” and it regarded the short section of county road – a perfectly fine, flat, nicely paved county road – as a small road that had to be avoided. I have since reset the GPS to allow small roads.<\/p>\n
I knew that this hop was going to be difficult regardless of the route I took. For months I have been planning a route that took us south of Chicago, then north to the west of Chicago. However, a day before the trip, as I was verifying the route for a final time, I discovered that a critical section of IL 47 was closed for construction. So I had to reconsider the route that Google had been recommending all along – straight through downtown Chicago on I-94. Lacking a good alternative, I bit the bullet and hauled the RV through Chicago. Very slow, very heavy traffic, very unpleasant.<\/p>\n
But the slowest and most unpleasant section was the very first 31 miles in Indiana: the final 25 miles of I-94 in Indiana were under construction, with lane reductions and zig-zag lane changes. The result: those 31 miles took an hour to traverse. The total trip, which Google predicted to be 3 hours and 45 minutes, turned out to be 5 hours and 15 minutes – about 30 minutes of that due to the WI 89 detour. Exhausting.<\/p>\n
<\/a>The campground pond<\/p><\/div>Our home in Indiana was the Michigan City Campground<\/a>. Besides giving us a day of rest, this stop was near the Indiana Dunes State Park<\/a> which struck me as a place worth a visit. I will report on that trip separately. The other activity was a trip to the Blue Chip Casino<\/a> where we left $100 for the local Indians.<\/p>\n The campground was nothing special. We were in a pull-through section near the highway which offered no shade, but was fine for two nights. The road was not noisy. The older section of the park had some nice facilities – a very nice swimming pool, a new playground, a large dog park and a small but very attractive community center. But the sites were very small and cramped with a lot of older rigs. It had a shanty town look.<\/p>\n The best thing about the park was the pond at the front. I took the photo on the right while walking Rusty shortly after we arrived. That photo alone made the stop worthwhile.<\/p>\n I would return.<\/p>\n And IN is our 35th state.<\/p>\n Playground<\/p><\/div>\n The “shanty town”<\/p><\/div>\n #35 – Indiana<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 220 miles via I-94, US 41, WI 50, US 12, WI 89, US 14 and I-90. Cumulative tow miles: 1439. Truck miles: 282. Cumulative truck miles: 2296. See that U-shaped dip on the Wisconsin portion of the route? I can thank the GPS for that. I was following the map until we got to WI, … Continue reading <\/a><\/a><\/a>