On the Road 8 x 30; 24 x 7

06-15-2005 Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore

Shoreline sand dunes are created when wind blowing off Lake Michigan lifts grains of sand and transports them inland until plants and hills slow the wind and it drops its cargo. On windy days you can place an obstacle on the beach and watch a miniature dune form behind it. This process is more apparent on some dunes. Mt. Baldy is a "live" dune that marram grass and cottonwood trees cannot hold in place. The cold front that came through last night was still blowing steady and the winds got stronger as the day progressed. So we got to see first hand the dynamics of a "live" dune. Mt. Baldy is 123 feet high. I was unprepared for a sand dune that high. And I was really unprepared to try to walk up this steep hill. Every step you took in the foot-deep sand caused you to slide back down six or eight inches. You felt like you would never get to the top. There were quite a few people going in both directions; up and down the steep incline. A young couple on the way down were trying to rescue a young kitten that was crying under a tree on the inland side of the dune. The last we saw them the kitten was running down the sand a breakneck speed. As we approached the summit and peaked over the top of the dune it took my breath away. What a vista! You really can't get the true scope of it from the photos. To our right was a huge cooling tower for the local coal powerplant.

We strolled west along the lakeshore. I was stunned at the waves rolling in. You could not tell you weren't on the shore of the ocean. In spite of the clouds we could see the skyline of Chicago, only 60 miles away, on the western horizon. It is said the sands of Indiana Dunes have a special quality that makes music for those who listen. The combination of quartz crystals, moisture, pressure, and friction from your feet creates a musical tone--a clear ringing sound of singing sand. Only a few beaches world wide are known to sing with this same tone. It was not apparent to me. The sand was quite deep and in places smooth pebbles by the millions were along the shore. It was difficult to walk on the deep pebbles as well since you sunk in with every step. Our legs were aching after about a 45 minute walk. We came to huge rocks covering the shore around a point so we climbed the big boulders for about 20 minutes until we emerged onto a sandy beach again. While climbing on the rocks I kept thinking I heard thunder but it was just the waves hitting the shores and echoing underneath the rocks. We walked back along a road above the rocks and then made our way back along the shore. But by the time we headed back the wind had picked up and the tide had come in so we couldn't walk on the harder, packed sand by the water. We had to walk in the deep stuff which made it tough going. After two hours we were back at the foot of Mt. Baldy. I took my shoes off so I could feel the sand between my toes as we climbed up. It was actually easier to keep from sliding backwards with no shoes on; I could grab the sand with my toes and get a foothold.

We were starving by the time we got back to the truck. Just exactly what time that was, we may never know! About five miles after we left our campground we crossed into the Central Time Zone and lost an hour. Then a few miles farther on we crossed into Michigan and gained two hours; one for entering the Eastern Time Zone and one for observing Daylight Savings Time (which Indiana does not do.) We finally gave up and said we wouldn't look at the clock until we got back home. But it makes it hard to determine if the restaurants and stores are open. We drove west on Route 12 to the National Parks Service Visitor Center where I found some postcards of the Dunes. Then we backtracked to "Pumps On 12" a restaurant we spotted on the way. It turned out to be a great place to eat. We ordered Cajun Pizza; a crispy thin crust with chicken and Andouille sausage. Tomato Florentine Soup tided us over while we waited for our pizza. Both were excellent. When you're this close to Chicago you can always count on great pizza.

Our waitress told us where to find a Wal-Mart in Michigan City so we could get our trailer tire fixed. But there was an hour and a half wait and some strange things going on at the Tire and Lube Center there so we left pronto. We stopped at Bill's Auto Service that we passed back down the road. The guy found a small slit in the sidewall that was causing our slow leak. It cannot be fixed since it is on the sidewall so we'll have to get a new tire. They did not have one in stock and couldn't get one until Friday. So we put it back in the truck and will have to find a place that deals in trailer tires rated for 10,000 lbs. We headed back to Mini Mountain and somehow got off of Hwy 20 but we regained our bearings and got home just after 5:30. We only encountered a few sprinkles all day. The wind picked up and it was quite chilly by the end of the day. We actually put the heater on as we read the paper and perused our ton of brochures this evening.