June 2, 2013 PEDALS ADVENTURE
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| Tom stopping "Where the (Monon) Sidewalk Ends" |
Between the Ride That Never Was on Memorial Day, May 27, and our next ride on June 2, the much anticipated arrival of our first granddaughter, Myla Rose, on May 28 occurred. A quick trip on May 28 to Indy to meet her was arranged and a great time was had by all. Of course that little bit of "Myla time" certainly wasn't enough. So we combined our goal of finishing the Monon Trail in Indy AND visiting the newest family member into one awesome day.
Over last year, we rode most of the Monon Trail, starting at different points but were prevented on our Double Birthday Ride from finishing the northern leg of the trail because the trail was closed. Using our newly acquired smart phones, we found a trailhead in Carmel and set out going north to find the end.
The Monon again went through some neighborhoods, through a light industrial area, and finally ended at a nice family park in Westfield. It had taken some perseverance, but we found (with a nod to Shel Silverstein's famous children's book) ,"Where The Monon Sidewalk Ends."
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| These BBall goals are the largest I've seen! |
The park was impressive, although deserted except for some bball players having a great time at the largest and heaviest bb poles I have ever seen! A quick picnic lunch and we set off to find the other end of the trail where we were stopped last summer.
Passing by our car in Carmel we found we only had to bike a couple miles to our ending spot, and discovered the cause of last summer's bike path closure...a large overpass for the Monon! It certainly was a large project and I was grateful we did not have to cross the traffic below.
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| Impressive and new overpass for Monon users |
We continued to Carmel's Hagan-Burke Trail which we also rode last summer on the birthday ride....and it also had its construction problems. We were pleased to see that the construction was done, the path was easy to follow, and we again were amazed that so much nature could be preserved in such an urban environment.
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| Nature and US 31 together in Carmel! |
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| A view down the Monon |
We turned around (after all we had a darling granddaughter to visit) and returned to the car. I stopped to read the sign about the namesake of this section of the Monon...and discovered another great motto, "I will do almost anything outdoors.". While this sentiment wouldn't describe me if taken to the extreme, I will say it gave me pause and made me smile!
STATS: 11.57 (RT) Time: 1:19 ODO: 489 miles
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| "I do anything that's outdoors!" |
