030: Day 37, May 15, 2021: Dinwiddie IND to Matteson IL 44 miles today and 1249 miles in total (m314.8)

We planned a lazy morning after the long day yesterday. We also looked ahead and saw that we could pass through the southern suburbs and sleep in Matteson Illinois following a 44 mile ride. 

Who has seen this before? Google Maps gave us three routes and recommended the longest as the best route. I was happy, as this confirmed my earlier route planning - the blue route is the best one. 

We had to cycle about 12 miles on the road to get to Crown Point and the start of today's trails. Beautiful scenery greeted us on the way.

Wow, Christine. 😍😍

The rural area is beautiful.

We had a calm cycle into Crown Point and stopped across the Court House for a final coffee.

Coffee was great and the cookies even better.

I had to smile when I saw this sign in the bathroom.

We started on the Erie-Lackawanna Trail and saw this "Water Tank" at the beginning of the Trail.

We also had some congestion.

And a well-designed path.

A first on our trip: a solar panel roof and several recharching points for mobile phones and small appliances. And a great place to watch the passersby on the trail.

We said our goodbyes to Scott on this Trail with Christine giving Scott a small helping of Fireball. We know he will enjoy it when the time comes.

We covered about 3 miles of road cycling through beautiful neighborhoods

up to the start of the Pennsy Trail. 

This is another beauty. We liked the curvy design of the trail rather than just the simple, straight trails we were on up to now.

The Town of Munster added a short connection between two sections of the Pennsy Trail. We went through an abandoned rail underpass and had to stop at a fully functioning rail crossing with flashing lights, boom and bells. It was great to see it work while we had to wait for a train to pass. 

We soon reached our turnoff from the Pennsy Trail and cycled another 3 miles to the Thorn Creek Trail.

We also crossed the State Line from Indiana to Illinois on this road section. There are only welcome signs installed by the two towns. We could also see which State has a better road maintenance record - Illinois.

We soon joined the Spur of the Thorn Creek Trail.

We passed a couple of lovely picnic shelters and the scenery was spectacular.

We passed this Trail-over-Rail bridge as we entered the Capital Heights and neighboring suburbs.

More beautiful scenery.

Wonderful mix of parkland and housing.

We saw beautiful houses along the trail.

And passed the Capital Heights Football/Soccer field and Ball Park.

After about 10 miles we left the Thorn Creek Trail and connected to the Old Plank Road Trail.

This route started as a bypass of Chicago. It was very muddy and the users cut trees along the way to pass the muddy patches. As time passed these were replaced with sawn planks. The railway line was built over this plank road. The last train passed here in the 1970s.

Beautiful scenery.

We also waited at the overlook for the CN Connection where a rail interchange allows for the smooth direction change of N_S and E_W trains.

We passed this bridge over a road.

We kept on enjoying the beauty

along the Old Plank Trail

and soon after we saw this Bunny next to the path, we arrived at our hotel. 

Both Christine and I had tired muscles and we are in need of a good night's sleep.