Leaving Indianapolis overnight in Merrillville
Major detour lengthening the day
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Leaving Indianapolis overnight in Merrillville |
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| Places Visited Along The Way, Photos, and Notes |
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I got up this morning in
Indianapolis with
the intention of exploring the city. However, the weather forecasts call for thunder storms midafternoon along the roads on which I will be traveling. So I started on my way. 
  Notice the fog. It was about 73 degrees and foggy. When it warms more, thunderstorms are on the agenda |
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The local news mentioned that I-65, the main route from Indianapolis to Chicago area is closed north-bound at Lafayette A very long detour has been established This detour was about 30-35 miles long through rural areas along two lane byways  A lot of traffic, cars, semis, all other kinds of vehicles The going was slow, more than an hour But the area is beautiful. Very agricultural 
 There are a lot of corn fields with the particular strain labeled. It turns out that this is a great crop seed growing region.  I hope I don't grow a third ear because some of it may be GMO I knew that Indiana is famous for popcorn, but evidently seed corn as well |
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While planning today, I thought maybe a good stopping place might be Roselawn. However, there is no there there so I continued on |
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I did stop to get a sandwich at Arby's and saw a sign for an Amish furniture store a couple miles east I visited it and it was interesting. The proprietor was not Amish He only sells Amish made or Amish style stuff  He said how well made it is and all solid wood I had noted earlier that some of it is wood veneer over particle board with the back panel held on with screws |
Going up the highway, it sprinkled a few times and once rained pretty hard for a couple miles Sufficient to slow traffic quite a bit Even my lower legs, usually sheltered by the lower fairings, were getting pelted with very large drops |
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I got to
Merrillville a bit before noon So I thought I would site see a bit Up the road east there is a Albanese Candy Factory 
 
 There is a walkway in the back with windows through which you can see candy being made but no photos allowed. Powdered sugar seemed to line the floor of the factory Not nearly so impressive as our very own Jelly Belly Candy Co |
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A few miles more up the road is the lone HD dealer for the day Harley-Davidson of Valparaiso I bought a shirt, but forgot to take a photo |
Best Western Inn & Suites of Merrillville adjacent to Soutpark
Mall Got a very nice suite. About supper time I thought I'd walk to get something to eat I looked at Google and there are tons of places to walk to I went down to the lobby to discover it is raining No problem, I'll use my umbrella (for the first time this trip) 
 Notice anything peculiar in these photos? There are no sidewalks here! Not only that, but there are no pedestrian crosswalks to cross the very busy streets, and no pedestrian traffic lights. Unless you drive, you can't get there from here!  I'm guessing that this is one Starbuck's that does not get a lot of walk-by traffic |
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