Rain on the Scarecrow

After spending the day in Indiana, I have to pay a small tribute to local legend John Mellencamp. The song title couldn’t be more perfect. After spending last night way down in Kokomo, I set out to ride the Cardinal Greenway and Sweetser Switch trail in east central Indiana. I had about a 30 minute drive to the trailhead, during which time it poured down rain. No surprise there. When I got to Jonesboro (a suburb of Gas City), I found a town that looked like it was where they filmed the Upside Down in Stranger Things (supposedly in Indiana). I’m sure Vecna was around somewhere. I drove around looking for the trailhead but mercifully never found it, giving me the excuse I needed to get out of there. I decided to find the other end of the trail in Converse. That was a 20 minute drive, more or less back in the direction I started from, pouring down rain the entire time. I found that trailhead with relative ease and the rain even stopped. Before I started my ride, I had to make a 2-minute call to Verizon. 25 minutes later, our Family Plan was set up and it had started to pour down rain again. Deciding that this ride wasn’t going to happen, I pulled the plug and headed for South Bend. There were more trails to ride up there and the local weather did not call for rain this afternoon. I got some lunch and had the unfortunate experience of sitting at a table next to a young man who laughed like a cross between a braying donkey and Santa Claus at volume 100. He laughed a lot. After my meal, I quickly jabbed in my AirPods to try and erase that sound from my mind, and then started my ride along the East Bank to Mishawaka River Trail. I knew I was in trouble right from the start. When a river runs primarily in an east-west orientation, it is somewhat difficult to tell which is the East Bank. This was further complicated by a general lack of signage, although I was able to shrewdly deduce that a trail called the East Bank probably followed a river and therefore, I kept the river in sight the whole time. To add another layer of challenge to the ride, the “trail” essentially fluctuated between a city sidewalk and a slightly wider path that would, at times, suddenly disappear into someone’s driveway. I had to consult two, sometimes three, different apps (Strava, All Trails and occasionally Apple Maps) to see where I missed a turn. It’s hard to tell exactly how long the trail was because of all the wrong turns, but I’ll guess 5 miles, tops. I returned more or less the way I came and then decided to keep going up the LaSalle Trail toward Niles, Michigan. My logic was pretty simple. Given all the rain I’ve experienced this week, if there was a chance I’d get rained out tomorrow in Michigan, I wanted to have ridden a few miles in the state as a precaution. The trail was a straight shot from South Bend, across the state line about 3 miles, and then returned. There was absolutely nothing of note on the ride but by the time I got back to the car, I’d managed to log about 31 miles in two states.

While I’m on the topic of Indiana, now seems to be the right time for another shout out. My lunch spot today was in a little retail/residential area directly across the street from Notre Dame. I’ve been to the campus a couple times in the past for football games. The first time in November 1988 when Rice came to South Bend. Notre Dame won the National Championship that year. It was not a close game (54-11, but Rice did lead 3-0 for about 12 seconds). It rained. The most recent time was September 2018 when ND crushed Stanford on their way to the BCS. Both times, I was the guest of Joe Hutton (and several of his college roommates). I was introduced to Joe by one of my college buddies, Tom Kuuskvere. They had gone to HS together. Joe spent a summer as our roommate in Houston after our sophomore year and we just hit it off. We didn’t see much of each other for ten years or so after we graduated but we stayed in touch. In 1999, we began to work together, and in late 2001, we started our business (with a 3rd partner at the time). Joe is a Chemical Engineer from ND and is one of the brightest people I know. He was the President of our company for 20 years and ran the operations, but also knows enough about the financials and business development so that he was the consummate partner. I have learned much from him over the years and have benefitted greatly, in every respect, from our relationship. Kelly and I have traveled all over the world with Joe and Donna and have enjoyed their company, their hospitality, and their generosity since the day we got married. I love to needle Joe about ND football, but I have the utmost respect for him and all of his fellow ND alums that I have had the pleasure of meeting and, on occasion, working with. My life is better for knowing him. Cheers.

Yes. That is a man pushing a dog in a shopping cart in the rain.

A South Bend bike “trail”

Very sketchy evidence that I actually pedaled my way into Michigan

Touchdown Jesus on the Notre Dame campus

Joe and half of Donna’s head with Kelly and I in Argentina. Sorry Donna, that’s what you get when the guy taking the selfie has short arms.