Day Ten
I took it easy and just drove on the secondary roads. My first stop was Les Paul’s grave in Waukesha, WI. I found a coffee shop in town because the one I had planned on going to in Madison was drive-through only. It turned out that they served good espresso. My third stop in Waukesha was a former Nike missile control site that has been turned into a public park. It has what remains of the control tower; the missile silos were located somewhere else.
The purpose of my planned stops for this day was to keep the GPS on the Lake Michigan coast. None of them had any significance, so I drove past most of them. I did not find the National Museum of the American Sailor but stopped in a park in the vicinity to eat lunch. I sat on a bench near some very nice tennis courts.
Les Paul's Grave
9/19/2025
Madison, WI to Valparaiso, IN
251 Miles
I stayed on Sheridan Road for most of the morning, driving by the mansions in the towns of Lake Forest, Highland Park, and Evanston. I also passed through the campuses of Lake Forest College, Northwestern University, and Loyola University. From there I proceeded south on Lake Shore Drive in Chicago. I thought it was going to be a drive through a fancy neighborhood, but it is a four-lane highway.
I didn’t find Jeorse Park Beach in East Chicago, IN; the only thing there was a casino. It was worth the trip because I drove through an industrial area. There was a huge BP cracking plant and two steel mills. My drive through Gary. IN was enlightening; Gary is in distress; almost everything I drove by was out of business.
Indiana Dunes National Park
I took a half-hour hike through Indiana Dunes National Park. I entered for free because I had bought a yearly National Parks Pass last year in St. Augustine.
I went to the Blackbird Cafe in Valparaiso, IN, and drank the best espresso I ever had outside of Italy. It was smooth as silk and had vast amounts of crema. I walked across the street and ate at Don Quijote, which is a Spanish tapas restaurant. The place was very busy, and it took forever to get my paella, but it was worth the wait. It was hard for me to believe that there is great espresso and quality Spanish food in the middle of Indiana. I guess it is just my East Coast snobbery showing through.
Racine North Beach
SC Johnson Headquarters
Nike Missile Control Site M-74
Fantastic Traveler - Ray Bradbury Statue
