Clinching the Dixie
Day 1
Cincy-Indy-Windy
Day 2
Man v. Food
Day 3
To Illinois Dixie
Day 4
A Crossroads of the Nation
Day 5
Dixie's Done
Day 6
Home in a Day
This trip completed a pass of the full Dixie Highway for me. Here is the last scoring map and here is the final (everything's green) map. As I've noted several times, I do not claim a perfect or even exhaustive exploration of every Dixie Highway alignment but I believe I have driven some version of every "division" recognized by the Dixie Highway Association along with some routes that were less than official. It feels good to be able to say I've "done the Dixie".
My laptop was behaving badly from the trip's beginning. On the third day, I stopped by an Indianapolis area repair shop that Jennifer Bremer had kindly suggested in response to my plea. I'm confident they would have done a fine job but learning that I would have to wait for delivery of any needed parts prompted me to continue on since I could probably be home before parts arrived. After one more night, the machine's intermittent bad behavior (running processor, etc., but blank screen) became constant and permanent. I took it to a nearby shop (uBreakiFix) as soon as I got home. Of course, waiting for ordered parts would also be required here but I was able to hand them a couple of same model carcasses and they were willing and able to obtain what was needed from one of those. I got the working machine back in about twenty-one hours.
July 23, 2015 (day 6)
I spent the night near Joliet, Illinois, then drove directly home on a
mix of two-lane and expressway.
July 22, 2015 (day 5)
I finished off the Dixie Highway before noon, strolled through Millennium
Park, then hooked up with a couple of friends. One meeting was planned and
the other a true "visit of opportunity".
July 21, 2015 (day 4)
A little off Dixie and a little on Dixie with the day ending at the
Lincoln.
July 20, 2015 (day 3)
I wrapped up the Dixie Highway in Indiana and got just a taste of it in
Illinois.
July 19, 2015 (day 2)
The day started with another drive plotted and led by the Indianapolis
group. This one went through downtown Indy but the Hoosiers pulled it off
without a hitch. Then it was lunch followed by a museum visit. The day
ended with friends at a dinner that included a surprise -- and successful
-- 'burger challenge.
July 18, 2015 (day 1)
Two nice drives through Indiana countryside were separated by a docent led
tour of the wonderful Dream Cars exhibit at the Indianapolis Museum of
Art.
Prelude - June 30, 2015
The basis for this trip is a drive by the
Greater Cincinnati Miata
Club to join the Indianapolis Miata Club to visit a couple museums, eat
some BBQ, and follow them around their town a little bit. Ordinarily I'd
call a trip like this "Miatas in Indy" or something similar but,
for me, the bigger event of the trip will take place after I leave
Indianapolis. My plans are to drive to the Dixie Highway terminus in
Chicago and, since I believe the Indianapolis-Chicago section is the last
undriven-by-my segment, reaching that terminus will be a clinch that has
been a long time coming.