Turkey Run State Park, IN to Forest Glen Preserve, IL: Hiking with Mom and Dad
Sunday May 9, 2010
It’s Mothers Day. The plan is to check out a park just over the border in Illinois that my parents have not been to before. We’ll hike for the day, then Mom and Dad will head home. So I’m driven over my first state border. It is still a little breezy today, but it’s warmer, around 60 degrees, and mostly sunny. We enjoy the day in a new park – even though we don’t have a trail map and get a little lost a few times.
In the late afternoon, we have a snack of graham crackers and Girl Scout cookie Tagalongs (two more of my favourite foods I can’t get in Oz) and then Mom and Dad drop me off at the campground. It’s another round of big hugs – I won’t see my Mom until mid-June when she meets me in Colorado Springs, and I won’t see my Dad until the whole trip is over. As they drive away, I almost feel like crying. I don’t know why for a while. I’m excited to be riding, I can’t wait for the adventure, and this place isn’t spooky or scary. I’m the happiest I’ve been in about 10 years. Finally, I realize it is because I’m always sad when I leave my parents, because I always enjoy my time with them and don’t see them nearly often enough.
My tent site is next to a little lake and I spend the late afternoon enjoying the view, the warmth of the sun, and all the memories over the years of hiking and being outside with my parents.
0 miles by bike; 34 miles by car