Thanksgiving in Chicago

[Empty Sea]

A typical Thanksgiving in Chicago includes visits to with family, big dinners, perhaps serving dinner to some who are less fortunate, and hoping that the Detroit Lions get their butts kicked on national television. It usually does not include "Sunny with a high of 60" or "Great day for a motorcycle ride", but this year was exceptional, so I headed out.

I decided to take the 3 hours of free time I had yesterday and head to the birthplace of American motorsport. On Thanksgiving Day, 1895, the first American automobile race was held. The start/finish line was in Jackson Park, part of the fair grounds for the recently held World's Columbian Exposition (1893). You can read more about the race here Chicago Times-Herald Race of 1895 and here Chicago Times-Herald race - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This historic event is memorialized by a plaque affixed to a small rock.

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I took advantage of the light holiday traffic and cruised down Lake Shore Drive which parallels Lake Michigan. I didn't have time to truly capture the beauty of the lake yesterday, but I did get a couple of shots from LSD:

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If you ever get the chance to ride Lake Shore Drive, stop at Buckingham Fountain, Milennium Park, The Museum Campus, and Navy Pier. I enjoyed looking at these places as I passed, but did not have time to stop.

It was a bit breezy, but the CBR250r performed well under me thanks to some key advice I picked up here on riding at speed and in the wind. There was a bit of a haze, but the sunlight still glimmered off of Chicago's world-famous skyline.

LSD takes a turn to the west and, at that point, separates the Museum of Science and Industry from the campus of The University of Chicago before turning back south through Jackson Park.
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I was on the lookout for this small rock, but I did not need to look too hard as a row of 10 Ford Mustangs, 10-15 Harleys, a Ural with sidecar, a couple of vintage Chryslers and a Lotus Europa had beaten me to the spot. Unfortunately, or fortunately, I missed the turn off and had to drive around the block. This led me to drive past my 89 year old mom's old high school
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When I got back to The Rock, I was able to meet, and be interviewed by, a local "celebrity", Bill Wildt. Bill hosts a cable access show called Motorsports Unlimited. He's been doing that since the 1980's, I think. Funny guy and his show has just the right mix of information and good "bad" TV.

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Here you can see some of the vehicles that were on site.

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On the ride home, I happened to pass Music House where I took music lessons when I was just a kid. I'm thinking I was there from 1968-1975. I couldn't believe the place was still there, so I stopped and snapped a pic.

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A great day. A great ride. A great city. A great history. I am thankful for it all.

[Steve_47]

Thanks for the ride report Empty Sea, very nice

[katedwolf]

WOW thanks!
Amazing 2 electric cars in the first race.
When you said LSD I had a flashback.... ;-)
The Lotus Europa reminded me of the '74 Jensen-Healey I had that had the Lotus 907 engine.

again thanks for the report and stirring the memories

[Empty Sea]

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...0ElpHXQx0EhuuA


Not my video. I would have picked a day with lighter traffic, but it does capture a bit of LSD's beauty and features a great song about "The Drive".

[Michael]

It is starting to look a bit cold and grey in your part of the world. The trees are bare and winter must be nigh.

Thanks for the effort that has gone into organising the pictures and the commentary. It does take some time to do. Just a suggestion though, based on my experimenting first then experience...

Your pictures come out thumbnail sized so need to be clicked on for a decent view. It would make more impact if they were bigger in the text. I don't know what you do to place them there, but this is what I do (using a Mac computer).

1. Export the photos I want to use from iPhoto to the desktop as medium sized files.

2. Upload them to a photo hosting service, in my case Photobucket

3. Write the script on my computer.

4. Add the pictures in the appropriate places using the IMG code from the photo hosting media links.

5. Copy and paste to post on the forum.

6. Click "Post Reply"..... job's done!

I hope this has been useful to any aspiring ride reporters.

For completeness, to add a map:

1. Create a map using Google Maps.

2. Take a screen shot of the area you want to post.

3. Upload the map to the photo hosting service. There it can be used the same as any other image.

[Wynne G Oldman]

Thanks for that Michael, I was wondering how you posted the maps.

[Empty Sea]

I went with thumbnails for style purposes - it allows folks to read the report with a minimal amount of scrolling. I thought about a map, but this particular ride was all on one stretch of road, it would be pretty boring, so I added the video instead. Good tips for future reference, though.