Back from Loop the Lake

by Ben N on September 12, 2015

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Well, I just got back from my Loop the Lake trip around Lake Michigan.

All I can really say was that it was AMAZING!

I toured the the north shore and crossed a bridge that was 250 feet in the air and longer than the Golden Gate. I rode the “Tunnel of Trees”. I met up with others and formed an electric biker gang. I stumbled in on the oldest book store in Chicago (which is in Indiana!) I toured power plants and saw National Lakeshore sharing the same beach with steel plants, State Parks with Coal Plants. I stayed up all night with hackers working on software and electronics. I jammed with jazz musicians. I ATE a front yard while charging from solar panels. I met amazing people from all walks of life.

And I did it all without a single drop of gasoline.

The total trip ended up being 1276 miles. I averaged the equivalent of over 300 miles per gallon, and I never ran out of battery power (although I had to get creative more than once!)

While I’m back home, I’m getting ready to leave again already. I’m traveling to the Mother Earth News Fair at Seven Springs, PA this coming weekend, and then back to Milwaukee for the Milwaukee Maker Faire the following weekend. Plus, I still have to work in that time as well!

As soon as I get a chance, I’ll start going through my daily log and create individual entries on each day of my trip. Every day was an adventure and each day was better than the last.

If by chance you happen to be one of the people I met during my trip PLEASE contact me! You can just leave a message right here in the comments. It’s moderated and goes right to me, rather than being published instantly, so you can even include contact info without it going out to everyone on the internet.

It really was quite an adventure. I would do it again in a heart-beat.

Stay charged up. I know I am.

-Ben

PS: Here’s a link to an article by the Kenosha News. http://www.kenoshanews.com/news/motorcyclist_circles_lake_michigan_on_battery_power_484354187.html

PPS: I’m retro-actively filling in my travel journal, placing the entries chronologically as they happened. Click here for the details of Day 1 of my Loop the Lake adventure.

{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Ted Lowe September 14, 2015 at 10:14 am

Awesome trip Ben and it was great seeing you here! i look forward to hearing more of your daily stories!

2 Jay September 28, 2015 at 11:48 am

Congrats on another great EVenture, Ben. Your can-do-itiveness is inspirational to all of us with long-running projects that need a kick-start every now and then.

3 lanny smith February 22, 2016 at 7:13 pm

that loop the lake makes me remember when i lived up on hywy 2 17 miles west of ashland wisc. boy that was ages ago, im now way out here in wy. BUT. ive joined plug share because of what you did. it may never mean much to you but it may save somebody headaches later on who knows. i wanted to talk to you about the contactor problem but i loose the thread then dont see what you said, i dont know how to fix that.

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