Riding the Monon trail

Doing some catch up again!

Monday
With a good forecast for today and tomorrow, with dry sunny weather and slightly lower temperatures, we decided to take another mini break, and drove to Carmel Indiana for an overnight stay, to explore another bike trail, the Monon Trail. This popular Rail Trail stretches from the town of Sheridan in the north, extends south through Westfield, Carmel, Broad Ripple, and passes by the Indiana State Fairgrounds before intersecting with the Indianapolis Cultural Trail, a total of 26 miles. We left the house about 9.15, and arrived at our starting point about 11.30, a little way south of Carmel, and we headed north. By the time we had taken the bike off (we decided to use the tandem for a change) and changed into our cycling gear, it was probably about noon when we set off. After a couple of miles we came across these attractive Japanese style gardens at the side of the trail, and thought that would make a lovely spot for our picnic lunch. We then continued on through Carmel and the sprawling suburbia, and finally reached some of Indiana’s ubiquitous corn fields. We turned around a little short of Sheridan, feeling we’d done enough for the day. We then went to our hotel for the night, and showered and changed, before going into Carmel for a walk around the art district, where, amongst other art work, there are 17 sculptures by J. Seward Johnson Jr, the “Norman Rockwell of American sculpture”. Johnson, born 1930, was the grandson of the founder of Johnson & Johnson Co. He died in March of this year. After a career in Painting, Johnson turned to sculpting in 1968, and over the next 40 years or so designed and created more than 250 life-size bronze sculptures throughout North America and in countries of Europe, Asia and Australia. The sculptures in Carmel are part of his “Man in the Street” series, depicting people in everyday poses, a father pushing his daughter on her bike, a man reading a newspaper on a bench, a lady walking her dog, a policeman directing traffic, etc. I have shown some of them in a collage I have put in extras. Then it was time for dinner, at a Mexican restaurant, where we ate outside in the evening sun. A good day!