LaPorte Herald-Argus, Monday, 3 July, 1939
SIX GIRL SCOUTS BACK FROM TRIP
Take Advantage of American Youth Hostels
     Six LaPorte Girl Scouts returned Saturday night from a 11-day bicycle trip which covered 500 miles in four states.  The girls who made the trip are Charlotte Iselman, Jeannette Backus, Katherine Howes, Evelyn Mae Rhoade, Ruth Schlitter and Alene Gartner.
     Although the girls are Girl Scouts the trip was personal and not a Girl Scout project.
     Leaving here on June 21 the girls visited cities in the states of Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan and Indiana.  It is believed to be the first trip by LaPorte young people which took advantage of American Youth Hostels, sleeping places arranged for cyclists and hikers throughout the country.
     A report of the bicycle trip as written by Miss Gartner follows.
     "Leaving Wednesday, June 21, we rode 71 miles and stopped at Palos Park, Ill., for the first night.  Each night we slept at American Youth Hostels which are supervised lodging places for cyclists and hikers.  Our stops were at Palos Park, Wheeling, Ill., Antioch, Ill., Lake Geneva, Wis., Wauwatosa, Wis., Milwaukee, Wis., Saugatuck, Mich., South Haven, Mich., and Benton Harbor, Mich.
     "At two of the hostels we slept on large open porches of homes, at another we slept on beds in the loft of a barn, two hostels were summer cottages, one was a cabin in a woods and at others we had rooms in homes.
     "The hostels provided outdoor and indoor cooking facilities where we cooked our evening meals and breakfasts.  We bought our lunches at places along the road.  We made our best time going from Lake Geneva to Wauwatosa, a distance of 50 miles, in four hours.
     "At Milwaukee we took a boat across Lake Michigan to Muskegon.  We boarded the boat with our bicycles at 11:30 p. m. and arrived at Michigan at 7 a. m.
     "None of us had any bicycle trouble but the traffic was bad on many of the highways.  For the most part we rode early in the mornings to avoid heavy traffic and the hot sun.  We stopped at many places along the way to go swimming.  We were caught in the rain several times and the wind often made it hard riding.  We had lots of extra time to go speed-boat riding, sight-seeing and souvenir hunting."
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Posted 4th June, 2004.  This article was earlier posted here 18th December, 1998, but it was knocked off-line a year-and-a-half later.  The original of that page was lost so this has been recreated, with different formatting.