Camping at Indy Lakes, Indianapolis, IN

4001 West Southport Road Indianapolis, IN 46217 (317) 888-6006.

The RV campground we stayed at in Indianapolis, IN is Indy Lakes. I found them a camping guide book and then checked out their website. Our spot was #10. All RV spots are back in. The young couple is the 3rd generation running the lakes.

http://www.indylakes.com/campgrounds.html

There are 3 lakes with a road around all of them. The RV sites are on the other side of that road and the edge of the lake is wide enough to allow primitive tent camping. It was lovely after dark when those campers had a small fire and the flames were bouncing off the water
The lakes are mostly stocked with catfish and carp. The Sat. we were there, the stock truck came from Ohio and we watched them put in over 40 carp. None of them were smaller than 15 pounds and the largest was 30 pounds. They actually weighed it before they put it into the water


Even though a license is not required, since it is privately owned, it is pay to fish. They have ongoing fishing contests all season with the top prize of $10,000.00. The fishermen catch the fish and net them in. Then bring them to the office to be weighed and put into a tank. The fish are held in the tank for a few days and then re-released. They say there is still an 80 pound carp in there.

I loved this power line. Folks were just a little ambitious with their casting.

Gene wandered over to talk to this man who is over 90 years old. He lives nearby and has been fishing here for many years. He told Gene that these lakes are formed from ground water in abandoned gravel pits. The deepest part is over 30 feet.

We had 6 tickets to the race and Gene’s daughter Kathy and Ray came from Maryland and my cousin Ed and Terry came from Florida. It was so special that they drove so far to visit and then to enjoy an event like the Indy 500. I was especially good since they are family.

There are more than RVers, campers and fish living in and around the lake. These 2 Canadian geese families would travel together and take the babies down to the water 2x a day and then wander off.

The whole area has lots of trees including female cotton wood trees. We do not have them in CO but know them from NM. They make long clusters of seedpods that look like grapes, only smaller. At this time of year they burst open and the cotton inside flies and it looks like snow.

There are thousands and thousands from each cluster. Each one looks like 1 piece of dandelion fluff, only smaller and more compact. As the wind blows them, they will build up along the curb, or stones or in the grass.

After the race and everyone was gone and the eBay packages were sent, it was time to kick back and enjoy. Notice the white spots on the water? It is the 'cotton' floating.

We highly recommend this campground and anytime we are crossing the country on I 70 we will drive the few extra miles to stay here for a few days.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway 500 Race 2009

The entrance into the raceway on 16 th Street.

The famous pagoda at the starting line, with all the race officials. The area closest behind that high fence is for photographers. Notice the 2 rows of protective berms.
This infield road was straight in front of us. The tow trucks, ambulance and street sweeper were all parked there

With the zoom, we can see the other end of the same infield road. We could see the cars going by just under the sign along the white wall. I suspect that other side is 1 mile away. We were between turn 1 & 2 so that end is between 3 & 4 th turns.

The 4 pace cars coming around turn 1.

The pace cars on the pit road with the cars on the track. 1 more lap until green flag!!

During a yellow, all the cars are coming out of the pits and not on the track yet.

US!!

My cousin Ed and wife Terri from Florida.

Gene's daughter Kathy and Ray from Maryland.

Helio Castroneves in front.

They are racing. Fastest qualifying speed was 222. They were averaging 150 - 175 during the race.

2 cars tangled. The other one slid on it side from before turn one, past us to almost turn 2. This is #2 car Raphael Matos.

This poor guy fractured 2 vertebrae and will be out all season. #14 Vitor Meira

Helio just took the checkered flag. He got a check for $3, 000,000+.

End results!!

Pre Indy 500 Race Activities 5/24/09

In Feb. 2009 some very dear friends told us they have been going to the Indy 500 race for the last 17 years and were not planning on going in 2009. We said we would take all 6 tickets and $80.00 each didn't seem as much as we thought they would be, for one of the worlds most famous sporting events.

The pre race parade of celebrities in Corvette Pace cars. This is sportscaster Dick Vitale.

And this is Mario Lopez, having someplace better to be looking than saying hello to the crowd!!! Guess all the cameras were not focused on him.

These soldiers unfurled this very huge flag for the singing of the Star Spangled Banner.

Many ,many trucks went by that had military from all branches of the services who just returned from war. Huge big cheers for all of them. Even the crews from the tow trucks were on the track saluting them.

The Tuskegee Airmen flew 2 vintage B24 Mitchell Bombers in the fly over.

The balloon release of red, white and blue balloons.

The track is 2 1/2 miles around so it is impossible to see the whole track. Actually I think we saw about only 1/4 th of it. So they have all these big screens around the whole complex.

Jim Nabors singing "Back Home Again in Indiana".

And what everyone was waiting for - "Ladies & Gentlemen Start Your Engines"!!!!

Outside the Indy 500 Speedway Raceway 5/24/09

Who knew? The Indianapolis 500 Raceway is in Speedway, Indiana!

Nice way to travel in a lot of traffic.


If a ticket holder calls a week before the race they can get a police escort to their parking lot. One lane was open for all the escorts.

What is a sporting event without some tailgating food. It was an International grill. Italian sausage, Polish sausage; Chorizo and Brats.

Chaos on the street before the race. Our seats were in the 1st set of bleachers.

This is at the entrance of our parking lot which is directly across from the gate we went in. Good thing we scoped it all out a few days before and made the reservations in the lot. Cost $50.00 but was soooooo worth it.

On the Road to the Indy 500 /May 2009

Some very dear friends have had season tickets to the Indy 500 race over Memorial Day weekend, for the last 17 years. They decided last year they were not going to go this year. Since this event is on both of our lists of things to do before we die (now called a bucket list), we jumped at the chance.



The trip on Hwy 24 out of Colorado Springs, always has lots of antelope to see. This time there were only 32 spread out over 70 miles. They are normally not so close to the fence, but Gene was able to stop the RV, so I could take the photo. They just stood there looking at me. I said hi, how are you all today and they kept staring. So I said well bye, we need to get going. As if they understood me, they all turned at once and walked away. We laughed for the longest time.

It was a beautiful clear day with the bluest of skies. There were so many contrails from all the planes flying west. It is a wonder their paths never crossed – altho’ it looked like it was going to happen several times.

The 2nd day as we approached Vesper, KS we saw a huge solar windmill farm. There had to be hundreds. These babies are tall too. Notice in the 2nd photo how small the telephone poles are.

Since there is so much farmland it only follows to have grain silos. This complex is in Topeka, KS.

IL allows triple trailers and this is a UPS truck.

On every cross country trip we have taken this has always happened. We, for some reason take a little longer either getting gas or getting going again from eating lunch. Had we not been delayed we would have been in the middle of this accident. As it was we were just in the backed up traffic.

The CB truckers said the state truck driver cut off the Hostess semi and got broadsided. One driver had to be cut out of the truck, but we never found out the condition of either of them. The semi hit so hard that the engine broke out of its compartment.

Somebody has a sense of humor when they constructed these water towers next to each other.
As we approached from the west they appeared to overlap and really made us laugh.

As we got off the interstate in IL to refuel there were a herd of buffalo in a field, that we would never have seen if we hadn’t needed gas.

I keep missing the 3 crosses we see every so often. This one was so big it was easy to pull out the camera take a picture. It is huge - look at the semi on the road next to it.

No pictures but as we crossed the Missouri River on I70 the banks were overflowing. The flood went for about ½ mile east until it came to a high berm. The TV said the farmers are begging the government not to release any more water into the river because of all the flooding

Thank goodness we got here safe and sound and went to scope out the area around the Speedway. Did you know that the Indy 500 is held in the city of Speedway, IN

And this bar is directly across from the gate in the picture above. Pretty neat to see all those huge blow up bottles and can on top of the building.

I suspect there will be several people who will try to consume the equivalent of what would be in those bottles. LOL