OPT#2

This option has a "homebase" at the Comfort Inn in Hammond IN, ($150/night including taxes/fees) south of Chicago  (at Indianapolis Blvd and I-94) with our usual guests.  There are three unsupported bike rides and three days with tours of Chicago. Preferably, we would ride the South Shore train into Chicago (fare is $7.00/pp each way) With appropriate time (mid-morning arrival and evening departure to avoid Chicago's horrible rush hours) we also have the option of driving and parking in Chicago.

The bike rides make maximum use of northern Illinois and Indiana's greenway, bike lanes, and rails-to-trails.  Two of the routes are designed to be out-and-back in order to stay exclusively on bike friendly routes.  Because they are unsupported and long (around 60+ miles), it is anticipated the rides would be interspersed with Chicago tours.

The bike rides would include a ride north along the Lake Shore, https://ridewithgps.com/routes/30906502 

a West Ride (out and back) toward Joliet, 
https://ridewithgps.com/routes/30906924 

and an East ride (out and back) to Indiana Dunes State Park. https://ridewithgps.com/routes/30906857 

This option has one motel (to easy packing/unpacking), has reasonably-priced lodging, restaurants, and has much-less urban (Chicago streets) biking.  To compensate for the lack of mystique of roaming downtown Chicago streets at night we can shift the schedule to arriving around 10 AM and returning about 9 PM.