Originally Posted by
baron von trail
Interesting. i would have suggested he hug the lake, ride the shoreline all the way.
After plugging it into Google maps and specifying bike routes it gave me the same results as the OP. I also zoomed into the lake shore and ther are a few gaps that you would have to cross beach or dunes, not really easy on a touring bike. I am not sure what to tell you. I used to live in Harvey many moons ago and YES it is rough. Perhaps there is a bike club in Michigan City that you can try and contact, Google lists 2, one in 3 Oaks Michigan and another in Chicago itself, so maybe not much heal their. I would think that if you start early in the morning you should be able to make it in daylight easily, provided no mech troubles or flats.
I wish the OP good luck, let us know how it fairs.