Lt. Gov. Quinn bikes Circle Tour to boost Great Lakes tourism

Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn, head of the Great Lakes Commission's Illinois Delegation, recently led a daylong journey along the 63-mile Illinois leg of the Lake Michigan Circle Tour to promote state and regional tourism. The 6,500-mile Great Lakes Circle Tour is a binational system of scenic roads encircling all five Great Lakes and running along the St. Lawrence Seaway. Marked by a series of distinctive road signs, it was established in the late 1980s as a cooperative venture among the Great Lakes Commission, its member states and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Québec. Above, Quinn makes a stop at Chicago's Shedd Aquarium. With him are, from left, Becky Lameka, a Great Lakes Commission program specialist who took part in the ride, and Dr. Jeffery Boehm of Shedd Aquarium’s Animal Health and Conservation Science Program.

Lameka offers a few comments on the Circle Tour and the Great Lakes Information Network (GLIN) as Lt. Gov. Quinn looks on.

With Lt. Gov. Quinn at center, the riders prepare to depart from near the Chicago lakefront.

Lt. Gov. Quinn and his fellow riders get under way on the first section of the ride. Quinn also walked, ran and drove various sections of the Circle Tour along the Illinois lakefront. For more information, visit the Great Lakes Circle Tour web site or view the press release.