Well today is the day, I dragged my ass out of bed and as I stood in the shower it hit me. I’m actually going to spend a month living out of my jeep. That’s when I heard the thunder…
I don’t know if it’s a good or bad sign when undertaking an epic adventure, but the above radar is what I started this adventure in. At 8:05 eastern time I stepped out my front door. It was pouring down rain, the driveway was flooding, and all of my rain gear was already packed in the jeep. So I embraced my adventure and got wet.
The only thing I needed to do before hitting the open road is get the jeep an alignment. So I tried to be a walk in at the Tire Barn in Bloomington. They said they could work me in around 4pm… I declined that time slot and decided that I’d start calling ahead on my route and find someplace on the road to stop.
So I hit the open road and vibrated my way along the back roads towards the west. Luckily the Tire Barn in Terre Haute had a 10:30 slot available, so that was my first stop. They did the alignment Kent for me, but apparently Jeff has a slight tilt on the front passenger tire that there is no adjustment for. So I guess I’ll have to add that to his list of ailments and stay on top of his tire rotations.
Luckily while sitting at the tire barn the storm finally broke. So the next 150ish miles of open road were beautiful! They were also hot… my AC works great, but there is a vacuum hose somewhere that is disconnected, so the cold air only blows through the defrosting vents… so I gave up, took off my shirt, rolled down some windows and turned up the tunes.
I arrived at Monks Mound a little after 1pm local time. I won’t bore you with all of the plaques, but the place had some great views!
After spending a few hours stumbling around the mounds I decided to head towards my next destination, The Crazy Horse Monument 996 miles to the north west.
The drive was filled with tunes and not much more, that is until I saw a storm brewing in the distance. The sky was a giant ball of lightning, and I had a choice to make, pull off, find a campground, and be a few hours behind in the morning… or head straight into the storm.
A smart man would not have willing driven into this. In fact every car, truck, and bus I saw pulled over or hid under overpasses. I however am an idiot. I cranked the tunes and sang along as I slowed down to a reasonable 60mph in the deluge. What songs did I sing you may ask? Well there was “Don’t Fear the Reaper”, “Carry On Wayward Son”, “Highway to Hell”, and “Lola” because I needed to lighten the mood a bit. I feel like this storm is a good indicator for how this trip is going to go. I am on a mission, I have been finagling time and resources for almost a year now, and no act of god is going to deter me from making a go of it. So universe, throw me your best shot, I’ll point my bow into it and ride out the storm! Also I need to keep the material coming or these posts are going to get real repetitive…
Well gang, the storm has passed and I am now 574 miles from the Crazy Horse Monument. I’m sacked out in the twin sized bed I built into the back of my Jeep and tomorrow the adventures will continue.
Daily Scavenger Hunt score: 2
– 2 points for standing on top of Monks Mound
Total score to date: 2
Do you want to be emailed every time I post something new? sign up for email notifications here: