The Great American Eclipse Part Four
As I drove away from the most terrifying run through the woods I have been on, I headed north to the town of Harrisburg that the bikers had told me about. While searching out a laundromat I found a rat rod almost displayed out in a parking lot in front of a car wash. I made a few questionable turns and looped back. I went inside the car wash and found Jamie. I asked permission to photograph his car, and took down his email to send him the pictures. He came out and gave me the back-story and a personal tour of the car. I'm not sure what draws me to rat rods over hot rods, but nothing turns my head like a Frankensteined rusty piece of junk with dents. Had this truck been cleaned up and soaked with a shiny paint, there is no doubt in my head that I would have drove right past and kept going. After the short conversation Jamie and I had, I feel we share a similar mind in our appreciation of the stripped down ratty no frills autos. I should've asked him what drew him to rat rods and to want to build one because I feel his answer could save me a lot of time trying to figure the answer for myself. It may have to do with character though. Character can no doubt exist in a pristine hot rod, but it is far more attractive when the car wears its story on its sleeve. My mind flashes to that scene in ‘Jaws’ of the men on the boat showing off their scars. Also many of these rat rods have been saved, rescued from the brink of death after spending years rotting away in a field or lost under hay in a barn. Who doesn’t love a good redemption? No test-drive was offered and I'm not one to put someone on the spot… no matter how tempting.
The Milky Way over Little Grassy Lake
After my clothes were laundered I pushed west towards Carbondale where I found a campsite for the night in Giant City State Park. On my way there I drove across a dam with a pull off parking circle in the center. It had a beautiful view looking south over Little Grassy Lake. I decided that was my destination for some milky way photography later that night.
My campsite had an electric hookup, which was great, but I quickly realized how ill prepared I was for it. With the heat of Kentucky August I had been running my roof fan around the clock. I felt like I had been asking a lot with only a single smallish solar panel and a lone house battery. Plugging in to give my battery some much needed AC love would've been nice. (This experience definitely went into the brain bank for a later design in Ruby Tue.) What I was able to do was plug in my laptop. I left it hidden in a 5 gallon bucket, for security? I guess while I went out for target practice on the stars. While parked on the dam shooting stars, some college students from nearby Southern Illinois University stopped for some gazing. Some were local and some from Chicago. They had a conversation going about how most people tend to think of Illinois as just Chicago and very few realize how big of a state it really it. I interjected how I faced the same issue being from Western NY. Most people only think NYC. I felt like the NY→ NYC association was much worse than IL→ Chicago, but I kept that thought to myself. After I felt I had captured enough celestial light I headed back to camp and crashed after the long day it had been.
Minutes before I crossed the Mississippi River!
Wander Like Water: Patrick and Sarah
Waking up the next morning I proposed 2 runs at 2 different locations and nixed them both. I had one goal for the day, cross the mighty Mississippi. Once as a teenager I went on a road trip with one of my best friends and we made it as far west as Memphis. So I had been up to the Eastern side of the Mississippi River, but I had never crossed it before in my life. Today was my day! I crossed at Chester, IL. I didn't know it until I saw the Popeye statue, but Chester is home of Popeye! Had I not been so close to my goal of crossing the Mississippi I may have stopped for a picture with the statue. The bridge was 2 lanes with no shoulder and no pedestrian sidewalk. It was a little nerve wracking, but it is a fearsome river, and so its crossing should be as well. I was finally across the Mississippi and into Missouri! I crossed into St. Mary where I found an antiques mall I decided to snoop around for a bit, I headed north out of St. Mary and came into Ste. Genevieve. I found a garage with a bunch of old hacked up cars out front. Intrigued, I stopped and found the proprietor and his wife eating lunch. They ran the shop and gave me permission to take some pictures. He was a lifelong Ste. Genevieve resident so I asked him, what I should see for my brief time in his little town. He informed me that Ste. Genevieve is the oldest town west of the Mississippi, and having so much history I should head down to the old town and see some of the old buildings down there and step inside the visitor center. I did as he suggested and was not disappointed. The old houses were built with mortise and tenon joints. While I consider myself a low to mid level woodworker, I know enough to appreciate the skill and dedication of true carpenters. At the visitor center I found Sarah and Patrick with bikes packed like mules. They had a cardboard sign that read 'Wander Like Water'. I struck up a conversation and found these two were following the Mississippi all the way down to the gulf with an emphasis on promoting water conservation. I talked mostly to Sarah as Patrick had adjustments to make to his pack mule, and even though she had only just arrived in town, had no trouble schooling me on the changes in route of the Mississippi River in that location. It was actually a question I had been puzzled over that morning.
Bolduc House in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri
I weaved through the small streets of the ancient town and made my way back to highway. I had thought about stopping to appreciate the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, but I decided to pass it up this go around and get headed back east towards home. I-55 East gives about as good of a view as you can expect for not even giving them the respect of stopping to take in the engineering achievement that it is. I passed through the craziness of the intersecting exits, merging lanes, and bridges over bridges. As soon as it settled down and I thought I was ready for the long haul back across Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio I saw a sign with a name I recognized.
Cahokia.
I had watched a documentary a few years back on Cahokia, and I could not pass up the prospect of standing on top of Monk's Mound. It is the largest Pre-Columbian earthwork in America. Once you climb to the top you are treated to a dwarfing view of the Gateway Arch and the St. Louis skyline. I hung out on Monk's Mound with the pups and talked with a family that were in love with Lugnut and Minnie.
This is the part where I have to pay for all the fun I had been borrowing all week. Time to log some droning highway miles, not fall asleep, and keep the gas tank topped off. I took I-70 until I hit Columbus. Illinois seemed to drag. I knew Terre Haute was just over the state line into Indiana, but I felt as though I spent hours of driving seeing signs for the city without it ever appearing. Even with my doubts growing I eventually hit the Indiana state line and entered back into my native time zone. I swear that I-70 had that 'tha-thunk' pattern of expansion joints the entire way through Indiana. They held down the rhythm while the white lines took the lead and almost succeeded in lulling me to sleep a couple times. Once I hit Ohio I was counting down the exits until I could pull into the friendly neighborhood Planet Fitness for a shit, a shave, and a shower. Pure Bliss.
Columbus is only 5 hours from home. It's an easy push, but there was one more thing that I had been hoping the whole trip would finally happen. Even though she is a Browns fan, I wanted to conclude the trip with a cup of coffee in Cleveland with a long time friend. We have talked for longer than I care to disclose, but we had never met. This is something I am very hesitant to publish, let alone discuss in private. However I cannot expect people to suffer through my long-ass ramblings if I broad brush over details or leave experiences out like this. We had communicated for years, but timing never proved to be friendly towards a meeting of any kind. But why not a rainy Thursday morning in August? I arrived early and was struggling to see anything as my wipers felt like smearing the rain on the windshield as opposed to actually wiping it. I killed some time by treating Ruby to a pair of brand new windshield wipers. This story might be that firecracker you light and once the fuse burns down it makes and 'pssst' instead of a 'BANG!' We didn't catch eyes and start making out in the middle of Starbucks or run off and start a new life together, nor was it expected. I was now able to put a person to picture though. It was fitting to end a week of new experiences by tying up an old one. As a very private person I find it difficult to find people to confide in and go to for advice on personal matters. For me, she was that person, on and off, for years and as such, meeting her held a special importance to me... Browns affiliation and all. In true Adam fashion, a photographer who never takes photos of memorable moments, I did not take a photo with her. It wouldn’t have been a part of this blog had I taken it anyways but it would’ve been nice.
The mileage and math of my fill ups and MPG’s.
I don’t know how to wrap this up. It was my first van-camper excursion, and it cemented in my head that I was on the right track in my life. That this was going to be a thing important enough to me that I tear everything else down and start over. It takes a lot to come to that decision, but it honestly kind of felt easy. Not easy to implement of course, but once I took the first step I knew I’d be running in no time!
I heard from a very good friend of mine that travel is the only thing you can buy that makes you richer, and I could not agree more. I used to be so obsessed with tangible things that I thought travel was worthless. To spend sometimes thousands of dollars and end of with nothing material when that money could be put down on the mortgage or toys seemed illogical. I have taken such a 180 on that stance. I know what I am doing isn’t for everyone, but one of my biggest points is that tomorrow isn’t promised. Having a bucket list is great, but if you want to do it so bad, why wait? I want to see everything this country has to offer while I can still run on the trails and climb on the rocks! Even if you have no interest in mountains so are sure to be fascinated by something, and that something is waiting for you as you read this. Go and get it!
I met so many amazing people on this adventure and many others that I have partaken in, and I CANNOT wait to meet more of them!