Fall Break Part I

Well, the trip did happen....and what an adventure!! Last week I had an idea to go on a road trip for fall break, just to go wherever, not even have a plan. The only plan was to make it somewhere along the east coast, it didnt even matter where. And I didnt want to take any major highways, no interstate, just state roads and back roads so we could see more of the countyside. I also didnt want to use a map, just a compass. And I was trying to do this trip as cheaply as possible, only wanting to spend about $100, I figured gas and coffee would be the only expenses. So I asked a couple guys if they wanted to go, everyone was a little hesitant to go since I asked just a few days before fall break, some guys already had plans, some just thought it was a dumb idea. But I had a couple interested, and I eventually got one person to go with me, AJ. AJ is one of my friends from high school and now goes to Purdue and is also in the same fraternity as me.

SATURDAY
So, finally, saturday at around 1pm, AJ made the decision to go on the trip with me. But he was back in Bremen, so he had to drive 2 hours back to Purdue so we could leave, because Bremen isnt exactly on the way to the east coast. So when he got to the house, we packed up a few things. We packed some food: two loaves of bread, peanut butter, jelly, nutrigrain bars, apples, grapes, granola bars, and some instant tea and grape drink mix. We also brought a small tent, two sleeping bags, a blanket, two jugs for water, a bottle of shampoo, some other toiletry knick knacks, and a couple days worth of clothes. And of course, I had to bring my compass. So at around 4:30pm, we finally left.

We started off going south to see where it would take us. Shortly after starting, we decided to fill up the tank, which only required about a half tank. Then we headed west for a while. It was great seeing the countryside of Indiana, passing through some small towns along the way, but it seemed to be taking forever. Our first stop was in Noblesville. The town was having a car show at the city hall so we decided to stop and take a look. While there we saw this huge dog that this guy was walking, I mean, it was nearly as tall as its owner. So I walked up to the guy and asked him what breed of horse it is. He didnt catch on to my joke though. We looked at some cars, took a bathroom break, then hit the road again. Once we reached Indianapolis (on accident, I didnt want to hit any major cities), we decided to change up our plans a little bit. It took us a good 2.5 hours to get to Indy, which should have only taken about 1. So we decided that if we wanted to make it to the coast, we would have to take some interstates. Plus, we wanted to drive through some mountains. So we got out the atlas from my trunk, jumped onto I-74, and headed to Cincinnati. After going west for a while, we hit I-75 to go south through Kentucky and Tennessee. After we got through Cincinnati, it got dark pretty fast, so we just wanted to drive until we got tired, then try and find somewhere to sleep. We stopped along the way at a McDonalds to pee and get some food in us. So we made some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and ate them in the parking lot next to my car. We got some looks there, people wondering why we dont just eat at McDonalds Im sure. So we hit the road again for a while and wound up somewhere in southern Kentucky, not too far from Tennessee, when we decided to stop for the night. We searched for some camping signs, found one, and headed there. When we got there, we didnt realize that the front office would have been closed already, but it was at about 11pm, so it shouldve been obvious. And the cost to stay there one night was about $30, so we said screw that, and drove off. They did have a pool though, and we really wanted to just go swimming before we left, but didnt. We drove back to the town, found a couple of hotels there, tried to figure out which had the dimmest parking lot, and slept there in the car. It was a Hampton Inn. We got to bed (car) at about 11:30pm.



Noblesville City Hall