Route 6 in Indiana

Growing up in Indiana, we didn't really expect to see anything photoworthy. We started the trip at 6 and 31 in Lapaz, IN because it was close to home for half of the travel crew. We encountered no surprises in Indiana being familiar with our home state, the towns that we drove through were typical small town Indiana. Near Kingsford Heights we had our first photo opportunity when I spotted a giant pumpkin and made Chris pull over. It didn't take long before we were out of Indiana and driving through the south side of Chicago.

T-SHIRTS!!!!!

I decided that I had to make a t-shirt for the trip. I'm not really sure where the idea came from and I've gotten a lot of grief from people that think the idea is cheesy but I did it anyway.

At first I thought my friends were just humoring me but once I started rolling with the idea Peach almost seemed more excited about the t-shirts than I was.

I drew up a design and ran it by everyone. We picked a shirt out of the catalog from Underground Printing and sent the design away to get printed.
We are now sporting brand new t-shirts and it only took a week to get them once we ordered them.

I've posted the pictures of the front and back design here. I will post some pictures of us wearing them as soon as I can. I personally love the new t-shirts. I have already been stopped by people that know me asking me about the t-shirt. Great advertising for the trip/book.

As far as I am concerned the t-shirts don't have to be for just the people going on the trip. If you want one for yourself, let me know and if we get enough people we can always send out an order for a second batch.

I'm still here....

I have had a lot of requests lately that I update my blog. So here it is.

There is currently little to no news. Fascinating I know. I meant to keep this blog for trip/book related posts but in the lull before the trip I'm tempted to post about other things just to keep things interesting. I am going to try to keep it to the trip. Here is what has been happening.

Peach and Zeb both bought brand new zero degree temp rated sleeping bags. We found them at Sam's club for under $30. Can't beat that. As far as gear is concerned we are almost ready to go. I still need to go get a new tent. I've got one picked out but am waiting for a good time financially to spring for it. I still need to pick up a one burner camp stove. I have a larger camp stove but don't want to have to worry about the amount of room it will take up. Haven't narrowed down what I want but that shouldn't set me back too much.

I've come up with a list of meals that we can prepare at camp with little to no refrigeration so we can save the room in coolers for beverages. We have to be conservative with the gear we bring with us since we will be driving out but flying back. We don't want to have too much added cost due to extra luggage that we need to bring back.

I've been checking the weather forecast regularly in hopes that warmer weather is in sight so I can get everyone out there for a weekend camping excursion. We want to be sure we get Peach to camp at least once before the big trip since she has never been before.

Oh, and I have also been plotting how I can torture everyone else with my collection of music on the trip. Mwa ha ha ha.

That is all.

Camping is Scary?

As we prepare for this trip, I find myself repeatedly scaring one of the four that are going on the trip. Some of it has been intentional but most of it is pure coincidence. It's not that I want her to back out. Believe me, that couldn't be further from the truth.

Peach is one of the four that are going on the trip. First let me start by stating that she has never been camping in her life and we intend to camp the entire way. I'm sure that I will probably be able to write an entire book about that right there.

I warned her that it is a good idea to make sure she takes no food items into the tent but also not to take things like deodorant, soap or toothpaste into the tent. These are all things we can leave locked in the car. I don't want the tent ripped open by a bear because someone had a tube of toothpaste in the tent. These are genuine concerns. Never having been camping, I just wanted warn her about bears. I've never had a problem with bears while camping but with Peach along, you never know what is going to happen.

A few days later she expressed her concerns to me about the bears getting us. My response was that I was more concerned about the snakes and scorpions trying to get in our sleeping bags. I really don't know why I do it. Blame it on years of my older brother picking on me. So now we have bears, snakes and scorpions. Well I guess I didn't have to give her things to worry about because she has started coming to me with other concerns about what might be lurking outside of our tent of the 2 legged varieties. I guess I never realized how scary camping could be for someone who had never been.

This should definitely make for an interesting trip.

What Won't be on the Menu

SPOILER ALERT! I don't know if any of you have seen The Descent but I watched it this weekend with my husband. Holy Crap! If anyone had told me there was a possibility of those things living in caves, I would never have stepped within a mile of a cave.

EVER.

Ok, I know they aren't real. Really I do. But the possibility that one of those Smeagol looking creatures might be hiding in the depths of the earth just waiting to rip my throat out with its teeth just gives me the heebie jeebies.

I was freaking out watching this movie before the monster aspect even came into it. It’s not bad enough that I am claustrophobic. But now I'm going to have the imagery of this movie in the back of my mind every time I go in a cave. (Which is of course next to never.) Needless to say, caves will not be on the menu for the Route 6 trip.

Making a List

I've been trying to compile a list of potential things to do and see and have come to realize that there is way more to do than we will ever have time for. In a way that is good. We won't run out of things to do.

On the other hand I see great potential in this list for arguments if we can't agree on what to do or shear exhaustion if we try to cram more into our days than is physically possible. My personal list of things I can't miss is fairly small so hopefully it will all work out.

That being said, if you are reading this and know of something big or small that we should stop and see along the way, please send me a message. Your suggestion may just make its way into my book.

Check on my website under Itinerary. I will be posting a running list of potential stops there.

The ROAD Trip

This will be the first ROAD trip I've ever taken. I know, I know, you're thinking "What, what, what? How can that be?" Let me explain. I've taken road trips before. We've been to Door County, Wisconsin, New Orleans, even drove to Orlando to watch the Boilermakers in a New Year's Day bowl game. But I've never taken a ROAD trip where the road was the trip. Our road trips have always been destination focused. When I explain to friends that I'm taking a road trip the first question they ask is to where. Then I have to explain it’s not about the where but the how. I guess I'm just part of a rare breed that enjoys the journey as much if not more than the destination. While I don't feel I'm seasoned enough to term myself a Road Warrior, I definitely think I could work up to it.

As I drove to work this morning and looked at the rising flood waters, I thought to myself, what will we do if we start our travels and the road is closed? Since the road is the trip I imagined myself reacting like Clark W. Griswold when he arrived at Wally World. Now obviously I'm not going to go get a gun and make them let me drive the road. That would be crazy. I may be crazy but I'm not that kind of crazy. Besides, the unexpected is always good for material for my book.

I'm sure that a ROAD trip will be just as enjoyable as a road trip. Now I just have to convince everyone else.

Why write a book?

When I initially decided I wanted to do this trip the idea of a book hadn't yet crossed my mind. I have a fascination with deserts that I developed while taking a Desert Literature course a few years ago. Last summer I was going through one of my phases when every book I was reading had to be about the desert and I stumbled upon the book Through Painted Deserts: Light, God, Beauty on the Open Road by Donald Miller.

It was after reading this book that I decided that this was what I had to do. I was going to write a book about our Route 6 trip.

Why US Route 6?

A few years ago we were in Nevada for a wedding and I saw a sign for US 6. I believe my exact words were "No way! My parents live off that road." Not in Nevada of course but in Indiana.
I was hooked. I had to know more. Upon returning home, I hit google only to find out that US 6 had at one time stretched all the way from Cape Cod, MA to Long Beach, CA. Before it had been shortened to Bishop, CA . Before then it had been the longest highway in the United States. That was when I decided I had to drive this road.