Again...we said we were going to take this year and do what we wanted without hesitation. I think, as the summer comes to a close, we can say that we have lived up to that statement.
We decided to get in the car and take a road trip. Why not?
We figured we could drive as far out as Iowa. I have some friends out there, and we wanted to hit Villisca. Other than that, we really have no solid plans. We were just going to fly by the seat of our pants.
We did. We had fun. It was epic.
We left on Wednesday night. Figured we could drive straight through the night.
Surprisingly, it wasn't that bad of a ride. Went pretty smooth. I woke up pretty violently the few times I fell asleep, which Christi found hilarious. She drove until she couldn't, then I took over.
We stopped at this part of a cemetary outside Chicago called Showmen's Rest. Apparently, It is an entire plot of graves dedicated to Circus performers. It was started when around 60 performers were killed in a train accident in 1918. It has since then grown to be 750 plots. It was pretty cool.
We really didn't have any solid plans going in to this trip. We had an idea of what was happening, but figured best to fly by the seat of our pants. Isn't life always better that way?
We got to Iowa on Thursday, and ended up staying by my friend's place. We spent Thursday night just having some beers and shooting the shit. After about 38 hours of being awake, we both crash pretty hard that night.
We woke up Friday, and took a little drive. We saw only 2 cars on our ride. TWO.
After our drive, we were taken for a tour of the real side of Iowa. It was pretty awesome. Amazing how much different life is in different places. I still think that I should have grown up in the country.
Friday evening we decided to go a dirt track race. I really wish we had this by us. It's definitely a fun night. I was amused by the front wheel drive heats. A majority of the cars entered were Chevrolet Cavaliers...which I drove for 5+ years. I miss that thing.
After the race Friday, we got back on the road and drove a bit more west and decided to call it a night. We were hitting Villisca Saturday morning. We got a hotel room, and spent some time in the hot tub before we passed out for the evening.
We couldn't get in to the Villisca Ax Murder house before 1pm on Saturday, so we didn't rush in the morning. We had some of our free breakfast at the hotel, and got on the road.
We made it to Villisca with 2 hours to spare, so we decided to wander over to the cemetery to find the graves of the people killed in the house.
Then, we decided to go into the center of town.
Now, I have been to Villisca before. 4 years ago, my friend and I rented out the Ax Murder House for a night. It was a pretty great experience...one I still talk about to this day.
When he and I went, though, I don't remember anything in the town being open. We drove in to the town square wanting to check out the museum we had seen on television shows about Villisca, but it was not open.
When Christi and I drove in to the square, it seemed like more things were open. The museum no longer existed, but someone had taken over the space and turned it in to an antique-like shop. Which was perfect, because we both love wandering around places like that. There were a lot of cool things, and the owner didn't price anything. He said just make me an offer. Well, neither of us are good at the shit...so we just wandered around.
Christi stumbled upon a table of animal skulls, and immediately wanted one. She caved and just asked him how much he wanted...annnnnnnd we ended up walking out of that store with a deer skull for $15.
Once we had finished at the store, we still have about an hour to kill. We walked around, but it didn't seem like much else was open. We ended up finding a little diner, and decided we could kill some time and get some food. It's funny how easily we stick out when we aren't on the East Coast. Christi has both sides of her head shaved...apparently that's not something you see every day in the mid west.
After we had lunch, we headed back over to the house.
We paid for our "tour", and headed outside. We had to wait a few minutes to let Johnny, the tour guide, finish talking to a group a head of us. Once he was done, we walked over to the table to he could give us the history of the house. He asked if we knew, and I said yes...I have actually been here before. I rented out the house about 4 years ago. And, I'm still shocked about this, he remembered me! He said he knew I looked familiar. Now...if you know me...it's weird. I don't look like I did 4 years ago. I went from dark read/black long hair to shorter blonde hair. But...apparently he still remembered us. Crazy.
2012&2016
Anyway, he ended up just telling us to go on in and walk around since we didn't need a history on the house.
It was pretty awesome. Just as I remembered it. It seemed like nothing had changed in 4 years. Still had the same smell. Now, don't laugh at me, but every time I smell older cookie sheets when they are warm...that reminds me of the Villisca Ax Murder House. Weird. I know.
We wandered around the house for an hour or so. Met a couple who had done an overnight only 2 weeks prior. They had captured some crazy stuff...so we shared stories.
Once we were done with Villisca, we got back on the road. Our plan was to hit this zombie burger place in Des Moines.
(http://zombieburgerdm.com/des-moines-downtown/)
Now...if any of you know Christi, you know that she is in love with Slipknot..and Corey Taylor. They are from Des Moines. Christi was super pumped, and made a side comment about how if she were ever going to get a Slipknot tattoo, it should be in Des Moines. Once it was said, I wasn't going to let her NOT do it. She would regret it.
So...we put tattoo shops into the GPS and did some searching. The first one we found had moved locations. The second one we found couldn't take her right away, and the dude was a dick. The third one we found was awesome. The artist was SUPER nice. He even gave her a cheaper price because we came from Jersey. He was pretty pumped.
After that tattoo was done, (no, I did not get one too) we headed to the burger place. It was a 20 or so minute wait, but worth it. Christi got a drink that was delicious. Our burgers were huge and delicious. The atmosphere was awesome. If you asked me how I would decorate my house...it would be like this place. It was awesome.
(Yes, that burger has mac&cheese on it. Yes, the "bun" is really fried mac&cheese.)
After we ate...like a 1/4 of that because it was huge...we got back on the road. We were going to drive as far as we could towards the Cleveland area. Our plan was to meet up with Christi's uncle the next day, and he lives outside of Cleveland.
We ended up driving through a really rough storm. It got a little sketchy for a bit, but we made it out alive...obviously.
At around 11, Christi started to not feel well...so she laid down in the back and I drove for a bit. My plan was to drive as long as I could so we would have less to go the next morning. Around 12:30, I had driven passed Indianapolis, and was planning on going until we got back into the Eastern time zone...but Christi really was feeling shitty so we decided to call it a night. We found a motel, that wasn't super sketchy, and crashed for the night.
We both slept a little longer than we wanted, but got back on the road around 9:30/10 the next morning. We still had about 6 hours to get to her uncle, so we decided to just drive and only stop if we needed.
We made it to her uncle at around 3:30. We met him at this local biker bar. Her uncle is a pretty awesome dude. Long hair, long beard, covered in tattoos and piercings and rides a pretty epic motorcycle. But, if you sit there and listen to him...he is exactly like her father (who is total opposite of covered in tattoos and a biker). It was funny, and adorable.
Her uncle was awesome, and let us stay by him for the night. We had some beers and just chit chatted for the rest of the night. I got to meet all of his kitties, and even though I couldn't breathe it was awesome. They were all adorable. He has a cat that doesn't have a tail named Porky. Porky was awesome.
We woke up the next morning, and got on the road around 8. We wanted to hit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on our way home...and wanted to attempt to get there about when it opened.
We made it there around 10, so it was perfect. We were one of the first few people let in...so it was dead.
If you ever get the chance to go to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame...GO! It was AWESOME. I would go again in a heartbeat.
We had to leave our mark of course.
After we left there...we were on the home stretch. The last leg of any road trip is also the worst.
It was 11:30am...and all Christi wanted was tacos. Tacos tacos tacos. That's all I heard.
We found a Taco Bell right when we got back on the highway, but it was closed because they were doing work. Christi wasn't letting this go...so I found a Taco Bell off the highway like 10 miles, and off we went.
Once her taco want was quenched...we were on the road.
We made it home a little after 7, and we were both exhausted.
I passed out super early.
I had the next day off, Christi did not. But, I was up early regardless.
We had a concert that night...the last PNC concert of our summer.
We were heading down to see Rob Zombie and Korn.
Now...you would think we would be so sick of each other we would want nothing to do with each other when we got home. Surprisingly enough, we were good. I guess that's a sign of a good friendship.
I drove, though, so we didn't have to spend another hour and a half in her truck. THAT may have put us over the edge.
The concert was awesome....as we knew it would be. It was a super epic way to end a super epic week.
If you stuck around until the end of this...yay! You rock!
Stay tuned for more awesome adventures.
Just because summer is over...doesn't mean our epic adventures will stop. We still have a lot planned!
Let the good times roll!
-Amy
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