Road Trip Day 1: Indianapolis to Lincoln

Monday July 1, I packed all my worldly belongings into my little Dodge Neon. Tuesday morning, I awoke after too little sleep and took my car to Raymond's Alignment Service in Plainfield for the final touches on what had turned into a rather tedious attempt at preparing my car for the trek across the country. When Billie (my car) was finished my sister helped me rearrange my belongings into the best configuration we could manage. Winston was confined to a very small space in the front seat and quite unhappy about it. I could only see out of part of my rear view window, but there was nothing we could do about that, short of chucking more of my belongings.

Winston ordering some breakfast while we waited for my car to be aligned. 

I had forgotten Winston’s leash at my parents’ house, so I drove there for another set of tearful goodbyes before hitting the road. Revisiting my parents’ house meant altering my planned route to Nebraska. Instead of 74, I took US 36 straight across Indiana and into Illinois, and I can tell you, there is nothing along that route anywhere near the border. I was half convinced I was going to have to pull over and pee in a soybean field, and had even started looking for a place with a little privacy (from what, I don’t know, as there was no one around) when I finally found a gas station. The rest of the drive through Illinois was uneventful, save for the guy who leaned out his window to yell at me and flip me off just outside Springfield. Apparently he didn’t think 10mph over the speed limit was fast enough to qualify me for the left lane amidst a flock of cars. Humans.

Missouri was just as boring and never-ending as when I passed through last summer, although I did giggle at the town of Hannibal. I was happy to be on 36 there, as there was little traffic and no need for me to constantly be trying to check my surroundings around suitcases, bags, boxes, and the oil pan blocking much of my windows. Three-quarters of the way through the state my phone was nearly dead and I began to panic about getting to Darla’s house in Lincoln without Google Maps. I turned it off and bought an atlas from a truck stop. Once I reached Lincoln I turned my phone back on and found my way to Darla’s house.

It was one in the morning. I had been on the road for more than twelve hours. I was stressed out from the drive and about Winston, who had refused to eat since we left home. I was exhausted from the drive and a lack of sleep. Unfortunately for me, the night wasn’t over. Winston, who was also a little ball of stress, hadn’t seen Darla in six months and did not remember her. He warmed up to her after a little while, but he when we introduced him to Banjo he kept trying to bite Banjo’s face. Winston has always been very excited to meet new dogs and never shown aggression towards them, so I was a bit taken aback. I blamed it on his stress level. After walking them around a bit together we decided to go to sleep. For me that meant lying on a couple of blankets and an air mattress that went flat in less than fifteen minutes while trying to calm Winston, who was growling at every noise he heard. I think I slept an hour and a half.

The next day Darla and I walked Winston and Banjo to a nearby park. I thought they were going to get along a little better, but I was mistaken. Winston kept up his attempts to eat Banjo’s face whenever he got near him. He also didn’t like Cleve, Darla’s boyfriend, so being in the apartment was a nightmare. I decided that there was no way I could handle the emotional stress of the move and the stress of Winston’s behavior with little to no sleep and checked into a hotel while Darla was at work.

Winston was better behaved, but still barked at noises, terrifying me that we were going to be kicked out. I showered and managed to sleep for an hour before heading back to Darla’s house for a Fourth of July party she was having. I met her friends from work and a few of Cleve’s friends while consuming ‘Murrican food and playing with sparklers. Bri, one of Darla’s friends, kept telling us we were the cutest best friends ever, which was adorable. Late in the evening as people began leaving in twos and threes Darla came back to my hotel with me so we could spend the next day doing nothing.

We spent the Fourth of July consuming leftovers and watching movies and sleeping until late in the day when we joined Cleve for a walk around another park and got Qdoba for dinner. Darla and Cleve dropped me off at my hotel so I could leave the next morning for Denver. Once again I didn’t get a lot of sleep, due to the gunfire-like fireworks popping in the parking lot until late in the night.

Sparklers