Fight On, Dear Old Muncie!

Day Three, Sunday, August 21, 2011

After yesterday's successes, we had some high hopes for today. We managed to get a fantastic night's sleep thanks to Jason's wonderful hospitality (thanks again for accommodating us!) and woke up a little before ten to start getting ready. I had come up with the itinerary for the day just as I had the day prior, though Jason suggested we make a small detour to see the Moraine GM Plant. The plant had closed in 2008 and thus had been abandoned for about three years. Great place for some post-apocalyptic, hellscape photography!

It's a pretty eerie place, and kind of shows how quickly the traces of civilization can start to disappear. Anyway, we moved on, and fairly quickly we were in Indiana, hooray!

Our next stop for the day was just over the border in Indiana - our second Madonna of the Trail in Richmond, IN. Just like the Ohio one, it was situated near a golf course, though this one was considerably easier to find. This statue looked a lot more pristine than the last.

Like the other Madonna we saw (and the one we'd see later), this one stands near Route 40, surveying what was once known as the National Highway. The construction of the national highway was okayed by President Thomas Jefferson in 1806. The highway eventually became designated as part of US Highway 40, and several statues were erected to honor the historical context of the original road - to create a safer and speedier gateway to the west coast for settlers.

Next up was a little less historically-interesting monument. After driving a bit further down the highway, we pulled off to observe, what else, another giant thing:

Not much else to say, really. Giant sneaker, on the side of the road, in front of a seemingly unrelated motel. Yep. Moving on!

Once we reached Indianapolis, the weather had shifted from sunny and pleasant to downpour. Fortunately, we managed to reach our lunch destination prior to the real stuff rolling through. Dana had picked out a place called Yats known for its delicious cajun food - sounded absolutely delicious after not eating anything all morning.

It was sunny just a minute ago...

Quirky eatery

Chicken Chorizo, delicious

Dana got the chili served over rice

It was an extremely good lunch and pretty cheap too! The rain had subsided by the time we got done with our meals, so we headed down the street to find the Indianapolis Art Center. It was a pretty neat place, with sculptures scattered around the grounds and a nice little park setting. The crown jewel - the thing we came to see, anyway - was the "twisted house":

After leaving Indianapolis, we were in for a long drive - about three hours until our next destination. So we both hunkered down for the long ride - I got comfortable and Dana got really comfortable and promptly took a nap in the car. While she slept, we passed into the next state in our path - Illinois.

Much of the time, we kept the radio in the "scan" mode, since most of the time the radio stations were fleeting at best. Maybe three of the twenty or so frequencies we'd come across time and time again were Christian stations with ministers and priests ranting and screaming about something. Oh how appropriate this ended up being.

Yup, that little speck at the base is me

That's right, Illinois has what's claimed to be the largest cross in the world. There is apparently a larger one somewhere in Florida, but they still call this one the "largest". Oh well. All I know is that it was huge (about two hundred feet tall) and we couldn't stop saying "Baby Jesus" in Jeremy Clarkson's accent over and over.

We had two stops left, and the bulk of the driving was over. The sun was hanging low in the sky and turning a nice vivid orange as we came across the last two sites in the wrong order! We encountered this fellow on the side of the road.

A giant metal dragon that, rumor had it, breathes fire! We went to the nearby liquor store and bought a couple tokens to put into the slot, $1 per shot, this better be good! Dana had her camera at the ready to take a video of the big steel beast shooting out propane-powered flames, but the only thing that happened upon insertion of the token was a sparking sound. I put in the other token. Nothing. Oh no, maybe he needs more fuel? Either way, we enjoyed Mr. Dragon for what he was and moved on without making much of a fuss about him being broken.

The final stop was similar to our first planned of the day: another Madonna. This one was in Vandalia, Indiana, the western terminus of the original National Highway. We found her on the side of Highway 40 as it moved through the town, complete with some convenient parking spaces right next to her. Easiest Madonna to find yet!

In doing a little more research on these monuments, there are apparently twelve of them in total, in Maryland, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. Hopefully we'll be seeing a couple more on the way out west!

After the final stop for the day, we headed to our hotel, the Hampton Inn and Suites in Collinsville, Illinois, just outside of Saint Louis. We were pleasantly surprised to find that we were upgraded to a suite room with a jacuzzi, which we enjoyed thoroughly!

States: Ohio, Indiana, Illinois

Cities: Indianapolis

Coming up tomorrow...

• A whale of a good time
• Eyes on the prize
• Some confused submariners
• A fake telescope

See you in Tulsa!