June 12, 2007

Departure Day

A day of many emotions. Excitement, nervousness, joy, frustration, and more nervousness (in about that same order.) The trip started off great. Leaving Providence we stopped in Saugatuck to pick up a few last parts to add to the reserves. Moral was high among the Winnebago men as we hit the road, free from responsibility or commitment of any kind. Soon all of the shirts were strewn on the couches; a no shirt policy inside the Bago was quickly instituted. Windows open, music cranked (when the stereo worked) we worked our way south down I-96.
Our first stop, Niles. We were looking for a gas station when we came across our first unplanned adventure. A park with a playground, a river, and a skate park. The football, Frisbee, and parachute ninja quickly found there ways out of storage and were being tossed around in the mid-afternoon sun. A few pictures were taken, water bottles refilled, and we were on our way.
“I’ve always wondered what it’s like to be the first car in a traffic jam” Slower than most other vehicles on the road, the Winnebago upset a few other travelers sharing the road with us.
Thirty feet past the Michigan border, fireworks. The shirts went back on, and we all went firework shopping. Outside the store we took a picture with our bunker busters, black cats, moon riders, and Saturn rocket batteries in front of the Indiana border sign (shirts back off)
Leaving South Bend, we noticed the oil pressure was dipping. We stopped to add some oil and headed back on our way. It wasn’t until our next gas stop that we noticed we were leaking more fluid. We pulled into a truck stop, added more fluid, and let it cool down a little. We rode bikes around the parking lot, and pulled our fold up chairs down from the roof. 45-minutes later, we’re back on the road to test how fast we’re leaking. Our goal for the night was to reach Monticello, Indiana. New motto, “Time heals all wounds” so far it’s proven true.
We made it to Monticello at around 9:30 and started looking for a place to crash for the night. The dripping fluids from under the engine weren’t much of a concern anymore as was just stopped caring for the night. The nice lady at the police station gave us a list of places we could bring our RV but they all cost money, something we had spent a lot of on our first day. Stopping at a McDonalds to type this up, Micah discovered a Wal-Mart receipt under our table. We asked for directions to the nearest Wal-Mart, and found it just down the road.
The Wal-Mart parking lot became our home for the night. We set up the grill and chairs, ate brats and hot dogs until mid-night. A few phone calls from home, and a trip to the public bathrooms to wash up and we went to bed.
About eight hours and 196 miles from home we realized that our trip had finally become a reality. No parents or authority figures there to tell us what to do, no school work that had to be done, no overtime to be had, we finally made it out.

Winnebago Guys,
Monticello, Indiana
196 miles driven