7/30: World’s Largest Truck Stop, IA – Omaha, NE

Shortly after leaving behind the rest of my stale, PB&J bagel we were on the highway. Shortly after getting out of Chicago we noticed how low we were on gas. Driving through farm land, no exits in sight, the car giving us an estimated 0 miles left in our gas tank. I started to think about how long it could possibly take for one of us to walk to the next unknown exit if it came down to it.

Then luck slapped us across our faces.

There it was, a sign reading Oasis and pointing to the lonely road that lead us to a Mobil.

I was pretty hungry, so I popped my head into the store and found a bunch of bananas. Let me introduce you to the most expensive banana I have ever eaten.

$1.08; I made sure to get the biggest one.

A few hours into our drive down to Des Moines we found out that Ben had left. We were headed to Omaha. No more juggalos, no more Faygo. We drove along 80 for a while and spotted really large signs for what claims to be the World’s Largest Truck Stop. Pretty sure they aren’t making that up.

Chelsey and some trucker husbands of hers.

7/29: Chicago, IL

Because we weren’t planning on going to Chicago at all (out of the way), we had no idea who would be around. Phone calls were made but with almost no luck. We started making our way to Wicker Park and were almost killed. Justin was driving on through an intersection because there was no stop sign, no red light, or any lights at all. A sixteen lane four-way intersection had no working traffic lights and we were almost sandwiched between two speeding cars. Luckily (obviously), Justin slammed the brakes in time.

The passenger in a passing car rose the roof for me after I took this.

Chelsey got in touch with a friend from home now living in Chicago. Us picky vegans wanted to eat at a good vegan place, and our friends from Chicago (now living in Brooklyn) told us to go to Pick Me Up Cafe.

7/28: Brooklyn, NY – Kokomo, IN

What did I do on my summer vacation? I packed all of my things into one bag and drove 7,000 miles.

sponsored by Volkswagen, Trader Joe's, and Dr. Pepper

My roommates Justin, Helen, Chelsey, and I ended up going on this trip by chance. I’m the only one who didn’t have a reason to go, but at least I made gas cheaper and had a great experience. So on July 27th 2009 we packed all of our things, and at 3AM on July 28th it was all shoved into Justin’s VW Rabbit.

appropriate

No one expected to leave that late, so no one bothered to get some sleep ahead of time. We already knew we were starting with a 12 hour drive to Indiana, which for Chelsey and I meant the beginning of a hunt for Juggalos and Faygo. We hit New Jersey in 10 minutes and didn’t stop until around 9AM in Pennsylvania. Chelsey took over the wheel, but not before grabbing some much needed caffeine, for some reason in the form of Mountain Dew.

Chelsey doin' the dew

Ohio was pretty boring.

At around 5 or 6PM we made it to Allie’s house, a sweetheart and good friend of Helen and Justin in Kokomo. Her home is really nice, three bedrooms that she shares with her dog Charlie. While she’s only required to pay for utilities, the house is valued at the same price as my room. Brooklyn is a gyp.

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A few photos from a Sleepaway Camp shoot from a few months ago. Yea!