Rush and Recovery

So that was this morning...now technically yesterday morning (Friday) at 530am.

I was to have left at 4am, but that's what happens when you're still building things the night before and packing for the first time the morning of.

I told myself the rushed packing was a test of what to do in a Bug-Out situation. My bugout back was packed, but I had not recently inventoried its contents. Some stuff I wanted to bring, and some redundancies were amongst what I had in my head as being needed for this trip. So, I got on the road at 530.

I had only heard back from a few of the coaches of programs that I wanted to visit. That at least meant that I could borrow from the 2 or so hours I had accounted for some of those visits and commit those durations to some serious driving in earnest.

I actually made great time, inadvertently deviated from the route and saved more time still, and then felt inspired enough to make a final 300+ mile push at about 8pm to make it the rest of the way to St. Louis instead of spending the night in Louisville.

My goal was to get out at all of the "Welcome" signs, but they seem to strategically remove the shoulder of the highway immediately prior to and following the sign for a distance of not less than 1/2 mile. So I snapped some really grainy shots at 70mph. Examples:

The Illinois attempt was a debacle. Some sort of weird time delay happened, and by the time I realized what was going on, I ended up with a shot from beneath the dashboard somehow.

And I'm pretty sure I'm in Missouri right now, but I never saw a sign. It's almost like how I thought I was in Illinois because I saw the "I" and stopped reading. 4th grade geography needs to start coming back to me.

Here are some other fun sights from along the way thus far:

The flag only 'lived' for about one hour. It almost tore completely free, but I pulled over and got it while it was hanging on by it's last thread.

I passed by the town where Jenn and I got married. awwww.

I'll quiet my inner 12 year old boy. They have an awesome cheerleading program. No one was on campus to stunt with though. So the 12 year old got to buy things that say Morehead.

Thoroughbred Park in Kentucky. They have some sort of fixation on horses in this state. Also, I realized that this is where I should have been born. To have a truck here is like living anywhere else and having a last name. It is just expected.

I don't think there are any Alphas on the yard. I saw a bench made out of pyramids, but that could have conceivably been anyone. Shout out to the sorors though. Keep it classy.

Not feeling the appearance of a gut in this photo due to shirt bunching. I've actually been starving myself. No more tummy. But I realized that this pic looked all frowny outside of the Student Center...

...So I took a happier one inside

the 'ville. Sad that their book store was closed. I got cool decals at UK and Morehead. I really wanted to add the Kentucky State Bird to my window. I settled for a t-shirt from a nearby mall.

Just thought this was a cool little scene. Sucks though 'cause bugs were literally kamikaze-ing my truck the entire drive. I squeegee'd the windshield 4 separate times. And the bumper? Forget about it. I got Gnats on Gnats on Gnats.