Entry for July 17, 2007

It's what they call an "Only Andy Polley" moment.

I don't really understand those, being as how by definition that is all I experience...but that is what Josh said last night...and what Rachel said today.

So it's 8:30 P.M.  VBS is over.  And I'm lookin' for a lil' somethin' to do...well, it so turns out that I had remembered seeing a motorcycle on craigslist a couple of days ago.  So I pull it up at church, call the guy, find out it's still available, and then tell him I'm comin' down to get it.

"I'll be there by 10:00 P.M."

Problem.  I have to run to someone's house, pick up something, run home, grab my cell phone and some cold hard cash, pick up Josh from camp, then hit the road.

So I do just that.  Hit the road.  I see a deer on the way out of Loami...but nothin' comes of it.  Three miles down the road...another deer.  This one looks like a "bat out of hell."  Seriously, not like any deer I have seen.  It is running along the cornfield in the ditch.  About 42 mph (I clock it).  I'm waitin' for it to cross the road at any point, but it won't.  So I make a risky move and gun it!  I pass the deer with no problems.

Ok, pick up the stuff, blaze back home, call the guy, say I can't make it before 10:30, he says OK, grab some cash, get some gas, meet Josh, and we're off!

Did I mention I could use some food?

Anyway, 90 miles later, we get lost in Alton, Illinois...at one point we were so scared that we locked our doors.  Josh was waitin' for some man to come out of the woods and grab him.  (I was thinkin' more like "kill" but still...).

Well, we finally find our guy.  Nice work garage with four motorcycles.  A sign on both of his vehicles...."Wanted Motorcyles Running or Not."  Sweet action!

The bike is a beauty.  1979 Honda CBX500.  10,000 miles.  Great shape!  So I take it.  Knocked him down 50 bones.

We load it up, then head for a recommended restaurant.  Fast Eddy's, as it's called.  I've heard of it before but couldn't remember where.  I thought it was some biker hang-out???

Well, we roll up only to find that Fast Eddy's is lit up with pink neon lights.  Kinda scary.  99-cent burgers, 29-cent shrimp...lookin' good!  Until we go to the door.  MUST BE 21.  Not a problem.  I'm 24!  Josh...well, not so much.  Well, I think we can still swing it, so I walk in.  The guy behind the bar cards me as I'm walkin' towards the tables.

"Didn't you have a friend with you?"

I turn around.  Josh is nowhere to be found.  Kind of awkward...

"Um, yes, I thought I did."

So I turn around, walk out and find Josh outside.  He says he's not up for tryin'.

"Ok..."

So we head for the gas station next door to ask for a restaurant.  The "Riverbend" is recommended.  After some bogus directions, we do circles through town.  Then we stop a police officer.  He, too, tells us bogus directions.

After driving out of town, I find a Piasa bird emblazened upon a bluff.  Indians must've been here.  Boy, if only Discovery Channel knew about this!  I get out, take a picture, and head back into town!  I need some food!

I take a side street when Josh screams out, "There it is!"  He sees the restaurant a few blocks over.

We roll in to be greeted by one of the kindest (yet most talkative) girls in the industry.  I order a burger and fries...end up with a free root beer...and listen to her tell how she hitch-hiked from Alton, IL, to Florida...and Texas...and California.

How I should've known friends from Springfield that she partied with.  Jimmy Sizzler from Wisconsin.  The best name given to a guy ever, she says.  How she has an Axel Rose tattoo on her...."butt"...different word used, but hey.  How she used it to get places on her trip.  How she lived in a "squatter house" on the 8th floor of an abandoned building in LA because Verizon put a cell-phone tower on top, and it was the only floor that had electricity.  How it was hard to walk 8 floors without a light, and how you could fall down several floors without a light because the guardrails were long gone.  How she's leaving to do it all again in September.  How I thought she was actually going to show us her tattoo...

Anyway, 4 1/2 hours.  $850 motorcycle.  One absolutely delicious hamburger and fries at "The Riverbend."  And one girl that is following her dreams...

I thought it was a normal night.  Other people don't.  I don't get it.

2007-07-17 18:29:00 GMT