Special Interlude Post 1: Fran's Pictures-Days 1-6

So every five posts give or take I'm gonna add supplemental pictures from Fran's cache of legendary shots +any additional and essential snippets of information. Basically, these supplemental posts serve as footnotes filled with juicy tidbits of roadtrip knowledge. First off, Fran reminded me to add some facts in order to substantiate my assertion that Indiana is basically a large-scale set for "The Hills Have Eyes." As I said, "unfortunately" we were not able to make any tourist stops in the state (but seriously I'm not sad at all about our lack of stops, the place is a freaking medieval, lawless, hellish, playground of sin) except for one gas stop and one bathroom stop. The reason I bring up this seemingly useless information is that neither of these stops represented the typical highway gas station/food/convenience plaza which provides maps of the state and pamphlets highlighting various ways to blow money on "unique" state attractions. Instead, BOTH of these plazas were inundated with posters of convicted sex-offense felons on-the-run as if this collage of psychopathic men was a tasteful art exhibit portraying the fine work of Indiana's finest local artisans. Artisans my ass, this mural of wanted posters found in both stops made me a bit apprehensive of using the bathroom and was certainly not the best manner of promoting inter-state commerce. So with that knowledge out of the way, here are some epic shots from the first segment of the trip including some forgotten state signs, my baby (the Jeep) all packed and ready to do a year's worth of driving in 5 weeks, some artsy Chicago pics and the bluesman who preached the insightful words-"It's cheaper to keep her:"