After another great night of sleep I was eager in the morning to hit the road. Actually, I found myself getting a little aggravated… There’s only so many times you can trip over boxes, stub your toe and stumble over a spare/spare tire before you start to lose it. Since I was fully rested I figured I would do a marathon drive and try to get home in the next couple of days.

After a few mistakes like scraping the side of my RV on a pole at the Gas station and leaving my retractable vent in my bathroom open only to lose the cover to the harsh winds while driving, I figured I knew my RV pretty damn well… Now it was time to get the hell home and get The Millennium Falcon ready for a year long trip.

Before leaving Geneseo campground, they had this great reminder sign to check that you have everything ready for travel. I could have used a sign like this a couple of days ago when I left the roof vent to my bathroom open. But hey, you live and learn and the more bangs and dings the Millennium Falcon gets, the more character she builds. I love my bucket of bolts and it is an honor to fix her when needed… I actually really enjoy working on her. I even find myself feeling guilty when I look at another, newer RV… I apologize to her fearing she will break down in defiance… Hey, it’s better to be safe than sorry…

Here’s a few pictures as I leave Geneseo. Started to get a little nervous when I saw all the fields once again but my sinuses were fine this morning… I will definitely make my way back here, I liked it so much.

Now as I was driving through Illinois I was listening to one of their radio stations and Tom Petty’s song “You don’t know how it feels” came on. I couldn’t control my laughter because they changed one of the lyrics, which they obviously felt was too controversial on the radio.

Now, I didn’t care that they changed the lyric, it was what they replaced it with that made me react in such a way. The lyric was ” let’s roll another joint” which they replaced with “let’s take another drag…”

Really???????

Is this really protecting our children? So, to protect your children from the big bad pot, you replaced a lyric that was just describing a man rolling a joint with a person smoking a cigarette… Doesn’t anyone see the hypocrisy of this? They replaced a harmless plant that has not been linked to many deaths or any deaths at all to a plant that has killed millions, symbolizes the horrific lies the corporations rain down on the public and has proven over and over again it is extremely addictive. A plant that has not only killed the ones who smoke it but has also killed the ones who have been exposed to it. It amazes me how far up our asses our heads really are! If I was to choose the plant that I want my children smoking when they grow up, it certainly is not going to be nicotine and I certainly don’t think it is a better alternative to reference just because it is legal.

Illinois wake up! I know I was out in the boondocks and things probably get a little looser as you drive closer to the city… but I also know you guys have computers and books out there. Do some research and use your brains before choosing something that is socially acceptable, which is a drug (yes nicotine is a drug) that has killed and destroyed so many families world wide over a plant that only brings peace and happiness to it’s user. They can’t even prove Marijuana is addictive yet they have proven nicotine is both mentally and physically addictive over and over again.

This is a perfect example of how susceptible we are to the Propaganda that has been pushed on us over the years. We choose what is harmful yet socially acceptable over something that has not been proven to be harmful just because we are told so. If that is not Corporate control then I don’t know what is. Let’s at least admit they have a big say in what is accepted and what is not, which is extremely scary considering the lies they have shoveled on to us in the past. I don’t know why the majority of the citizens in this country choose to trust these controlling, lying, greedy assholes when they have proven over and over again that they choose money over everything, even the publics’ health.

Sorry I am hopping on my soap box here but I just couldn’t let this example slip by because it says so much about how we think or let others think for us… You can think what you want about Marijuana but when you put it in the same category as nicotine, that’s when I have a problem… When Marijuana builds a horrible reputation like nicotine, then you can start comparing the two but I think that’s never going to happen considering Marijuana has been around much longer than nicotine and still has a way better reputation if you look at the facts and ignore all the crappy lies they are throwing at us…

 

Here I am crossing the Des Plaines River in Joliet, Illinois. I like these erector set looking bridges… Brings me back to the days when I lived in Brooklyn and used to travel into Manhattan… I lived in Flatbush, Brooklyn when I first moved to NYC. It was a slummy neighborhood which was right next to a Hasidic Jewish neighborhood…

Let me tell you, you want to get some good, fresh, clean food… go to a Jewish neighborhood… You can always guarantee you will get good clean food there. I worked at a Jewish Italian place when I first moved to NY and they even sent their knives out to be professionally cleaned, sharpened and blessed. The chances of getting food poisoning in one of their restaurants is next to nill… They pride themselves on healthy, clean food… It’s a part of their religion for Christ’s sake!

Doing a little mining in Thorton, Illinois… If you want to see a really good reality t.v. show on mining, watch “Gold Rush.” I’m not much of a reality t.v. person but when you get a bunch of hicks digging for gold with huge, dangerous machines… you can’t help but tune in. I think it’s available on Netflix…

Here I am, making good time entering Hammond, Indiana… Only about a day away from home now…

Here’s some fields from Center, Indiana… A lot of fields and hills in Indiana…

A picture of the fully rested driver… Driving the Millennium Falcon is so freeing… People who know me, know I hate driving but this isn’t driving to me… It’s like sitting in a living room but instead of watching t.v, I am viewing the world as it passes me by. It’s not like looking out a car window, where you have to lean forward to see the sky… In the Millennium Falcon you can see everything from the ground to the sky… It’s like your own personal view of the world… Just for you to enjoy….

Your mind wanders while driving, it’s like you are in a trance… There are times when I snap out of this meditative mode realizing that I am driving but wasn’t actually paying attention to it. It’s like you are on automatic pilot as things remind you of the past. It’s almost like your brain is slowly healing itself by reminiscing and working out the past.

There were times when I noticed tears forming in my eyes… thinking of the past and hoping for a great future. I think about old girlfriends… Stupid things I have done and how naive I was but how free I was also… I truly do believe ignorance is bliss… Not that I want to erase what I have learned and experienced… I just want to get back that fearlessness… that eagerness to get up everyday and experience everything around me… I want to be curious again instead of focusing on what I have and have not done… I didn’t give a shit about accomplishments when I was young. I didn’t even think about it, I just did it…

Most of all I want to get rid of that heavy weight that I always feel pushing on my chest… It’s not a physical pressure, it’s an emotional pressure that makes me not want to get out of bed everyday… It’s a pressure that is already predicting the horrible things I will encounter that day without even starting the day… A fear of what bullshit is waiting for me, what I have forgotten to do, what bill hasn’t been paid, what device is going to give me trouble and the long time I am going to have to wait just to talk to someone who may be able to fix my problem… if I am lucky…

I feel that pressure less and less everyday and I hope to get rid of it all together as I experience this beautiful country… Being on the road makes you realize what is really important in life… It also frees you from any judgements and criticism… It makes what you complain and worry about everyday seem meaningless and petty…

I don’t know what kind of a person I will be when this trip ends but I am confident that I will become a more rounded, less volatile person… Already I feel the anger that engulfs me everyday slipping away because it is a useless emotion and brings me nothing. It doesn’t mean I will stop fighting things that I don’t agree with, it just means I will take a more methodical, sensible approach to things instead of raising my blood pressure and losing my temper… If this trip doesn’t kill me I truly believe it will save my life… it already has because I know I have not been living for the past few years… but I am definitely living now.

If you don’t watch out, life will pass you by… That is why I have taken this trip, to discover what is passing by me… And the reason I write this blog is to hopefully inspire others to do what I have chosen to do… Be free!

Goodnight and wait till you see what happens to me tomorrow… It is one hell of a story…