Indiana – I Like to Wander

September 2nd, 2015

Though Indiana is small, it still takes some time to drive around and hit everything. Another day of wandering was in order to see some sights, and get some work done. I started off with some car work and then headed off to the Indiana Art Museum. I’d heard it was free, which meant I had to check it out. A free museum always sounds like a nice change of pace. It wasn’t free. It was free for members, but way more for a day pass than I wanted to spend. I spent the time wandering around the outside gardens, and a park not too far with more outdoor sculptures that were open to the public. The surrounding area was a nice field sprinkled with large sculptures and a fountain. Some of the pieces looked like giant strips of bacon out of a Dr. Seuss book. Wandering around, I hopped on the path and saw a guy kneeling at the end, but couldn’t make out why. Upon walking closer, I realized he was shooting something on video or camera, and I was in the way. Woops. Ducking out of the path, I was told by who I presume were the people being shot, to get back in. What? They wanted me to be IN the shot? Yup, just keep walking like normal. Okay. So, I have no idea what they were shooting, or anything, but I may be in a music video or something awesome. I’ll have to keep my eye out. Next, I wandered over to the gardens. In the parking lot was a basketball court with red and blue arches all over it, looking like it was meant to be a ball bouncing around, but the hoops were an extension of the arches. Strange. In the park were dozens of sculptures, of all shapes, sizes and materials. There were two massive metal rings that had shadows which only aligned on the solstices. A huge plastic skeleton that I could jump on from bone to bone. Even a massive tree turned horizontal and turned into a playset. It was fun to check out, but I felt limited in only being able to photograph it from 6 ft or lower, as many of the pieces seemed to dwarf myself. Happy, and looking to do a bit more movement, I wandered over to the local rock climbing gym to easy my mind, and take a much needed shower. Another beautiful gym, and since it was only mid-day, I had the whole place to myself! Unfortunately, I had the whole place to myself, and no belay partner, so I kept to the bouldering area, which still proved to have plenty of problems for me to work on. After a good work out, and a gratuitously long shower, I headed out to my next destination, Turkey Run State Park. I made it some ways before stopping at a gas station on the highway. I began to feel hungry, and figured I could make something with what I had. The only source of light in every direction, the gas station was like a small beacon, though it was complimented by police lights as they had pulled someone over just across the I pulled in to a parking spot, popped my trunk and began to assemble food, when a woman approached me, asking if I had a valid driver’s license. Puzzled at the inquiry, I replied yes, not sure if I had inadvertently offered her a ride. She was the passenger from the car that got pulled over, and they had arrested the driver. Since the car was on the side of the road, and she couldn’t drive, the cops called a tow truck. All I had to do was drive it the 30 ft from the road to a parking spot in the gas station. Sure thing. I accepted, with much thanks, got the keys and walked over. As I did, one of the cops in the car yelled at me, “Hey, you got a license?” Puzzled at the seemingly dumb inquiry, I nodded, and hopped in the car. It’s not like it would have been hard for the cop to drive the car the 30 ft and save her the trouble, he was just being an ass. I pulled the car in, made sure she didn’t need a lift or food or anything else, and went back to my dinner. Satisfied, I checked in with her one last time before heading out.