Indianapolis sucks. If someone has a better way of putting it, well, help.

I love rolling into a town I’ve never been to. I like stumbling onto things you’ve heard about in the news or wondered about growing up. Maybe it’s a sports team or a landmark or some chain of weird fried chicken eateries.

Didn’t do too much wandering around Indianapolis. Drove and drove. My mind was elsewhere.

The downtown does have an overabundance of beautiful, dramatic landmarks. The place is set up on a simple, flat-as-that-Midwest grid, so, getting around is pretty easy. All the big roads lead downtown, which made for easy access to the monuments and hustle and bustle.

389. “Monument City.”
390. “I barely escaped an encounter with a ferocious Hoosiersaurus.”
391. “Used cars.”
392. “All you need: Puff & Chew.”

I was in town primarily to see Mark Kozelek. But, after a long day of doing pretty much nothing, I just threw the towel in on waiting around to see him and split north towards Chicago. I’ve seen Kozelek a couple times, and, it would’ve been great to see him again, but, maybe not that great. I was more interested in the fact he was playing in Indy. That is what was peculiar to me. Next time, you crooner.

I drove for awhile, enjoying dusk country roads and a brilliant sunset. Then things got ugly as I got towards the Gary area. (Always does, hell.) I got caught in an ugly rainstorm that was pouring down real hard. I got back to the interstate, rolled a couple miles and waited it out in a rest stop. The pounding rain and thunderstorm slowly moved on, I drove another 20 miles and took shelter in a La Quinta Inn, in Marrionville, Indiana, or something. Wait, no, it’s “Merrillville.” Yeah.

393. “An Indiana sunset.”
394. “These clouds were little brothers to the big sonaofabitch storm that overtook me shortly after this…”

Merrillville has EVERYTHING! Wendy’s, Staples, Best Western, Cingular, Steak & Shake….