Toes in the...errr... Mud...

I feel like the song "Rain rain go away, come again another day." Has been constantly going through my head at the first two festivals. The funny thing is it doesn't really rain... it pours... for a good hour or two, and then the weather is perfectly comfortable. Our last day in Indi was just like that. Driving around we found out what flash flood and water planing really meant. The water built up on the roads to completely cover the entire sacrifice with a solid six inches of water, making it nearly impossible for some cars to maneuver. In addition to that, water planing was probably the word of the day around the city. Ask our new friend James. We were traveling around town with him when we got to experience it first hand. The car water planed right into the back of a van that already had a dent in the exact same spot we hit it. No damage done, we just continued our journey after a nice hand shake with the van driver.

The rain lasted long enough for me to have the most amazing Chai ever, and for everyone to catch up with internet usage. After the storm spit we headed over to house pool with our Undignified family. It was the perfect day to relax and BBQ with friends (and family for that matter.) I also got to expand my new Mac and Cheese fascination by putting it on my turkey burger. Thanks Tony for the BEST IDEA EVER! Mac and cheese burger, mac and cheese pizza, what else can mac and cheese make ten times better?

As it turns out Indianapolis is a pretty neat city. We got to see all different ends of of it. The best part was walking the canal with Joel and Sara while getting a reenactment of their engagement. The canal was beautiful, although somewhat disappointing that we couldn't swim in it due to the city's need to dye it for random holidays.

The next day we headed to Columbus Ohio for some good old fashioned couch surfing. We were wandering what is called the German district and met an amazing lady, Betsy, who informed us the neighborhood we were arranged to stay in wasn't the safest of places. She mentioned that she had an Avatar tree and fireflies at night. Sold! We opted to stay there and spend the whole night under the tree and watching the fireflies. Fireflies are a new thing for me and I have to say they are awesome, although I constantly thought there were sparks from the candle flying in the air. I've spent too much time around fire shooting fires.

We packed up our stuff the next morning and headed out bright and early to Alive. Alive is located on Atwood Lake and it is an awesome camp site. Unfortunately our camp site was a good half mile from the vendor tent which made our breaks that much shorter. Alive was much less stressful. People actually knew where to go and who to see, it was a big load off of my shoulders since I seemed to have inherited my mothers ability to worry about the little things. At Alive we met some more awesome people. The ice cream man Keith was overly generous with his old fashioned ice cream. He loved my visits and always left me with a full bowl of ice cream afterward. Delicious! What a great man.

As for other merchandise vendors, I was most impressed by the organization Ride Nature which is designed to bring board sports to kids in poverty. Their attitude about everything they did was so positive and incredibly contagious. Because of that, I want to go on a surf trip with them and try to help them tap into Montana's beautiful mountains with some kids. Uh oh... another project.
Alive proved to be another rainy festival. Except this time we got to fully experience mud. After a downpour the field you had to travel through was a complete mud pit. If only I wasn't trying to sell people sweet shirts I would have been sliding it in without hesitation. Mind you, this could have presented an issue seeing how I refuse pay three dollars for a shower (my only clean option at this festival.) Maybe next time...

I have now made my way further east to Pennsylvania. The past few days have been relaxing hanging out with my friend Jeremy that I met out here last year. His hometown Bellefonte is fully of amazing architecture that has been fun to experiment with my Nikon's photo abilities. It's been nice to get some Kodee time after dropping off Caleb. Being around people 24/7 leaves little you time, but it makes your really appreciate it when you get it. My second roadie flew in last night so the adventure can continue...

Next stop Creation...

Way Down South

Oy….the beginning of this journey has completely taken me by storm (followed by a double rainbow.) Instead of catching up on sleep I should have practiced surviving on little to no sleep. Little did I know my summer was in the hands of the best procrastinator I have ever encountered, believe me I know some hard people to beat in that category…  but it’s all a part of the adventure.

Upon arriving in Billings I was thrown into a frenzy or rolling t-shirts, setting up the booth, taking inventory, and packing the car like the game Tetris.  As exhausting as it was, it was very necessary to be a part of. In the process of this all I learned a lot about the structure and practice of My Fight that I wouldn’t have known without hands on experiences. Not to mention, it was a blast to hang out with the people behind the movement.

The best part about it was the run we did. We drove two hours out to Fort Smith, Montana for the “Not Another Dam Run.” This seems like a horrible idea when we were as crunched for time as we were, but it was totally worth it. Driving out there I was planning on running the 5K, but upon arriving I heard that that 10K was basically a one-time opportunity (at least on an annual basis.) The trail went up and over the dam defined as the “grand canyon on Montana.” Sounds fun right? Welp, after I huffed and puffed at a snails pace up the mile long hill ending at the dam’s crossing it totally was. The view, along with the endorphin high was phenomenal. I could easily say breath taking, if at that moment I had had any breath to take away.  After making it up the hill I coasted the last half of the race over more easily terrain and met some amazing people along the way, and ended up making a contact for South Africa if I ever get around to visiting.

But… now we are on the road and it has been a pretty eventful experience so far. The driving is never the most enjoyable part of the ride, but we did our best to take time and enjoy the scenery. We found Mount Rushmore is less than extraordinary, but something every American should see.

As for Ichthus, it has been quite an adventure too. I’d like to introduce this festival with one story in mind: Andrew Hammond and his Jesus fish story. Ichthus is the name for the Jesus fish, and I can’t help but giggle to myself when I think of Andrew and the girl who Jesus fished him. Snap!

To continue the adventure, when we were about a mile out we were in a flash flood twice. When we finally made it to the farm the vendor booth that been “compromised” meaning that the combination of a man in a golf cart and a huge gust of wind had successfully knocked over a portion of the tent. Sales were delayed long enough for Caleb and I to regain our strength for the long days of breaking down the idea of micro financing.

What really helped keep us going through the long hours were the amazing people we met at the festival. I feel like I’m using the term “amazing” far too much, but it is completely appropriate. The booth next to us was a mission group called YWAM, all of the people who work there are energetic and have a contagious passion for everything they do.  Not to mention they took care of us by sharing food and a shelter during the severe thunderstorm that shut down the entire festival for a few hours.  I’m looking forward to getting to know them better with all the festivals we will be at with them. It has been enlightening being around them and discovering the true power of a prayer.

Friends are not hard to come by at these events. Another t-shirt company at the festival has been gracious enough to open their homes to us and take us around Indianapolis for a few days to fully experience the meaning of southern hospitality. Thank you to everyone with Undignified you all are awesome and great to spend time with.

Needless to say I am excited for what is to come with the rest of the festivals. I hope to build lasting relationships and continue to make new and different friends along the open road.