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F150 Break In Road Trip


               
2025 Jul 26, 10:39pm   983 views  50 comments

by Maga_Chaos_Monkey   follow (1)  




I'm picking up a new truck in Des Moines Iowa soon. Then I'm going to head to a very small town near Cedar Rapids Iowa to visit someone.

I'll be then taking a leisurely ride back to San Antonio Texas over a week or 10 days, depending on how I feel, keeping the speed limit below 50mph as much as possible for the 1st 1000 miles to break the engine in. Lots of starts and stops would be good. I'm going to get an oil change at some Ford location near the 1K mile point.

So I'll be zig zagging around the mid-west and I thought someone(s) might have some ideas for places I should put on my route that would be fun to check out. I've driven from St. Louis to Rolla MO once to visit a pal who was setup in temporary housing by FEMA after hurricane Katrina wiped out their home in New Orleans. It was a boring as fuck drive. That's fine so long as I have destinations along the way that are interesting.

The 1st leg out of Cedar Rapids I'm considering going to Peoria Illinois. Looks like maybe they have a nice little lake there and decent hotels. And an Uncle Bucks Fish Bowl and Grill! @wookieman this is your region I think. Any tips?

After that I'm considering zig zagging down the Mississippi river region until I pop out of Hot Spring Arkansas on the 30 heading toward Dallas for the final leg home. But if I get some great ideas I might change things up considerably.

National parks, etc., but other stuff might be fun like 'Where Elvis once fought a wet back over a pool game", and shit like that might be a worthy turn or two. I'm not against heading further East as well but that is generally out of my way.

After 1K miles are on the odometer then it's full self driving Blue Cruise to get home on the highways.

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41   WookieMan   2025 Aug 7, 4:40am  

Maga_Chaos_Monkey says

T-mobile does. Not. Work. Anywhere. In. Iowa.

Verizon or AT&T really only work in these parts once you're 100 miles west of Chicago. And of course they're the most expensive.

Illinois sucks in Chicagoland, but you can find a ton of gems once you get out of that region. Galena for sure is a top 3 IL visit, glad you went. Starved Rock is probably too far east but is cool. My sons buddy fell of a cliff there this spring lol. Fucking dumb ass Billy.

South and again slightly east, but Shawnee in southern IL is a cool spot. We would play shows here when I did the band thing.


If headed west the Ozark's are the Ozark's. Not a huge fan. But if you want to get hammered you can have some fun and this time of year there will be some nice eye candy as far as women go.

South of there I've only been on one off trips and usually just a one night stay and no exploring. And you know Texas better than I do. None of the above mentioned are bucket list type places, but for IL they're cool. Only thing is the faster ways are interstate, but there are state highways that are generally 55mph. Stop and go through small towns where you might find something weird.

If you're at I-80 in Davenport, it's only going to get more weird until you reach TX. Everyone thinks of AL, MS, TN, GA, etc. as being hill billy. IL, MO and AK take the cake in that realm, at least for white trash. They're fun white trash though if that makes sense. From Pat net post I envision you as a more learned man. Sometimes hanging out with the common folk is a blast. Just drive save. One dive bar here can get you in a world of hurt. Especially if you don't know the cops.
42   Maga_Chaos_Monkey   2025 Aug 7, 6:50pm  

Turns out my sim card was f'd up. I happened upon a t-mobile store and they switched me to e-sim and I'm back in business.

I meandered along the bank of the Mississippi Iowa side using back roads to St. Louis.

Sketchy as fuck. The Marriott by the airport has secure parking at least. I'm going to gtfo of here in the morning and yeah, mark twain Ozark stuff.

I may then go on to hot springs Arkansas same day, not sure.

I grew up at a redneck high school and still have lots of blue collar pals in san antonio. Also gang affiliated kids when i was a kid in California.

I keep my career pals separate from my legacy pals.

Bar and restaurant here are open until 1:30AM which is nice. No need to leave the hotel.

Braised short ribs and some cold IPAs
43   WookieMan   2025 Aug 7, 7:45pm  

Maga_Chaos_Monkey says

Sketchy as fuck. The Marriott by the airport has secure parking at least. I'm going to gtfo of here in the morning and yeah, mark twain Ozark stuff.

South of 80 my guy. Even us northern folks are like WTF is up with these people. For a TX guy I don't think it probably gets normal until 20 or 10 even.

You're breaking in the truck so I get it, but that's why I fly. Seen all lower 48 so I'm good. Sounds like you're getting far enough south. Safe travels, I'm out of my element south of the Ozark's.

Gotta find a dive bar though. You'll either thank me or hate me. There are winners down there though. You'll meet the most interesting characters if you're solo.
44   Maga_Chaos_Monkey   2025 Aug 7, 7:55pm  

I started out at a dive. Tonic in des moines.

Fuck no here tho.

I've been tipping 50% given I basically got a free truck and trip.

Lots of poverty along the Mississippi. Aging industrial infa, not in use etc.
45   Bd6r   2025 Aug 7, 8:26pm  

When do you get to TX?
46   Maga_Chaos_Monkey   2025 Aug 7, 8:44pm  

Bd6r says

When do you get to TX?

Not sure yet but I'm going through Dallas and then south.

I still need to buy at least one more toy before I look you up. I have 2 since our last chat. I did start looking for it. At least I now have the reliable transportation I mentioned 2 years ago finally!

Right before this trip I saved a "all AR brands rated" video. So I'll be pulling the trigger (ha!) on that after I get back from a work trip to San Francisco when I get back in late August.

And corals. I finally have my tank water dialed in for corals but I can't go away for weeks at a time when they are in quarantine tanks.
47   Maga_Chaos_Monkey   2025 Aug 7, 8:54pm  

May take me another month or so to get over this nasty cough I'm sure nobody wants to be around.

Tis why I left Texas 28 years ago.
48   Bd6r   2025 Aug 8, 9:08am  

We are building a barn so I am restraining myself from buying more toys of AR type. Which is quite difficult. Good news is that the local Bohemians have fixed the house.
49   Maga_Chaos_Monkey   2025 Aug 9, 6:00pm  












Hot Springs AK, The Arlington hotel is over 100 years old. Al Capone used to own part of it and built a secret tunnel to his casino to smuggle in moon shine.

Haunted apparently too.
50   Ceffer   2025 Aug 9, 6:08pm  

For a time, Rockefellers made Arkansas the meeting place for all of the mafia and mob bosses, where they weren't allowed to fight or kill each other. He wanted it to be a neutral 'gangster Switzerland' for America to conduct business and make deals. Of course, the Rockefellers are mobsters themselves, just of another echelon and ilk (in like Mena).

Bill, IHLlary (cousins) are Rockefeller, and Nancy Pelosi is mafia mob moll.

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