Part 40: Terre Haute

After a late night, I woke up hungry. I went over to Papa John's for lunch to redeem a coupon I had for a free Papadia Calzone. From there I decided to work for Roadie delivering packages for a couple hours to offset my gasoline costs. I ended up in Urbana, Illinois in the afternoon. I finished my day delivering groceries from the Walmart to a graduate student from the University of Illinois. Since I had lived in Champaign for four years about a decade ago, I decided to spend a couple hours driving around and to see what had changed. Eventually it got dark, so I decided to start heading back to Terre Haute.

I drove south down US 45 to Tolono and stopped at Smoke & Shine for dinner. The restaurant was packed due to an Illini football earlier in the afternoon, but I was able to find a spot at the bar. I had six smoked brisket tacos, two Budweisers, and a couple of their moonshine shots.

I continued down US 45 to Tuscola. Tuscola used to be known for having the Tanger Outlet Shops. I even had a cousin who would drive out to this outlet mall with her friends for a day or two of shopping. As of November 2023, the outlet shops were almost completely vacant. There were maybe only six units occupied. The other ninety percent of the retail spaces were empty. The pandemic and online shopping had taken its toll on Tuscola, a town where people used to get off the interstate to shop.

I next hit a liquor store in town with very reasonable prices. I bought a twelve pack of Bud Light and some bottles of alcohol. I then stopped at a gas station for a bag of ice. My plan was to go to a private BYOB strip club in the soybean fields west of Tuscola called The Hideout. I arrived at The Hideout at 9:30pm, rang the doorbell, paid a cover charge, and dragged my Igloo cooler inside.

There were seven dancers working. I found two of the seven, Chanel and Starfire, to my liking. Chanel was what I call Sinclair prototype. She was a Hoosier in her early twenties with bleach blonde hair and blue eyes. She had an athletic body and C cup breasts. I did two twenty minute VIP rooms with Chanel for a total of $200. I was on cloud nine.

The stage was empty for most of the night. It seems there was no set stage rotation. One customer came in and got irritated all of the dancers were either on the smoking patio or in the dressing room. He berated the bartender and the bouncer that he shouldn't have to pay a $15 cover charge to look at an empty stage all night. He requested a refund, but I do not think they gave him his money back. He stormed out of the club pissed off.

I left The Hideout around 2am buzzed. I stopped at a gas station to buy a large fountain soda, Rice Krispie treats, and beef jerky to help me sober out and stay awake on the seventy-five minute drive back to the Candlewood Suites in Terre Haute. I was so tired, I had to occasionally slap myself to stay awake on the drive. I made it back to my room and was asleep within fifteen seconds of my head hitting the pillow.