NIU Shooting

For those who don't know me, I graduated from Northern Illinois University in December, and still live and work right next to campus.

I have been meaning to write something about this for the past week. I just have not had the words. It is undescribable.

Usually we have some distance from national events. When Virginia Tech happened, I did not think it could happen here at NIU. We were a happy little school, with normal school problems. We don’t have people shooting the place up!

I was already on national news for almost getting run over by a monster truck. I don’t need to be on the news again. You usually know someone that knows someone, but when it happens right next to you, it really shakes you to the core.

This week has been an absolute hell; I have no emotions to express what it is like to have my classmates get shot and die. In somewhere where I have been hundreds of times before.

I have been really out of it this past week, going through everything in my mind. It is just insane to think about.

I went to the Memorial they setup the other day, that made me feel better, but I think that will be the last time I will visit the campus sadly, such a nice place.

This Sunday is the school wide Memorial at the large arena out here, all my friends and I are going. Therefore, that is going to be nice. Nevertheless, when Monday rolls around, I do not know what this school is going to look like.

As people are saying out here, Forward Together. I hope to move forward with my plans to get the Challenger going for the Hot Rod Power tour, even though I have lost a lot of drive to do it. And to move out into that big world and get a "real" job.

Thanks for listening to my ramblings, this isn't political, so don't make it one.

Do not forget to hug the ones you love.

Ryan

Return for the final frontier

I returned to the yard a little later with a second wind, and began my journey through the second half.

I walked down the "main" road, and sitting on top of a few trucks was an AMC Javalin. Across from the Javalin was a 63 Plymouth Fury Convertible. I went through that Fury pretty well, I later pulled many parts off that Fury.

I went to the left, where previously I had gone right and walked down a valley a little bit. There was a "road" across the valley, and in the center of the valley, a dumping ground of more cars. So I explored this area.

There were some old Willy's Jeeps in there, a 4-door Valiant that I would later grab my dog dish wheels from, and a solid 73 Satellite.

I came out of the valley, saw a whole bunch of cars on the other side of the road sitting on the incline to the valley, there was a Torino 500, and a sweet 73 Duster, complete, rust free, and supposedly still ran, but he wouldn't sell it to me, even for drag racing.

Coming out of the valley, there were some cool cars on the right side of the road, a 68 Valiant, Apache Chevy pickup, a mustang or two. Into the forest a bit there was a 69 Valiant and a 73ish Mach 1 sitting there.

Going into the "center of the yard is where the really interesting finds were. Every other car was a Mopar; there was a ton of Darts and Chargers, Dusters and a Demons. There was even a 69 Satellite that I was able to get a bunch of trim from, including grille.

While walking through the rows, it was very sad to see such cool cars rotting away. In one section, there was at least five Darts, 4 Chargers, a few old 4-door Satellites sitting.

There were also some rare cars out there as well. There was a 1978 Plymouth Super Coupe, 83 Imperial, 1970 Coronet 500 4-door.

Every row there showed me something I had never seen before, there was even an old Dodge Semi truck sitting in the yard.

I went through it once and came out, talked to the owner well past closing time, at that time the almost two dozen cats were calling him and I had to get going.

I went back into town and went searching for some other cars I had heard about, a Chevy Nomad and a Camaro SS. The Nomad turned out to be a Ford 2-door Wagon, and the Camaro SS was a complete wreck.

It was quite an interesting few days. I would return to the yard at least two or three times a month. I pulled so many parts out of there it is incredible, 70 Charger steering column, Mopar Rallye wheels, REALLY rare steering wheel for a 70 Challenger. And a whole bunch more.

I left Macomb a year later and have yet to return, I wonder if that yard is still sitting out there, among the stars.

Too see ALL of the pictures, please go to the link below....

Small Illinois Town Hidden Junkyard


Ryan

Return to the junkyard

I returned a little while later to the junkyard to see the rest of it. I was quite a restless night thinking about what was still around the next corner. From what I had seen in the previous trip, anything could be out there. So I hopped in my truck and away I went.

I got there quickly, about noon. And I chatted with the owner for a while. He then let me loose and I went for a walk.

I started where I had stopped before. I had seen a whole bunch of cars down one of the side roads off the main one, so I decided to follow that one for the time being. There was more there then I had expected.

The first few cars I came across were Mopars. I was very happy to see these cars, thinking this guy was all about the Chevy stuff. There was a 69 Newport, 66 Barracuda, and 67 Barracuda with disk brakes, Aspen wagon, and a few others. There was also a bunch of other cars there; a few post-71 Mach 1's lying around, 65 Mustangs, Camaros, etc.

I did not take many pictures of the other cars. I came around a corner though, and there sitting on a hill was a nearly complete 63 Plymouth Belvedere Post car. It was there stem to stern. I did not grab anything this time. I was still just exploring the area. I also saw a sweet red Dodge Dart GT.

Walking up and down the rows; I discovered a few more interesting cars. There was a bright yellow Dodge Polara. An Impala SS, 68 Coronet post car, black with near mint blue interior. Sitting nearby was a nice blue Ford Fairlane 500.

Also fairly close by was what I believed to have been a Cougar Eliminator. It was yellow with what looked to have been a 4-speed and a few other options.

I came back down the same road and looked back behind some old farm equipment. Looked like an old silo or something. I had to jump, slide, and almost crawl to get there, but sitting in back were some of the coolest cars in the yard.

Sitting in back was what I believe at one time was a 69 Torino GT fastback. Next to that was a 69 Dodge Monaco 500. Behind them was a 72 Plymouth Sebring Satellite Plus, and some sort of early 60's Chrysler wagon.

These had a ton of parts left, and a few of them I though seemed to be good projects, sadly, they would never leave that place in one piece.

I walked out of that part of the yard with a new appreciation for what was there, and was excited to start out on the last part of the yard, which the owner told me is still about HALF of the yard.

I was tired, I was hungry, the owner said that the cars were not going anywhere, and to come back later, he will point me in the right direction for some really cool cars. So, I went back to town and grabbed a bite to eat. Took my shoes off for a second, just relaxed for a bit.

It was now after three in the afternoon, so I headed back to the yard to finish the adventure.

I will attempt to finish this on Thursday, been sick lately, so been off the computer. I will get this all finished up, so I can move onto the next car in a barn.

Ryan