The drive from Springfield out into Indiana took a bit longer than expected, and it was mid afternoon before I found my way to Ellettsville. The Magellan GPS did it’s job well, when I finally figured out how to use it, and I gave Josh a ring for final directions to his shop.
Josh owns and runs “Eternal Ink Tattoo”, and he had kindly offered to help out with my goal of sorting out my tattoo. For further details on the original tattoo, and the need to “sort it out”, you can take a look at the goal details by clicking here. Suffice to say that the tattoo was pretty old, and no longer looking it’s best.
Josh looked pretty much as I expected he might, a bearded, tattooed, Harley-Davidson biker-type guy, and he greeted me warmly and took me into his shop. We chatted for a while about travelling, tattoos, guns, and life in general, and we seemed to get on very well pretty much straightaway. We seemed to have a lot in common in attitudes and backgrounds.
Josh had a couple of ideas with regards to covering the tattoo with something new, and after some discussion, and a lot of leafing through his artwork, I picked another lion’s head, but quite a bit bigger and more elaborate than my previous one. It would cover the old one very well, was Josh’s opinion.
So I took a seat and Josh went to work. It’s a bit painful, but not too bad, although after half an hour or so I did ask how much longer it was likely to take. The job was finished within an hour, and I have to say that the final result looks WAY better than the old tattoo, although when I look at it in a mirror my initial reaction is surprise, as it is quite a bit bigger. I’ll get used to it soon though, I imagine.
Josh is pretty keen on his firearms, and a strong supporter of the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution, the right to bear arms. He showed me two small pistols he had, one in his boot, and one in his pocket, and another larger pistol that he carried under his arm in a holster.
Later we went to his house, where his wife Taryn cooked us a lovely Mexican dinner, and Josh showed me an arsenal of weapons he had at home, including an assault rifle and a pump action shotgun. I was absolutely amazed by the weaponry he laid out on the sofa. Being from the UK originally, and currently living in Australia, I have never known anyone that would have such a cache of weapons.
Unfortunately time was against us, as I had arrived a bit too late in the afternoon, and Josh and I both had stuff we needed to do the next morning, so I never got a chance to fire any of the guns, but Josh had been pretty keen to try and get out to a friend’s property and put some targets up and let me have a go with them. It was such a shame to miss such a fantastic opportunity. Next time maybe?
The next morning Josh ran me about a bit to sort out some money at the bank (a bit tricky, as I still don’t have my cashpoint card!) and to get problem with my computer fixed by the local computer whizzkids.
All to soon, it was time to set off, as I wanted to get to St Louis before dark, so I said my farewells to all at the tattoo shop, and was on my way.
A huge thanks to Josh and Taryn, and their three wonderful kids, for such fantastic hospitality, and also to Josh’s friend Jordan for the bed for the night. Great fun, fantastic tattoo. Hope to see you again soon.
If you are anywhere near Indiana, and are considering some bodily artwork, Josh is your man. Great work, genuine guy. Contact him at:
eternalinktattooz@yohoo.com.