Chicago - June 04, 2004

Badlands Treating Us Good

Badlands Off-Road Park

The monotony is killing you. The office-gym-takeout weekday. The movie-brunch-manicure weekend. Rinse, repeat, vomit.

You need a change of scenery. Too bad you didn’t think about that before using up all your vaca time and maxing out the Visa.

Turn that frown upside down, stress puppy. There’s a nice and easy cure for the urban doldrums: a trip to Badlands Off-Road Park. Located just two and a half hours southeast of Chicago, in Attica, Indiana, the privately owned driving space has 700 acres of sand dunes, gravel hills, and mud, mud, mud just waiting to be kicked up. Open year-round to dirt bikes, ATVs, and four-wheel-drive vehicles, Badlands has trails geared to every level of driver, from monster-truckers to delicate don’t-mess-with-my-Camry Hondinas.

Providing more much-needed whoop than launching off the speed bump in the parking garage.

Badlands Off-Road Park, 3968 North Xavier Road, Attica, Indiana (765-762-2981 or badlandsoffroad.com).