Day 22: Rensselaer, IN to Huntington

Park closed due to floods

It was refreshing this morning to wake up in my own bed, even if it happened to be 5:15am. Wes picked me up a quarter till 6 and we hit the interstate hoping to miss the morning rush. The drop point today was Rensselaer, Indiana. It was decided that having the extra bike was not worth it as it was only used a few times on the western portion. Once we arrived in Rennselaer, Wes found the spot where they had finished the midwest portion of their ride almost a month ago. At 8pm the bikes hit the road hoping to knock out century #22.

Few days prior, a series of large rainstorms had ravaged much of he midwest, resulting in a number of massive floods. In many of the small towns I passed through, large puddles formed on the roadway, parks were underwater and highway bridges closed. There was just so much water!!!

Now, because of the large amount of rain in the past few days, one might think that there would not be more rain for a while, right? Well, it was silly of me to think such a think. At the first checkpoint in Buffalo, the rain was coming down, Will and Wes got their heavier rain gear from the truck before pushing onward.

The roads the bikers were taking in Indiana were narrow, and numbered that varied by county. Some may consider them highways, others paved roads for farm access. Either way, they are quite narrow and surrounded seemingly exclusively by farmland. Indiana route 16 was a major state highway that was built much like the county roads, narrow and mostly through farmland. The highway had short steep hills that gave you the feeling like you were on a roller coaster when you got to the top and started to descend.

Road closure on Route 5

I stopped in Denver, Indiana expecting to meet Wes and Will for lunch. With about an hour or so to kill, I decided to get my run out of the way. I found a rails-to-trails pathway that was paved, but had cinders on the side. It also happened to be the route the bikers would be taking. I changed in the car and took off towards the trail, into the rain. At the halfway point, I turned around expecting to see them, but I could see no fluorescent vest for miles. Upon my return, I found them relaxing at the car. Apparently, I had run past the road they turned on and missed them completely.


It was still raining as the duo took off. I grabbed lunch at the only restaurant in town, while taking some time to read the local papers and a book. I looked at my watch to check the time. Our meeting time was around 6pm just south of Huntington.  My watch read 4:25, but I remembered that we had passed into the Eastern Time Zone. Frantically, I put away my book and zipped up to Huntington.

I arrived at the town center around 5:50. A large fairgrounds had closed down main street. By the time I found my way around, it was 6pm. I got a call from Wes with an update on his position. Seeing that I was a tad late, he decided to move the pickup point down the road at the Indiana Route 5 intersection. 5 minutes later, I ran into a roadblock at route 5, the bridge was closed due to floods. Again I called Wes and we found a final spot another mile down the road that had to work.
At 6:15, I arrived at the corner of 200S and 200E, next to a local power station. I could see two fluorescent jackets down the road peddling slowly towards me.