Week 6: Saturday, September 8 – (Drive from Danville, IL to Penfield, IL: 27 Miles) Penfield, IL to Tipton, IN: 130 Miles

Waking up at the Lighthouse Motel this morning is exciting. Knowing that today will be the first cycling day in almost a whole week, Ali and Kristian are motivated to get on the road. Having organized themselves, the rain starts. This rain has been building for a while, the humidity in the air the whole previous evening was really, really high, and it is relieving that it came when it did. Kristian and Ali hold off for half and hour until the rain lets off a bit. They need to drive to the last cycling point before beginning cycling again.

Getting into the car, the passenger side floor is a pond. The car leaks with all the straps that come through the car to hold on the roofrack. When the car is driving in the rain, there is a leak that turns the passenger floor into a lake. Two minutes after we finally leave, the torrential rain begins again, driving on the road, we soon realize that there is a major detour to get back to our dropping off place, so we go along this detour. It is around this time, hardly able to see out the windows due to rain, Kristian driving and Ali wading in the passenger seat (pond), that Kristian starts telling something new to Ali. From this experience, a big lesson is learnt. When there are too many things going 0n at one time, teaching new ideas does not work very well.

Eventually, Kristian and Ali make it to Penfield, IL. Kristian drives up to the next stop-off point right after the Indiana border. However, it seems that leaving Illinois is not as easy as we initially think it should be. Detours on the Indiana border prevent both of us, Kristian when driving and Ali when cycling to figure out where the right turn is to be on our route.

After Ali cycling an extra 30 miles, he eventually finds the car that Kristian has left off, who himself got lost, but eventually found the correct parking place. The rain doesn't help when figuring out visibility and directions from the road, especially when driving because the water drops prevent the driver from seeing out any of the side windows of the car. The sponsors logos are wrapped all around the car, and the wrapping has thousands of little holes that allow the driver to see out, except when it rains because the small holes get with water drops.


Eventually, after a long day in the rain, Kristian and Ali roll into Tipton, IN and find the Flamingo Motel, a nice, inexpensive motel whose owner comes from Toronto, Ontario (Canada)! Hearing that there is the world famous, Tipton County Pork Festival was in town, we went directly to the event, only to find out it had ended, and most people left early due to rain. Picking up some food from the local grocery store, and pizza place, we headed back to the Flamingo Motel for a good night's rest.