Day 051 - Cumberland to Indianapolis IN

The temperature was in the 30's which is almost 40 degrees cooler than yesterday. The wind was a 20 - 25 mph headwind which was hitting me with sleet off and on throughout the walk. There is a freeze warning for tonight.

Indianapolis had 5.6 inches of rain in the last four days. They normally only have two thirds of that in the entire month of April. Areas north and west of the city got much more rain. There are flood warnings out for most of central Indiana. I cannot believe that I have not walked in the rain the last four days. After dropping my car off at the end point for the walk we saw that a portion of the road that I was going to be walking on was closed due to flooding.

The women in the Roll With it Bakery gave me a cinnamon roll that was delicious. I came across a street address that had been converted into a US 40 sign. As I entered downtown Indianapolis I came upon a tall metallic monument that had the US 40 logo at the top and the major cities the highway passes through on the bottom with Indianapolis highlighted. I seem to have passed another invisible line where all the soft drink machines do not refer to it as soda or pop but as cola. The going rate has been 50 cents for a twelve ounce can.

When I got downtown I went to the observation deck of the Soldiers and Sailors Monument. It stands 284 feet high only 15 feet shorter than the Statue of Liberty. When the woman heard of my walk she waived the fee to ride the elevator. There is no charge if you walk the 330 steps. I have been known to climb the steps in a number of tall buildings. Once I ran to the top of the Washington Monument in my Navy service dress blue uniform while wearing my wool overcoat. I did this to top a feat my brother Dan had done.

When Joan and I travelled across the country after I got my wings I remember our sightseeing between St Louis and Columbus including driving by the Soldiers and Sailors Monument, going to the Indianapolis Speedway and paying a visit to the National Museum of the United States Air Force located at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio which I walked a few miles north of a week ago.

I went to Loughmiller's Pub where they gave me a bowl of chicken noodle soup that really hit the spot. My waitress was an impressive young lady Katie Koile. She recently raised $1000 to provide support for children's cancers. She shaved her head to provide moral support.

As I was approaching the end of my walk Washington Street (US 40) was still flooded. There was a car stalled out in the water. A fireman told me it was the third car stranded there today.

Today's media thank you goes out to the US Naval Academy Alumni Association. They posted an article about my walk on their online April WaveTops newsletter.

A reminder that each day I take more pictures than are shown on the blog. I post a number of extra pictures to Facebook. Since the Facebook site is for the walk not my personal Facebook site you do not need a Facebook account to look at the pictures.

Additional pictures that I posted to Facebook today include a picture taken from the observation deck of the Soldiers and Sailors Monument, an Indiana National Road monument near the Indiana Capital and pictures of a fire truck and a flat bed tow truck rescuing a car from flooded Washington Street.