We decided to go visit some of my relatives at the Suding Hardware Store in Indianapolis so I called the store to make arrangements. My dad’s uncle Henry started the store I think in the 1930s. My dad even worked there one summer.
I call it etch-a-sketch because the farm roads are almost all in a north-south/east-west grid. We rode those down and west to Cicero which is north east of the city. We ate breakfast at the only cafe in the tiny town of Amboy.
As we rode by a wind farm, I stopped to take a look at one of the turbines and tried to estimate the speed of the tip of the blades. If I estimate the blade diameter at 100ft and it looks like it takes 5 seconds per rotation then the speed is 42.8 mph (correct me if I’m wrong). What else am I going to do, count the corn stalks? They seemed to grow another 6 inches today in the hot sun. Hot enough that the melted tar and rocks stuck to our tires like glue.
We chose the White River campground and got an ice cream and pop (using local terminology) and took a dip in the river. I had a good chat with local Kevin on his daily e-bike ride. We rode into Cicero and got fish tacos at 10 West and another ice cream, this time at Alexander’s downtown.
We rode 50 miles from Miami recreation area to Cicero all on etch-a-sketch farm roads.
Classic Steve Nap! Hahahahahaha
If the blade length is 100 feet (a small blade for US turbines), the diameter is 200 feet; and the speed of the tip is 85.6mph.