Today was another fun day; a not-too-long 88 miles with little climbing. The winds were about 5 knots all day, from the S in the morning moving slightly to SE in the afternoon. Mike K and I again worked together and averaged just under 17 mph for the entire leg.
Yesterday, someone mentioned that Dodge City was the overall windiest place in the US so I guess on the initial part of the ride this morning I was not surprised to see a very large farm of windmill generator machines. I've seen many of these before near Palm Springs and Mojave, CA but these KS windmills are all really big!!! I was struck with the delicate curves of the blades, being optimized to squeeze every Watt out of the wind that passes.
 |
| Each blade of the turbine is 121 feet (32m) |
 |
| The windmills were spread around 360 degrees as far as you could see |
Also I was impressed with how many are being assembled and rigged in this area. There were many cranes all around working at that task. The govt subsidies must be strong!!
Later in the day I was lucky enough to catch a picture of one turbine blade being transported on a big semi-truck. You can see how large that thing is!!!!
 |
| Even though I didn't frame the entire thing....this blade is BIG |
OK, OK this is my last windmill picture. This says it all I think....
 |
| The Old and the New..... |
We also stopped at Pawnee Rock, a vertical rise that gives a great 360 degree view to observe buffalo prior to a hunt, or watch for Indians prior to a skirmish, or to watch for white settlers prior to a skirmish. Depends on your point of view but in all cases this observation point was said to be used effectively by many for these objectives.
 |
| From the top of the Pawnee Rock Observation Point |
Click here to see details of today's ride:
Day 22: Dodge City to Great Bend, KS by xctom2012 at Garmin Connect - Details
1 comment:
He mounted the cherubim and flew; he soared on the wings of the wind. 2 Samuel 22:10-12
Post a Comment