Flat, flat, flat, flat, Wind...
Trip Start
Aug 22, 2010
1
4
Trip End
Sep 17, 2010
North Platte, Nebraska
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Rolling fields of green, winding corn rows spread out more and more and give way to flat open prairie. It feels good to moving more and more westward.
Into Nebraska, and we come upon our first wind farm. As I'm admiring the stately wind turbines, I notice that the roof of our little trailer has collapsed. Shoot! We pull over, and I crawl in to inspect. It seems that the pipes I used for the roof frame just can't take the pressure from the wind. I readjust things, shaping each rib more and more into the pressure of the wind, making the roof more spherical than arched, and we make way again. Not in more than an hour, and the thing collapsed again. Damn! It seems that for East Coast driving, my design works just find. But it just can't stand up to the winds of the open prairie, combined with the movement of the car. I pull over, and make it as tight as I possibly can. When it collapses again, I resolve that we just can't do highway speeds when the wind is so high. Luckily, there is a side-road that parallels the highway with a speed limit of 55 mph. This turns out to be a blessing, and a pretty good solution to nearly getting swiped by super tractor trailers barreling down on us at 80 mph!
The side road turns out to be much more pleasant, much less traveled, and much more interesting, passing through small towns on the way. We even stopped to help some people that had run out of gas. We stayed on this road, picking sunflowers and watching trains, all the way to North Platte, where we collapsed into our campsite for the night.
Comments
I have been searching for your posts....I almost thought you got kidnapped...I have been sending you posts...but think I have been doing it wrong! A lesson to be learned...always take the backroads...Have more fun....