Wellington, KS-November 4, 2013

The wind was a battle today, but the sky was clear and there was lots of sunshine. We will stay here a couple of days. That Colorado front we were trying to outrun will catch up with us tomorrow but it will only be rain. We went through one of my favorite parts of the country as far as history goes. It's Post Rock country. I have blogged about it every time we have been through here, but I never grow tired of it. These post rocks were carved out of rock quarries by the first settlers. They are very heavy and have survived all these years. I love that these post rocks are mentioned in the Bible in Proverbs 22:28 which reads "Do not move an ancient boundary stone set up by your forefathers." These are clearly boundary stones. I'll just post one picture to spare all of you who have seen the pictures before.

Those post rocks are solid stone which were originally moved by horse and buggy from the quarry to the location where they were needed. I have no idea how many of these were originally placed, mainly in Russell County, Kansas but it appears there are still many hundreds left, maybe more.

 

 

Then immediately you run into the Smoky Hill wind farm. It is owned by an Italian company. These are small turbines but there are so many (and growing daily) it must produce massive amounts of electricity. We noticed these many years before Derrick started working in the wind industry. These have Vestas engines which weigh 180,000 pounds each.

 

 

Yes, I know you have seen tons of these but I needed to post a picture to show you we drove through this area. We drove for 23 miles down through the center of the wind farm so it is a huge operation.

 

We look forward to a day of rest and possible exploration tomorrow. And we don't mind the rain.

 

Sad note: We just read about a house fire in Loveland where a man was killed. Without a name provided, we know we know the man. I used to work for his brother who was a dentist. I am sorry to hear about this. My sympathies to the family.