Starting Point:
West Union, OH, 4:10pm EDT
Ending Point:
Champaign, IL, 12:40am CDT
Total Distance Traveled:
911 mi / 1458 km
Total Drive Time:
15 hr 50 min
Total Fuel Consumption:
17.5 gal / 66.2 litres
(52mpg / 4.5 litres/100km)
Mike and Paulette Roberts |
The visit with Mike and Paulette was very nice. They are well, and are working hard at turning their 22 acre farm into home. I got to know the three man Amish crew that is adding on to the back of the house and learned a lot of interesting things about the Amish lifestyle, such as:
- Their children do not begin to learn English until grade 1. Until then, they speak only their own language, which they call German but sounds much more like Dutch.
- They don't wear wedding rings; single men are clean-shaven and married men have beards.
- Motor carriages are a fine way to get around, so long as they are not the driver.
- They have their own schools, and there is an Ohio Supreme Court decision that allows them to stop schooling after grade 8. They still aren't allowed to work until age 16, but little attention seems to be paid to that.
I have never seen such hardworking people. The building crew started hammering at 6:30am, broke for a 15-minute lunch around noon, and worked solid until their ride came at 5:30pm. There were no other breaks, no stopping even to catch their breath. When the youngest of them had to go to the barn for more materials he didn't walk, he ran. Just watching them exhausted me. Even with the hurry there is great craftsmanship and pride in their work, and there's no incentive for them to finish quickly, they are paid by the hour, not by the job.
Mike hinted that all is not always so rosy in Amish land. He has an inside source, a mole in the form of an old-order Mennonite that works with them but is not sworn to keep their secrets that hints from time to time of disputes within the community. Shunning still happens, as do other things we do not speak of.
But enough about that. I left the Roberts Farm, established 2005, around 4pm and made a quick stop for chili and ice cream with them in Cincinnati. Mike's sons stopped by, Kevin and Steve, whom I had met several times over the years. I also wheeled in to take on some fuel, the first refuel of the trip.
I'm going to talk quite a lot about fuel consumption on this journey. For those that haven't heard, I am again driving a diesel Jetta, which consistently gets better than 45mpg on the highway. I fill it with biodiesel—made from soy or recycled cooking oils—whenever I can. Sure, diesel sometimes (not usually) costs slightly more (the most I've seen so far is 10 cents more than low-grade gasoline), but I get twice the miles out of it. The first 12-gallon tank took me more than 620 miles. It doesn't smell bad, I don't have to do anything special to the car, the car has plenty of pep and it is a comfortable ride. No matter what happens—more drilling at home, tax breaks, whatever—the price of energy isn't going to go down again. I hope by the end of this trip I'll have you thinking about sustainable, alternative fuels as well. Until then, let me throw this number at you: I'm driving a little less than one-fifth the way around the planet, and it's going to take me less than 100 gallons. My fuel budget for the trip is $350 (US). Think about that—driving to Alaska for $350.
I picked up my friend Jen, who I worked with in Antarctica, at the airport in Indianapolis. She'll be driving all the way to Anchorage with me, at which point I will nominate her for sainthood for saving me from having to drive alone (December 17th will henceforth be known as St Jennifer of Sacramento's Day). We've stopped for the night in Champaign, Illinois, an unremarkable little exit off I-74. Tomorrow we'll strike north into Cheeseland and stop in the Land o'Lakes with someone else we worked with in Antarctica. With all the great placenames in Wisconsin, hilarity is sure to ensue.
Until then, be well, and work hard—
-Tim