Late in May I drove to Denver as a delegate to the Libertarian National Convention. Not only was this my first presidential convention, but it was the longest car trip I have ever taken alone. So I had my car checked by mechanics I trust, went to the library and checked out an interesting book on CD, printed out driving instructions and maps from the internet, made sure my mobile phone was charged, and set off on my great adventure.

Before I left, someone asked me if I had ever seen the wind farm at Ellsworth. In fact, I had not. But I have seen wind farms before, so how big a deal could it be?

When I see a house or a car or a person at a distance, I have a pretty good idea of its size and the distance between it and me, simply because I’ve had long experience with houses and cars and people. Wind turbines, on the other hand, are not something I’ve ever lived in or driven or hugged; and when seeing them at a distance, perspective doesn’t come easily. There they sit, atop distant hills, their blades rotating sedately, even slowly. Or so it would seem.

Traveling west on I-70, that’s the first impression the wind farm at Ellsworth presents. But maybe half a mile after sighting the first turbine, the highway rounds a slight curve, and there are two turbines, right there. And I do mean right there.

I gasped, and the bottom fell out of my stomach. It wasn’t that I didn’t know what it was. There was nothing rational about that feeling. Rather it was the visceral, fight-or-flight (Flight! Flight!) response that makers of science fiction movies spend millions trying to produce in viewers. Looming in front of me was something mechanical, obviously the deliberate product of an intelligent creature, unbelievably huge, and it was MOVING.

What a rush!

I have done a little research since I got back, and the source I found says the towers are 200 to 300 feet tall, with the blades ranging from 65 to 130 feet long. They rotate 10 to 22 times per minute. Even taking the slowest rotation of 10 rpm, and a blade length of 100 feet to make the calculations easier, I come up with a speed of just over 70 mph for the tips of the blades. Wow.

Coming back, I noticed something that had been hidden from my view when I was headed west. On the south side of I-70, downhill from the road and going mostly unnoticed, is a series of the common windmills we’ve all seen for years, dutifully pulling water up out of the ground and dumping it in tanks for the cattle. I hope some great photographer will go out there and capture that contrast.

And I have a suggestion. I hope that whoever makes these decisions will create a pull-off area right there. I wanted badly to be able to stop and admire that impressive scene, but there was no way to do so safely.

I bet I’m not the only one.

TK Magazine, July, 2008

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