FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43  
44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   >>   >|  
ectually that it showed no leak until some weeks later, when near Boston, the air began to work slowly through the fabric. Heavy and clumsy as are the large single-tube tires, it is quite practicable to carry an extra one, though we did not. One is pretty sure to have punctures,--though two in twenty-six hundred miles are not many. Nearly an hour was spent at South Bend; the river road, following the trolley line, was taken to Elkhart. Near Osceola a bridge was down for repairs; the stream was quite wide and swift but not very deep. From the broken bridge the bottom seemed to be sand and gravel, and the approaches on each side were not too steep. There was nothing to do but go through or lose many miles in going round. Putting on all power we went through with no difficulty whatsoever, the water at the deepest being about eighteen to twenty inches, somewhat over the hubs. If the bottom of the little stream had been soft and sticky, or filled with boulders, fording would have been out of the question. Before attempting a stream, one must make sure of the bottom; the depth is of less importance. We did not run into Elkhart, but passed about two miles south in sight of the town, arriving at Goshen at four fifteen. The roads all through here seem to be excellent. From Goshen our route was through Benton and Ligonier, arriving at Kendallville at exactly eight o'clock. The Professor with painstaking accuracy kept a log of the run, noting every stop and the time lost. In this first day's run of thirteen hours, the distance covered by route taken was one hundred and seventy miles; deducting all stops, the actual running time was nine hours and twenty minutes, an average of eighteen miles per hour while the machine was in motion. For an ordinary road machine this is a high average over so long a stretch, but the weather was perfect and the machine working like a clock. The roads were very good on the whole, and, while the country was rolling, the grades were not so steep as to compel the use of the slow gear to any great extent. The machine was geared rather high for any but favorable conditions, and could make thirty-five miles an hour on level macadam, and race down grade at an even higher rate. Before reaching Buffalo we found the gearing too high for some grades and for deep sand. On the whole, the roads of Northern Indiana are good, better than the roads of any adjoining State, and we were told the r
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43  
44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
machine
 

bottom

 

twenty

 

stream

 
Before
 
grades
 

eighteen

 
bridge
 

Elkhart

 

Goshen


arriving

 

average

 
hundred
 

thirteen

 
covered
 
actual
 

deducting

 

seventy

 
distance
 

Kendallville


Ligonier

 

Benton

 

Professor

 
painstaking
 

noting

 
accuracy
 

higher

 

reaching

 

Buffalo

 

compel


extent

 

conditions

 
thirty
 

macadam

 

geared

 

favorable

 
rolling
 
country
 

ordinary

 

Indiana


motion

 

adjoining

 

minutes

 

stretch

 
excellent
 

gearing

 
working
 

weather

 
Northern
 

perfect