1st Abandoned Farmhouse at Exit 219 on Interstate 70, Kansas

            Driving along on Interstate 70 in Kansas I was mesmerised by the numerous wind turbines spread out over many, many miles to the north of the highway. Kansas is flat, and therefore a windy state, and so it makes sense to have them here. I'd just never seen so many in one place before.

As it was late in the day with the light fading fast and I had given up on my fourth potential location of the trip. So I was relaxed and enjoying the automatic, cruise controlled, drive back to base. To the south of the highway, just before exit 219, I spotted a collapsed wooden barn (it's just behind me up on a bluff). As I had nothing to lose, and plenty of time, I decided to investigate. 

The trick here is to use my usual "three rights/lefts should get you back" manouver. Turn one at the highway exit: 90 degrees onto  a hardtop road (the one into Ellsworth); turn two: 90 degree hard right onto a dusty county road; turn three: hard 90 degrees right onto an overgrown path between 2 fields and violla!

During discussions of the shot later with my friend, Rob, he suggested that there may be a very positive outcome to this abandoned house. It's very possible that the building of this section of I 70 in 1964 cut this farmstead off from at least half of it's land (farmhouses typically being in the middle of a farm), possibly making it unviable. But in 2008 the Smoky Hills Wind Farm was erected in 2 phases using 150 wind turbines generating 250 megawatts of power. The 2 wind farms cover 12,000 acres and there are plans to expand it to 20,000 acres. If the farmer still owns the land then that's a significant income to help keep the family going!

One of the things I tried hard to capture in this this shot is the juxtapositon of the old windmill with the wind turbines in the background, across the Interstate. All without knowing the story that came out later

Taken in: United States / Kansas (show map)

Taken on: October 10, 2010

Tags:

Abandoned Farmhouse

I 70

Kansas USA

trip 6

Ellsworth

Windmill

Wind Turbine

Smoky Hills Wind Farm

HDR « less

Sets appears in: • HDR • Abandoned more » • Ghost Houses of the prairies • Elephants Graveyard « less

Groups appears in: • Once was home

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II, f/8.0, 1/60 sec, 26mm, ISO 100 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Aperture:	f/8.0
Exposure Time:	0.017 sec (1/60)
Focal Length:	26mm
ISO:	100
Color Space:	Uncalibrated
Software:	Adobe Photoshop CS5 Macintosh
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