The problem is that this trip involves a full day. The good part is that we stopped for good barbecue along the way. And, also, the weather was much better than our Saturday drive.
The other problem is that I already miss the pool, but what can you do?
This is the Rockport Generating Station is a coal-fired power plant. It features two of the largest coal units built, and is connected to the grid with the largest lines allowed in the U.S. (It is scheduled to be shut down in 2028.)
Also, this is apparently the tallest smokestack in Indiana, and, indeed, one of the tallest in the world at 1,038 feet. Wikipedia says it is the 33rd tallest, globally, the sixth tallest in the U.S. and seventh tallest in North America.
Shoutout to whomever compiles this data for the rest of us.
This, meanwhile, is a 17-foot tall fiberglass model of popcorn. It sits outside of a store that pops 90 different varieties.
It isn’t closed, but that’s one scary parking lot.
Some of the corn you can get in that store may have come out of these bins.
Or maybe these, which were just up the road.
And, look! That’s the field that fills that bin.
Just kidding. This corn goes way up to the other side of town, I bet.
Corn produces something like $3.28 billion a year in Indiana which, as a state, ranks eighth in the nation in ag exports, and is the 10th largest farming state.
It would be easy in these quiet little parts of southern Indiana to think that’s the economy, but not hardly. Indiana produces more steel than anyone. And the chief economic driver is manufacturing.
Someone has to make the popcorn, after all.
