I also showed the librarians my web page, and they were thrilled to actually meet the author of one of these web sites. I know what they were driving at. With the huge number of sites proliferating all the time, there are opportunities to "meet" these authors in a superficial way. But it is quite impersonal, and therefore unsatisfactory as a way to come to know someone. A web site can only give the outline of who that person is and what they are trying to accomplish. When they can look at me face to face, and see the sweat and grit on my forehead, check out my rig, and ask the questions that come to their mind, it is only then that they get the full picture.
I was having trouble deciding whether to go all the way to Bloomington and then east along a scenic road through a series of state parks, or just start heading east right away. It was only after I had done many extra miles that I talked to a farmer who gave me the straight talk about the scenic route. The route is scenic when viewed from a car, and dangerous otherwise, and the destination, Nashville, was a tourist town. That pretty much made the decision for me. The road I was on was plenty scenic enough for me. There are a couple of big bike rides in the fall which take this route along the White River. Remember the axiom, do not leave a nice road, seeking the possibility of a more pleasant one.
I found myself in the town of Franklin for the night. It also has a small college in it, and I'm beginning to see a trend. I suspect that each one of these towns with population of 6000-10000 is going to have a college of some size. That can only happen when the area has sufficient population density to support such institutions.
Babcock and Turner spent a few days in Goshen, as guests of the bicycle company. I guess it is more correct to say they were Ariel employees (of a kind), as this was a promotional tour, and they described in great detail the processes they saw:
About five miles out of Goshen we were met by a dozen members of the "Ariel Cycle Club" and given a right royal welcome to Goshen. That was the 6th. We are here yet, and shall not get away before the 10th. We spent one whole day in the cycle factory at this place. We were both interested to know what materials and processes are used and what kind of workmen put together the little machines which with scarcely a delay take a rider and his necessary baggage over thousands of miles, and even around the globe.
We first visited the stock room to see the long steel bars which would afterward be drilled out and formed into ball cups, cones, cranks and the hundred other little pieces which form the heavier parts of the bicycle, then to the brazing department, where the tubing is made up and fitted to the forgings. There is an immense amount of work in making the rough frame. It would be put in the jig and trued three different times, once before brazing, once before enameling and once for finishing. After the frame is once made it must go through many different processes. First, it is polished by an emery belt and every particle of dirt and rust removed; then a filler coat of enamel is put on and rubbed off; then taken to the enameling room, from which every bit of dust is excluded. Not a door or window is opened while enameling is in progress. It seems rather hard for the workmen, but the precaution is necessary to secure the beautiful polish which we demand when we go to the retail dealer. After the coat of enamel has been put on the frame is placed in a large oven and allowed to remain twelve hours at a heat of 350 degrees. The process of baking is carried on principally at night to allow the ovens to be cool during the day.
The frame next goes to another workman, who hand- polishes it very carefully, and the result is a most perfect finish. The same care is taken in nickeling, for after coming out of the vats the pieces go through four pairs of hands to be scrubbed, washed, sprayed and buffed.
There is a most rigid system of inspection and test and the workmen are careful. Most of them own little homes here, and their reputation as workmen is their best capital, so it behooves them to do nothing but perfect work.
In the assembling room we saw the parts formed together into the perfect wheel and taken to the shipping room, where they were put into crates to be sent to the dealer.
To go through a factory and watch the making of any machine, where many persons each take a hand, is interesting and especially is it pleasant when, as in this case, the building and surroundings are neat and clean and the rooms light and airy.
82 miles today and tomorrow it's Ohio. That means I enter the eastern time zone. Actually, for the winter half of the year, Indiana is in the eastern zone, but they don"t switch to DST and so it is now in the central zone.
On the road and somewhat confused by time zones,
Dennis