Covello

Covello Washington and Wheat and Windmills

On Saturday July 1st we decided to take a ride around and see some country. We took some back roads looking at the wheat fields and farming areas. Our route started along the blue line on the left of the map and continued north and east. We ended up going to Covello, WA as seen on the right hand side of the above map. Covello consists of one farmstead with a house and several outbuildings located down a gravel road east of Dayton.

Here is the sign at the junction of a couple of roads indicating the township of Covello. The Quail on the left hand side of the sign was very interesting. Note the drop off in population as indicated on the map from 1900 to present, quite decline.

This is Bruce road heading south out of Covello. We are getting up into the higher ridges where there are lots of windmills, rather large windmills.

We are also up in wheat country, lots of wheat. This particular image shows how green some of the wheat is. Covello is about 2434 feet above sea level and we have climbed a little above Covello. Down in the lower elevations west of Walla Walla they are starting to harvest the wheat but here a little higher it will be a while.

Here is a different field of wheat, further west that is closer to harvest. Dramatic difference in appearance.

Here we see the windmills above the wheat fields. This is an area known as Hopkins Ridge, we think. There are several large wind farms in the area and only limited signage indicating the name of the wind farms.

Here is a field of peas. They grow lots of peas in this area. If you look close at the image you will see the vines are really loaded with peas. Some of these fields of peas will be picked green for fresh pea processing while others will be harvested dry.

Here is a rather large field of peas with the windmills in the background.

This image shows a number of windmills on the ridge. They were spinning on Saturday generating a lot of electricity.

Did we say lots of windmills? This image was taken on a different day and partially shows the extent of the wind farms in this area. This view shows more than just Hopkins Ridge. Here is some statistical information regarding the wind turbines.

The wind towers on Hopkins Ridge in WA state are 221 feet tall, excluding the blades. With the blades, the total height of the towers is 351 feet. The towers are made of steel and weigh about 77 tons. Each blade is 129 feet long and weighs over 7 tons. The diameter of the rotor is 264 feet, which is larger than the wingspan of a Boeing 747. The wind farm has 87 turbines, which can generate up to 156.6 megawatts of electricity. This was a brief look at the Windmills and the wheat and pea fields. There are a lot of backroads to travel and fascinating sights to see.

We hope you enjoyed this brief look at the wheat and windmills.

Let us know if you have any questions.
All the best - Be Well - George & Deanna