Trafalgar (Johnson County), Indiana - Bring Your T
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6/10/2010
I'm a (restless?) widower originally from S.E. Wisconsin (Kenosha) (20 yrs.), went to college in Daytona Beach, FL (2), went back to Florida at Homestead while in the USAF (4), married there & moved to the San Francisco Bay Area (8), then to a farm Trafalgar in Johnson County), Indiana (since '94). I've also traveled outside the US - Germany, South Africa, etc. So maybe I've lived in some varieties of climate. But since the love of my life has passed, I do wanna get out of Jo. Co. & leave Indy behind.
I'm compelled to say some stuff about Trafalgar. Johnson County & rural Indiana in general:
1. Summer: It can be scorching hot in the "City" (Indianapolis), but heat is much more moderated in the rural areas where Trafalgar (or "Raglafart") is, or in SOME suburbs bordering large farms. (Don't forget your goofy hat with the fan built in - made self laugh, doy). It's not as bad as humid Florida in the Summer, tho', & you can dry out and sunburn easily in that season. Overall, kinda like the rest of the Midwest. Rain can be either "normal", flooding (only really a big worry in the flood zones or near the rivers & strems), or parched with (rare-ish) dry spells: mini or "real" droughts. Be prepared for high utility cooling bills.
2. Spring & Fall: Rain more prevalent than Summer (including powerful thunderstorms & lots of neat-o lightning!). Much greener in Spring; Fall is browner but the never-long-enough autumn leave season is great. Much more tolerable daily temperature highs. Excellent BBQ'ing weather.
3. Winter: If you live on a county road, get ready for school snow days if you have kids (check for these on Inet & TV), since in county areas they'll ride the school bus. My daughter has the hindsite of riding in one whilst slipping & sliding on snow hardpacked or icy narrow rural roads when the plow guy couldn't get a good enough headstart, depending on when the white stuff started coming down overnight. The blizzards are a real pain for commuting to the City. If you have a long driveway (this is common on farms), be ready for it - it can drift 6' in places. You've gotta love the Winter Wonderland paradigm in this place. But it's not quite as frigid here as the Northern Tier, often it's a good 10 deg. "warmer" than, say, Chicago. Also be prepared for high utility heating bills. Your car will rust to pieces as you splatter all that road salt on your nice car, but they use sand in the farm land areas so it doesn't ruin the soil in the Spring run-off. Still, your car will start rusting in about 8-12 years. And the ice storms can be bad enough to pull down power lines, too, since the county isn't so swift at keeping the Infrastructure durable about such things.
Hope this helps. Generally, If you can get enough of the 4 (pretty extreme) seasons, you'll love it, you nut.
Jeff | Greenwood, IN