Near Osceola a bridge was down for repairs; the stream was quite wide and swift but not very deep.  From the broken bridge the bottom seemed to be sand and gravel, and the approaches on each side were not too steep.  There was nothing to do but go through or lose many miles in going round.  Putting on all power we went through with no difficulty whatsoever, the water at the deepest being about eighteen to twenty inches, somewhat over the hubs.  If the bottom of the little stream had been soft and sticky, or filled with boulders, fording would have been out of the question.  Before attempting a stream, one must make sure of the bottom; the depth is of less importance.

We did not run into Elkhart, but passed about two miles south in sight of the town, arriving at Goshen at four fifteen.  The roads all through here seem to be excellent.  From Goshen our route was through Benton and Ligonier, arriving at Kendallville at exactly eight o’clock.

The Professor with painstaking accuracy kept a log of the run, noting every stop and the time lost.

In this first day’s run of thirteen hours, the distance covered by route taken was one hundred and seventy miles; deducting all stops, the actual running time was nine hours and twenty minutes, an average of eighteen miles per hour while the machine was in motion.

For an ordinary road machine this is a high average over so long a stretch, but the weather was perfect and the machine working like a clock.  The roads were very good on the whole, and, while the country was rolling, the grades were not so steep as to compel the use of the slow gear to any great extent.

The machine was geared rather high for any but favorable conditions, and could make thirty-five miles an hour on level macadam, and race down grade at an even higher rate.  Before reaching Buffalo we found the gearing too high for some grades and for deep sand.

On the whole, the roads of Northern Indiana are good, better than the roads of any adjoining State, and we were told the roads of the entire State are very good.  The system of improvement under State laws seems to be quite advanced.  It is a little galling to the people of Illinois, Michigan, and Ohio to find the humble Hoosier is far ahead in the matter of road building.  If all the roads between Chicago and New York averaged as good as those of Indiana, the trip would present fewer difficulties and many more delights.

The Professor notes that up to this point nine and three-quarters gallons of gasoline have been consumed,—­seventeen miles to the gallon.  When a motor is working perfectly, the consumption of gasoline is always a pretty fair indication of the character of the roads.  Our machine was supposed to make twenty miles to the gallon, and so it would on level roads, with the spark well advanced and the intake valve operating to a nicety; but under adverse conditions more gasoline is used, and with the hill-climbing gear four times the gasoline is used per mile.