From Central Virginia to Northwestern Indiana

[DonnaR57]

Actually, if you have a smart phone, are the passenger, and don't mind using a little data, you can probably do a search on your phone's browser and come up with the information as you drive. I do it all the time! Occasionally we're in a good area for calls but a lousy area for data, so it doesn't happen, and then I'd write it down.

I also jot down things that I'd like to annotate in my journal that evening. I've transitioned from a hand-written journal to one kept on my laptop (then printed copy later).


Donna

[Lifemagician]

Good example was a farm near Glenville, WVa that had the name Morris and was the largest mansion I’ve seen, totally out of character with the area. Then in Glenville seeing Waco Oil and Gas company. That led me to discover Ike Morris was the founder and found a wonderful story about him and another man in the area and how they started from nothing. Totally enjoyable reading I would have never discovered on the interstate.

I too like to find out about the things I see along the way, and learn more about them. Then when I know more, I want to go back and see/experience those places again. It is one of the reasons why I avoid the interstates whenever there is an alternative. Just like I am always noting down when alternative and scenic routes are suggested on forum, so that I too may enjoy them when I am in that area.

Enjoying reading of your experiences.

Lifey

[NowthatIamretired]

Back to the road tripping part of our trip. After the last post we just spent the next day going our regular way, Rt. 35 to Dayton, then I-70 to Indy and up I-65 to Lafayette. Not too much to say about it other than we really hit some of the rain storms going through the area. We did detour through a new distraction I discovered last year, Warm Glow Candle Company Outlet at Centrevile, IN ,Rt right off of I-70 not too far into Indiana. I don’t need these but it is fun to get something that is actually made in Indiana. Plus they had a nice little deli which made for something different for lunch.

We spent the rest of Friday and Saturday catching up with friends, some business and generally having a great time. This morning we left and headed to Indianapolis for a stop at the Indiana State Fair so this former Indiana 4-H Farm girl could trip down memory lane not to mention show hubby what a real state fair looks like.

We left Indy about 1:45 to head toward Cincinnati and around it to Rt. 52 to cross Ohio. I had to plug in small towns to convince the nav system to do that as it did NOT want to go on 52! That was not a bad thing as the first one I put in was New Richmond, Ohio. Note, 52 was four lane up to there, then down to two lanes. While we been able to see the Ohio River on much of the road we got off when we saw signs for a viewing area in historic New Richmond. And stumbled into their River Days Festival! It was closing down but it allowed us to walk around downtown, find out about their role in the Underground Railroad during the Civil War and generally enjoy views of the river.

Shortly after that we followed signs and stopped to see the birthplace of US Grant. Didn’t know that hadn’t been his birth name but came about due to a clerical error at West Point. After stopping there we continued on to Aberdeen where we crossed the Ohio into Maysville for the evening. Wonderful hotel on the river and a fabulous river walk below it. We watched a barge going down river and am heading out again at sunset to see the bridge lit up overhead. Wonderful quaint town.

Tomorrow we will continue on 52 to Huntington WV and then hit the interstates to get home at a decent time. My mileage isn’t as accurate today but it’s just a little under 240 miles but we did a lot of stops. Still we got in where we are staying around 5:30 so had plenty of time to eat then walk about and enjoy the scenery here.

Since New Richmond the road has been two lane so far so we will see what tomorrow brings. It is not busy at all, no trucks but a lot of motorcycles which makes sense as it is a pretty route to take. Also we’ve seen a lot of camping grounds and places all along the river so it does look busy at least in the summer. I’ll see if I can figure out later how to upload some pictures, just have t done that before.

[NowthatIamretired]

Here, I hope, are four pics from today, from New Richmond, Ohio, U.S.Grant’s birthplace in Point Pleasant, and two pictures of the Ohio River from Mayesville, KY.

[AZBuck]

Warm Glow Candles, friends, a state fair, River Days Festival, a President's birthplace and a walk along the Ohio. Try doing that while just mindlessly following a GPS along the Interstates. You certainly seem to have a nose for interesting places and the inclination and time to see them. We are very glad to have been of some help in making your trip so enjoyable.

AZBuck

[Midwest Michael]

Grant's birthplace would be a fun stop - although the fact that I'm in the middle of Chernow's new Grant biography probably has me a bit biased at the moment.

[NowthatIamretired]

Last report as we are now home and trying to get up the ambition to get back to reality. The last part of 52 from Aberdeen, Ohio to Huntington, WV wasn’t as interesting as the first part. Maybe because we were more on a deadline, knowing we had about eight hours of driving and wanting to get home at a decent time. Parts of it were further from the river so we didn’t have as many views of the Ohio as we did yesterday. It was all two lane, and part not in great shape up until Portsmoth, Ohio. After that it turned into a four lane expressway with parts of it limited access so it had a 70 mph speed limit. I hadn’t expected that! After Huntington WV we were in I-64 east for most of the rest of the trip. We are very familiar with it and I do enjoy taking it through West Virginia and over the mountains into Virginia. Alton Mountain by Waynesboro, VA can always be interesting as the weather can be unpredictable and today while it was misty and somewhat foggy it wasn’t as bad as I’ve seen before.

Just to give a little bit more on timing and mileage I looked at it last night then compared to what we really did. First off I had to break the trip down with Portsmith, Ohio as one end and start otherwise the nav programs just did not want to follow 52 the whole way! Actually surprised me when I discovered the end of it was expressway. The mileage as before is really accurate. I had it listed as 444 miles and we did 440 miles. The time that nav gave for a total was a little over 7 hours so adding 20 percent to that would be around 8 1/2 hours. That’s almost what we actually did drive, just under 8 1/2 hours which included three stops. Whoever gave that percentage to add, thank you. It does prove out.

So, that’s it. Thank you to all the gurus here for their suggestions, especially reminding me of Rt. 33 through West Virginia. That was fun! Don’t have any road trips planned for now but know there will be in the future.