Friday, July 16, 2010

The Ohio River

After supper tonight we took a little ride, turning left (West) on Freedom Road.  We had never been in that direction.  Almost immediately the land became hilly and the road very curvy.  Within 10 miles we ran right into the town of Freedom and the Ohio River.

This is actually the beginning of the Ohio River, just after the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers in Pittsburgh.  The Ohio runs north for a few miles before turning west and south.  This place is called the "high point" of the Ohio.  And, believe it or not, this is where they claim that the Lewis and Clark expedition really began.  The boat that would take them to the West Coast was made in Pittsburgh and launched here.

The banks of the Ohio were flanked with 8 or 10 railroad lines.  This was an interesting railroad bridge:

The town of Freedom reminded me of Alton, Illinois, which is on the eastern bank of the Mississippi.  A bit hard scrabble.  Not as large as Alton.  No casinos on the river.
We should be heading over to Wellsville NY tomorrow for the annual summer balloon rally.  John has to work until at least 2pm so we'll be getting a late start.

2 comments:

  1. It's great to see the Oho River. I lived for many years in Cincinnati on the river and Kentucky on the other side several mies from Covington. We used to cross over to Covington on the "humming bridge."

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  2. It's really a pretty river up here, Sally. Peaceful, not too big. I always thought it looked muddy in Louisville. It would be interesting to take a boat down it, I think.

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