Crossing the Ohio River

It took me awhile to find the Church here (it is a little more spread out than I am used to), but did find a building in Washington, PA. Crossed three major rivers this morning, the Youghiogheny, the Monongahela, and the Ohio. The Youghiogheny empties into the Monongahela a bit upstream from my crossing and the Monongahela joins with the Allegheny to form the Ohio at Pittsburgh. The Ohio then swings southward to where I crossed it at Wheeling. The big rivers in this area form deep cuts in the land, so you know as you approach one, as you enter a gorge. Just after Washington, back on I-70 now, I crossed into West Virginia (State #3). It was a short passage, as I was in the narrow northern spike of the state.

At the western edge of the spike sits Wheeling, on the Ohio River, the river forming the boundary between West Virginia and Ohio. There is a very pretty bridge connecting the states at Wheeling and a lot of barge traffic in the river. Wheeling reminds me of Moline and St. Joseph, similar size and set in a cut on a major river. An old feel to it, with lots of brick buildings and tied to a bridge.

Welcome to Ohio (State #4). A beautiful day. Followed I-70 across Ohio, through Cambridge, Zanesville, and on into Columbus, home of Ohio State University. The freeway here follows the route (pretty much all the way through Illinois) of the famous "National Road", originally authorized by Thomas Jefferson. This part of the freeway also overlaps one of my earlier wanderings, as I was here at the end of our Niagara Falls\New York trip. I like the feel of Columbus - it seems to have direction and some degree of prosperity. A very pretty downtown skyline. It is located at the confluence of the Scioto and Olentangy Rivers.

I continued on I-70 to Dayton. I meant to arrive early enough to see the USAF Museum and the Wright Brothers sites, so I could get a few more miles under my belt, but got there just as they were closing. Managed a tour of Dayton, trying to find a suitable place to stay for the night. Dayton has a much different feel to it - a city struggling to find an identity for itself, lots of vacant manufacturing capacity, and many, many old homes. Dayton also sits at the confluence of several large rivers, where the Stillwater and the Mad Rivers form the Great Miami.