Fall Odyssey 2006
September 26, 2006--Marietta, OH to Gettysburg, PA (408 mi)

Despite being half awake most of the night I was nonetheless up this morning by 7:30am. It was REALLY foggy this morning until about 9am. The photo (below) of the Ohio River bridge was taken at 8:30am after the fog settled quite a bit. It all made for a stellar morning to start off what became a very scenic day.

I had breakfast at the Gun Room (photo below) inside the Lafayette Hotel (photo below: red brick 5-storey bldg) and then I took a short walk along the river to take a few photos. I really enjoyed my stay here in Marietta. Choosing the Lafayette Hotel was a brilliant choice. When I travel alone I get so used to either checking into cheap, nebulous motels or sleeping in my car. For future reference: look for interesting, historical places to stay at--same goes for restaurants (apologies to my good friends at DQ).




I got back in my car around 9am and started off to the NE along HWY 26 where I was in search of covered bridge sites before continuing on along the Hwy 7 Ohio River Road. I fully enjoyed both routes. I stopped along the River Road a few times to walk for a few minutes and take some shots. The photo directly below was taken at the toll ferry site between Fly, Ohio and Sistersville, West Virginia. I got a kick out of the long barges traveling along--we don't get many of those in Denver.
I discovered my first covered bridge about 1 mile north of Rinard Mills, OH along Hwy 26. The Knowlton Covered Bridge (see photos below) was built in 1887 to cross the Muskingum River. The idea of the covered bridge was borrowed from Europe in the 1800's based on the concept that whoever goes through the hassle of constructing a great big wooden truss bridge might just as well cover it from the sun, rain and ice to help it last longer. Unwittingly, this idea perpetuated what I consider to be a really cool tourist attraction and I was excited to visit the Knowlton: my very first covered bridge encounter.



So...nothing's sacred to the spraypainter (see photo below). Apparently Riannon had at some point jilted somebody that liked to hang out in the middle of no where on antique wooden bridges.
I started to notice that barn advertisements are not uncommon there in the eastern U.S., and apparently Mail Pouch Tobacco is a really, really popular ad to have on one's barn--I saw many of these around. This one (below) was shot near the junction of Hwys 26 & 800 in Monroe County, Ohio.
Once again, none of my photos can come close to capturing the beauty of this region. I was so elated to cruise along at 35 mph with the windows down and take-in this region. I made several stops to just walk around for a while. I guess I expect too much from my camera. Afterall, it can't record my peripheral vision, senses of smell and sound or do justice to subtleties in lightings. All it can do is jog my memories later on when I publish its' photos. I guess that'll have to do.

Below is a shot along a dirt road off Hwy 26--I thought the purple weeds were pretty. I was just in a mode where I appreciated some of the smaller/sideline things in life. Hell, I even took some time to squat down in some riverside grasses to see what bugs & critters might happen by. In fact, I'll even recommend this practice to anyone who is no longer impressed with the simple things in life--it might bring you back to earth a little.

After leaving behind the inspiring routes of Ohio's Hwys 26 & 7, I crossed over into West Virginia over the Ohio River between Dilles Bottom, OH and Moundsville, WV. This was not a pretty leg of the river road--just a bunch of neglected small town buildings and stuff. I headed northward on West Virginia Hwy 2 to Wheeling, WV and then proceeded eastward along I-70.

I was distracted almost right away though by the allure of a sign that read: "Cabela's Superstore". So I was compelled to pull off I-70 at Exit 10 in the West Virginia panhandle to get to Cabela's. I was really intrigued because the freeway overpass bridge actually displayed a name placard that read: "Jim & Dick Cabela Bridge". This told me that the West Virginians took Cabela's SERiously! I had 3 missions at the Cabela's Superstore: a) check on Garmin GPS gadgets, b) take a stroll through the huge Cabela's fish aquariums, and c) to see how long it took before I overheard someone say: "Paintball 'zover here!" in enthusiastic West Virginian drawl (it took fully 6 minutes upon entering the store).

I was back driving on I-70 east by 2pm but I was forced to stop for a nap in my car between 2:30-3:30pm (not much rest last night). Afterwards I drove to the Flight 93 crash site in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. I arrived there around 4:45pm. About 20 other people were there at the time. I lingered at the site until about 6:30pm just thinking about stuff associated with 911. There are so many beautiful homes, villages and farmlands in this region that it amazes me that the aircraft went down in this giant uninhabited field. The middle photo below shows the crash site (which is off limits). If you enlarge the photo you will see a fenced-in area where crash debris was collected. This Memorial is only a temporary memorial. At some point a more substantial one is to be erected.

After paying respects to the Flight 93 Memorial I continued eastward again along Pennsylvania Hwy 30 which is enormously beautiful and comes complete with a mini mountain pass. There are a few little towns (like Schellsburg, PA) along the way with homes and storefronts lining the main drag showing off 200 year old architecture--much of it restored and stunning. I saw it on the way in to Shanksville, but on the way back it was too dark to see much.

I stopped for dinner at the Breezewood, PA Denny's and then went on along Hwy 30 eastward to Gettysburg where I checked into the Quality Inn at General Lee's Headquarters ($88) by 10:45pm. I was pretty tired when I arrived and fell asleep fast.