It was totally a drivng day. We made a couple of quick stops for photos or a geocache and other than that we drove through farmland – lots of acres of tomatoes – and forested rolling hills. Once again we were on the quiet back roads. We drove the Ohio River Scenic route all day and followed the snake-like winds of the river. It, as usual, made for a longer day than would the 2 1/2 hours to take the Interstate – but they are no fun.

We enjoyed a lovely sunny day with a slight breeze. Just past Eureka we stopped at the Robert C. Byrd Locks & Dam to take some pics. We passed two more such dams further along our route.

There are locks on the other side of the river that will allow the big tug barges to get past the dam. It is interesting that even in the middle of a work week there were still a half dozen men fishing. They don’t look retirement age. Maybe Wednesday is their day off.

We drove through many small town and they all have similar brick buildings. Coming from a forestry area where everything is made of wood or concrete I have always liked brick buildings. This is Gallipoli, Ohio.

There was a simple puzzle based on information at the rest stop historical marker that gave us the coordinates to a cache hidden at the far side of the building.

The bridge’s collapse was caused by a single hairline crack in the steel eye-bar similar to this one. In response to this catastrophe Congress established National Bridge Inspection Standards which caused a rigorous nation-wide bridge safety inspection program to detect unsafe structural conditions.

There are nuclear power plants on both the Ohio and West Virginia sides of the Ohio River.

Periodically along the road for most of the day we would encounter patches of blooming day lilies. I don’t know if they have been planted or if they grow wild.

We crossed the bridge into West Virginia about 3:30 and checked into our hotel. I was able to get yesterday’s blog finished before we went out for dinner and then found a West Virginia geocache.

State number 12. Tomorrow we will get number 13 when we head into Pennsylvania and have a visit with my cousin. It was a pretty quiet day but we drove through some nice countryside on some quiet roads which makes for a good day.