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July 1--Portsmouth, Ohio


We really liked Huntington, WV.  The down town was alive with people, restaurants, and entertainment.  Marshall University seems to be the driving force. Even though it is summer, young folks were everywhere.  One of the busiest places was the Black Sheep bar/restaurant that was hosting a "Drag Festival".  We 2 old guys saw a lot of interesting costumes.  Finally, this is the first town where we actually had a choice of where to have diner.

Most of today's ride was on rural roads with only a few minor transitions on busy highways.  Our route took us from West Virginia to Ohio to Kentucky and finally back to Ohio.  Joe does a wonderful job in planning our routes.  In the past he has come up with some interesting ways to avoid traffic. We have gone through parking lots, industrial sites, the wrong way on one way streets, on things that were trails in name only, over abandoned bridges, and construction sites.  Today's short cut was our first thru a cemetery to get to Ironton, Ohio.  Ironton is an interesting town that has miles of brick streets and very interesting old homes. The town was founded in 1849 by John Campbell, a prominent pig iron manufacturer.  Between 1850 and 1890, Ironton was one of the foremost producers of iron in the world.


Portsmouth, today’s destination,  is an old river town that is struggling to stay alive.  The down town has lots of empty stores and a down trodden look.   Like most towns, our dinner choice is limited but we did find a grocery store for some lunch items. However, the town does have some great flood wall murals.  In May 1993 painting began on the longest mural in the project, 20 feet x 160 feet. The mural project was completed in October of 2002 with 2,200 feet of art along the Ohio River. The project has become the largest known work of art by a single artist.


Pictures

Todays Map

Total trip todate


Comments

  1. HPJuly 3, 2019 at 12:13 PM

    Inspiring pictures. Too bad that I'm not there. Went to the store and got a Chicago IPA for comfort.

    ReplyDelete

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