July 5, 2019—Louisville, KY

Not much to say about today. It was long (70 miles) and had a major climb followed by 4 hours of rolling terrain. We had traffic most of the day and road shoulders that were not much more than rumble strips. We also had several dogs chase us. Yes, it was a fun day. There were few points of interest for us to see, thus few pictures. Since we had to back track due to rough road conditions, a group of five dogs got to chase us twice. If it cools off enough tonight, we plan to see what this city has to offer within walking distance from our hotel.

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June 28, 2019—Ripley, WV

After we left Parkersburg , WV we cycled for about 15 miles on rural roads, with NO traffic. We had lots of hills and rough roads but the lack of traffic and the benefit of the shade from overhanging trees made it all worth while. We cycled thru farm lands and along a mountain road. After dropping back down to the highway, we were again along the river. Unlike earlier days, we saw lots of barges moving on the river. It is amazing that a “little” tugboat can gracefully push a pack of barges 3 wide and 6 long. Most of the rest of the ride was on low traffic roads until we got to Washington, VW. Yes, George did own land here and it was farmed. (He did get around.) From Washington to Ripley, we had lots of hills, traffic and road construction. So, believe it or not, we did arrive safely in Ripley. Pictures Map

June 25-- Steubenville, Ohio

In summary, we anticipated a tough day and were not disappointed. We had lots of climbing, some missing shoulders, some flooded shoulders, and some heavy traffic. However, we did have reasonable temperatures, a cooling head wind, several nice down hill runs. So don’t expect much from today’s blog. We departed from our Pittsburgh hotel around 6 a.m. and hit the first of our continuous climbs. While there were lots of them, they weren’t steep or long. A server storm dumped lots of rain last night bringing down debris and flooding the low spots. Besides impacting our riding, the rain dampened our first stop at Raccoon Creek State Park Wildflower Center. The trails were swampy and there were no blooming wildflowers visible from the parking lot so we decided to keep climbing the never ending hills. Our one really nice down hill occurred as we headed down the mountain to the Ohio River . Not only was it long, it pr...

July 12, 2019—Chester, Illinois

We left Anna early and enjoyed cool temperatures as we cycled back to Mom’s Restaurant in Jonesboro . Mom was glad to see us again and shared the latest road closures and prepared a good breakfast. Before leaving “Mom” made sure that we had adequate water, admonished us to be safe, but didn’t give us a goodbye hug. Come on, that’s what moms are for. (Mom, when you read this, Thanks for the great hospitality.) Temperatures stayed cool for several hours and we cycled low traffic roads thru state and federal forests. As it warmed up, we were back on the highways heading north with a headwind that helped diminish the effects of the heat. We went along roads that had flooded fields on both sides, saw many closed side roads, and were thankful we hadn’t been here a few weeks earlier. We had no traffic until we got to within 15 miles of Chester . Then: (1) we encountered a stream of tractor trailer trucks hauling gravel to a barge lo...

Ohio River Ride 2019

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