Bridgeport to Wheeling, West Virginia

Talk about taking the road less traveled! I think we took the road never traveled to Bridgeport. Thanks to our Garmin, we ended up on a winding little track through the mountains. It was a very pretty drive, but the road began to get narrower and narrower, windier and windier, and steeper, until we were on a one car track through overhanging jungle.

We had no idea how long this track was going to be, and no idea where it was going to come out. I was driving at the time. I couldn't turn around. My only choice was to keep driving until we got to... somewhere.

Somewhere turned out to be behind the shops and other buildings at Bridgeport. We literally were spat out of the tiny track onto the main street. I had to slam the brakes on to stop from shooting right across the road in front of the other traffic. We had no idea what town we were in nor what state we were in.

We were in Bridgeport, Ohio. Just across the Ohio River was Wheeling, West Virginia, our intended destination.

We drove over the bridge into Wheeling but didn't like what we saw. Nowhere is the downturn in the economy more noticeable than here.

All those once-grand old buildings look shabby. Many of them are empty with broken windows and peeling paint. This is still a working river port coal town. Many huge flat barges push or pull coal piles up and down the river. Some teenage boys were fishing there. We asked them about what they caught and whether they ate the fish. They told us the water was too poluted for them to eat anything that came out of it.

We decided not to stay right in  Wheeling. We stayed out of town in a nice hotel.

I'm having my first martini - a chocolate one.

Geoff had a beer with Dean Martin.





















The next morning we went to Moundsville, like a suburb of Wheeling.

This is an Indian burial mound. It's a bit like an Egyptian pyramid in internal structure.

The people who lived in  this area and built these mounds were the Adena people.








We walked up the path that spiraled around the mound. I could imagine what it must have been like back in those days. It was peaceful and beautiful. Apparently it had once been a lot higher, but time and many archaeological excavations, plus the pounding of many tourist feet, had worn it down to its present height, which was quite impressive.

I was not comfortable walking up the mound. I felt like an intruder. The energy was not welcoming here. I didn't stay at the top very long. I felt like it was very disrespectful to the Adena people to be treading all over their sacred place. I felt the energy of the ancestors bearing down on me with thier sorrow over their mound being desecrated and trampled all over by strangers.

These are views from the top of the burial mound.

Great views of the town but I got off there as quickly as possible.

Cuyahoga National Park

After the Bucyrus experience, we headed off the next morning into Cuyahoga National Park. This park was very pretty, but strange. Houses were built all the way around and within the park. This would never happen in Australia. People would not be able to live inside a national park like this one. It seemed odd to us. A suburban national park.

Strange orbs and plasma flashes have appeared all over this photo. 





I wonder what happened here to cause this.

This photo has also picked up some plasma flashes. 

Look to the left of the middle at both the top and bottom of the photo to see the pale, washed-out areas.

Beautiful pools of water at the bottom of the ravine.

The woods are full of pretty wild flowers this time of the year.

Cuyahoga Falls

You can't tell from this photo, but that stream is an awfully long way down.

Geoff on the lookout platform in front of the falls.

There isn't a huge amount of water pouring down here, but when it rains, all these rocks are under the cascade.

We met up with these Park Rangers on the boardwalk.

We left the small but spectacular Kuyahoga National Park and headed further across Ohio towards West Virginia.

Wildflowers in the woods are everywhere. This country is so pretty.

 Yikes! You drive around a corner and have to watch out for these Amish carts everywhere.

Where On Earth is Bucyrus?

We did intentionally go to Bucyrus, Ohio. No, seriously, we did mean to arrive there. It's pronounced Boo-sy-russ, by the way.

This is one town we saw online before we came over here and we thought if we were anywhere near it, we'd have a look. Everyone said, "Bucyrus? You actually want to go to Bucyrus? On purpose? There's nothing there!" These comments were followed by gut-busting laughter.

We had a great time in this little town. To get there we had to take the back roads through Ohio. The countryside is so pretty. It's flat with huge farmlands of plowed paddocks that literally go right up to the houses and towns. Ohio is full of wonderful scenery. I could have taken hundreds of photos of cute little towns and solitary farm houses that popped up in the middle of freshly planted fields. I put a couple of photos in the previous blog entry.

Actually, there's plenty to see in Bucyrus. The town is very quaint, old, and pretty.  The most obvious thing that strikes you as you enter are the beautiful murals.

To learn about this town and its murals, we went to the information centre and took the walking tour which I highly recommend. You get to see the most amazing things, as well as hearing about the town.

As well as learning all about the murels, you go through the Picking copper kettle factory which is the same as it was 130 years ago. The daughter of the original owner is still working there. I kid you not! She's an amazing woman in her 90s who dresses up and goes into work every day at the factory and still does all their accounts.

Look at the size of this hand-made copper still. The Picking factory is amazing. It is living history. Well worth taking a look.

Then we were taken down into the gloomy depths of the Bucyrus Speak Easy.

During prohibition, people used to meet below the hotels in the "speak easy" to have a drink and entertainment.

We were taken down these dingy stairs into this old musty place that is exactly as it was back then.

 The big surprise for us was that Alphonsus Capone had his own booth down here. So there it is. This is the exact booth where Al Capone used to sit and drink. The dingy store room below is where his escape tunnel out to the railway used to be. 

It still is there, but they've boarded it up.

Geoff listening to our guide talk about the old days when Al was in town.

 The boarded up tunnel that used to lead out the back onto the railway line where Al Capone had his escape trolley waiting in case the police came down for a raid.

This was one of Al Capone's escape routes. It leads up onto a back lane behind the hotel.


Everyone in the tour wanted to search through his other escape tunnel but we weren't allowed. Bummer!






How cool was that? We sat right in Al Capone's booth!

 The old streets of Bucyrus. Mostly as it was back in Al Capone's day.

This was the other amazing murel in Bucyrus is this tribute to all the fallen soldiers from all the wars.

Looks like Geoff's standing before a statue, doesn't it. That is a flat wall. It's just a painting.

If you look closely, you'll see that all the faces are of different soldiers. The artist had all the people of Bucyrus who'd lost family members in any of the wars to bring photos of them to him. He then painted all those faces into his murel. It is awe inspiring to look at it.

The Circle E ranch just out of Bucyrus has long horn cattle and bison.

How's that for a set of horns?

This is the young buffalo bull. He's shedding his thick winter hair, getting ready for the hot summer ahead.

So, next time someone asks us why we'd ever want to go to Bucyrus, we'll jump up and say: "Hell, yeah! We love it!"
 

Port Clinton Ahoy!

From Flint we drove down through Michigan and into Ohio. It was great watching the change in the terrain from hilly and marshy to flat farmland. We loved the vast open spaces.

 There are huge farms out here. Acres and acres of ploughed and planted fields of corn and wheat mostly.


We were amused at how they ploughed and planted right up to the edges of roads, houses, even towns.

This is real farming America. All the farms were so neat and tidy, it was amazing.

We'd drive for miles and suddenly there'd be a quaint old farm house and barns. 

A typical farm house in Ohio. 

A lot of Americans said "Don't go to Ohio, it's flat and uninteresting." We found it really pretty. Flat farmland has its own beauty.



We continued on until afternoon and decided to stop at a pretty little place called Port Clinton right on Lake Erie. We stayed in a B&B here and really enjoyed it.

Pretty Port Clinton on Lake Erie, Ohio.

You guys getting envious yet? Look at that gorgeous weather!! 

 Shit! I've got to lose some weight. Far out! Anyway, that's me at the lighthouse at Port Clinton.

Geoff looking out to... not sea, but lake.

I couldn't resist it. I took my shoes off and paddled in the rock pools around the front of the lighthouse.

I've had my feet in Lake Ontario, Lake Michigan and now, Lake Erie. Michigan was by far the coldest.

You probably can't make out what these are, but they're fossils. 






There were fossils in the rocks everywhere.

Can you believe this view? This is where we stayed for the night.

Check this out. This is what Lake Erie looks and sounds like....

In the morning we took off for Bucyrus. Everyone laughed. What the hell would we want to go to Bucyrus for? There's nothing there! Nobody goes to Bucyrus. Well... we did.
 

 






 

"Don't go to Flint!"

When I mentioned to several people that I had a friend in Flint, Michigan, who I'd like to meet up with, everyone without fail all said, "Don't go to Flint." "It's a terrible place."

Yeah, well, I wanted meet up with Teri Henderson, so we went to Flint, Michigan.

And...

We had the best time ever!

I contacted Teri from our hotel in Davison, just outside Flint, the day before and arranged to meet her in a small shop called Stir The Imagination.

We foud our way to the shop the next morning, but Teri had been held up by her car breaking down. As we waited, we talked to Rhonda, the shop owner, and before we knew it, Geoff was off on a fishing trip [he caught a bass] with Rhonda's husband, Darryl, and I was in the shop having a lovely healing done by Becky Johns.

We stayed the next couple of nights with Rhonda and Darryl. Geoff got to go to Detroit to see a baseball match between the Detroit Tigers and the Pittsburg Pirates at the Tigers Stadium in Detroit. The Tigers won.

Geoff said that despite its reputation, the area of Detroit they were in looked a lovely clean city. We could also say the same about Flint. There were parts of Flint we only drove through, but didn't stop. They were run down and shabby. Unemployment and the downturn of the economy has taken a huge toll on places like Flint. It made us feel really lucky to live in Australia.

Teri and I in Stir The Imagination. It was wonderful to catch up and spend a day just talking.

Flint's main street looks amazing with its arches all lit up at night. The main street is all paved in bricks!

 And check out this amazing weather ball that lights up in different colours to tell you what the next day will bring. I can't remember the whole poem that goes with it - I'll ask Rhonda and then post the whole thing here later. The first part goes: When the weather ball is red, warmer weather lies ahead. That was true. We had amazing weather!

We took a day trip from Flint up to Muskegan to see Lake Michigan. More picture postcard stuff.

You would swear, would you not, that I was standing in the sea? That's Lake Michigan. And it was COLD! Glacier lake. Brrrr! There were people swimming in that!

 The sand dunes are being revigitated so they'll be like they were originally. It's very pretty.

A walk through the woods from the "beach".

We were shopping for caps and t-shirts when a couple of Flint's finest came in for their daily shoe shine. Very nice guys, quietly spoken and ready for a laugh or two, but you wouldn't want to tangle with either of these two.

Eventually, as in Benton and Brentford, we had to leave our new friends and venture onward across this great country. Photographs really do not do this place justice. The grand scale of the scenery, the colours, the wildflowers, the smells, it is all breathtaking. 

Spring time is definitely the best time of the year to explore this vast countryside. We've struck a few gray days, but very little rain. Now the days are getting warmer and the nights very pleasant. Yes, definitely come over here in late spring to early summer.