HITTING THE ROAD - GET AWAY DAY

Today is what I like to refer to as "Get Away Day." Hit the road and get more miles than stops. I managed to get a nice early start and after a quick stop at Sheetz for gas and coffee, it was time to put Christiansburg in my rear view mirror. As is always the case, gas on the West Virginia Turnpike is sky high.  I managed to fill up in Christiansburg for $3.46,  while gas at the first turnpike service area was $3.84.

Three hours and twenty minutes after leaving home I was passing the Golden Dome of the West Virginia State Capitol. A few minutes later I crossed the Kanawha for last time and looking north I got the fleeting urge to "Go Buckwild" as the Nitro Nuclear Plant came into view.  If you have to ask what "Buckwild" is, all I can tell you is to Google it.

By a little after ten o'clock I was at Huntington and was ready to cross the Ohio River but the Exit was closed so I had to continue on west and into Kentucky where I eventually crossed the river into Ohio as Ashland, Ky.

For the next 90-miles I would follow U. S. Route 52 along the banks of the Ohio River, making my way toward Cincinnati.  One of the things that like about getting off the interstate and traveling the old roads is you get to see and enjoy the character of the communities and the character of the road.

As I traveled west past Portsmouth, Ohio, I discovers that some of the old road Character is beginning to fade into the past.  It was here on the banks of the Ohio River I saw my first of several "Mail Pouch Barns."  Beginning in about 1890 and extending through the early 1990's more than 20,000 barns from New York to Illinois were painted with the simple phrase "Chew Mail Pouch."

Many of these barns were painted by Harley Warrick of Belmont County, Ohio.  Warrick began painting barns at the age of 21 and continued until he painted his final barn in 1991. Warrick didn't use a template, painting every barn entirely by eye.  He said that we would start with the letter "E" in CHEW and then add the W and then moving on to the CH. Like his barn gave character to the old roads, Harley was a bit of a character himself.  He said that he would sometimes deliberately misspell words just to see how many phone calls the tobacco company would receive. One of his favorite tricks was to put three "C" in TOBACCO.

After retiring in 1991 Warrick continued to make birdhouses which he hand painted "Chew Mail Pouch."  Harley Warlick died on November 24, 2000, but the character of his handy work still lives through out the highways and byways of America.

As Route 52 snakes its way along the banks of the Ohio River the landscape is dotted with a number of larger power generating station. In the 90-miles between Portsmouth and Cincinnati, I pass two very large nuclear power plants, with there large cooling towers belching snow white steam.

Located with site of one of these nuclear plants is the tiny hamlet of Point Pleasant, Ohio.  It was her in a small one-story frame house that Hiriam Ulysses Grant was born on April 27, 1822. At the age of 17 - the future president would be appointed to the United States Military Academy. Due to an error on is military application Hiriam with become known a Ulysses Simpson Grant. Even though authorities were aware of the error it was never corrected.

The three room house was built in 1817 and stood next to the tannery where Grant's father Jesse worked. Following President Grant's death in 1885, this tiny house was actually dismantled and reassemble at several locations throughout the State of Ohio. In 1936 this house was once again dismantled and returned to Point Pleasant where it was reconstructed on its original foundation.

I was not able to tour the interior of the birthplace as the Historical Site does not open for the season until April.

From the Grant Birthplace it was a quick trip to Cincinnati wand having arrived earlier than planned I decided to travel north to the Darrtown - Oxford Area where I visited the grave sites of Walter Alston and Wilbur "Weeb" Ewbank.

Walter Alston, was the longtime Hall of Fame manager of the Brooklyn & Los Angeles Dodgers.  Alston managed the Dodgers from 1954 - 1976, during which time he achieved a record of 2,040 - 1,613 including 4 World Series Championships. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1983. Following his retirement from baseball Walt, returned to his native Oxford, Ohio where he died on October 1, 1984 and is buried in the Darrtown Cemetery.

Just a couple of miles down the road is the grave site of Wilbur "Weeb" Ewbank, the Hall of Fame Coach of the New York Jets.  Weeb Ewbank is most noted for leading Joe "Willie" Namath and the New York Jets to the Championship in Super Bowl III. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1978.  Weeb Ewbank died November 17, 1998 and is buried in the Oxford Cemetery in Oxford, Ohio.



Well, get away day was a success, as I managed to put about 465 miles between me and home. I am spending the night in Northeast Cincinnati and tomorrow will find me hitting the sites of the Queen City before heading into Indiana and onto Indianapolis.