Thursday, October 7, 2010

October day on the river

Today was a great day to have to drive someplace along the Ohio River. I took my time and enjoyed the trip, first up the West Virginia side and then back down the Ohio side. There were plenty of good photo opportunities. I'll post the boat photos later.

One of my last stops was at an abandoned coal tipple. As I walked down the path from the road to the river, I saw these sycamore leaves in the sunlight, with the river behind.


This being October, the tree or trees in this mooring cell are getting ready for winter.


The photo above was taken around noon today. Compare it to this one taken near sunset on Memorial Day weekend this year.


More later and over the next few days.


Barns of southern Gallia County, Ohio

October is a great month for driving or walking along what I call the Ohio River Road. That's the road closest to the river that gives the best view or access, whether it be state, county, township or other. Today the weather was perfect. The temperature was comfortable; humidity was low; the sun was shining. Now the sun did cause problems with shadows and such, but after a few days of overcast that sent me into my annual autumnal gloom, I'll take a few shadows.

One thing I like about the river road in Gallia County, Ohio, is the number of barns you see. In some places, there probably are more barns than houses. As I've said many times before, I like barns. I want one should I be blessed enough to move back to the farm country along the river. Actually, I'd like two barns. There's no logical reason for that. I just want two barns.

So, here are a few barns you see from Ohio Route 7 between the Robert C. Byrd Locks and Dam (formerly the Gallipolis Locks and Dam) and the Lawrence County line.

This one is close to the bridge over Swan Creek.


This one I've shot several times. My favorite shots were on Ektachrome during a December sunset back in the mid 1980s.


Why I took this picture, I don't know, except that I could, so I did.


This barn is on the old road about halfway between Bladen and Klondike, two towns you would have to look on old maps to find.


I don't know why Frontier is advertising in this particular area, unless maybe it has acquired the local land line phone system. A telephone company ad on a barn is not nearly as appealing as one for Mail Pouch chewing tobacco. In my case, even less so considering the problems I've had with Frontier customer service in recent months. But that's another topic for another blog.

You know, it would be nice to have a barn blog, particularly if I could get people who own barns to give me tours of theirs. Sounds odd, true, but some of us find barns interesting.

Finally, there's no barn in this photo -- just what looks like a guy harvesting soybeans. If I have that wrong, please tell me.


If you look behind the harvester and the semi, you see two line of trees. The first line is on the top of the Ohio River bank on the Ohio side. The second is on the top of the river bank on the West Virginia side. That's West Virginia in the background, of course. Or (to borrow a gag from "The Simpsons Movie") is that Nevada, Maine or Kentucky?









P.A. Denny sold

The sternwheel excursion boat the P.A. Denny has been sold to a travel company based in Parkersburg, W.Va. The Charleston Gazette has the details.