2007 - Kansas to Ohio 05-20-09

My memory is playing more tricks on me these days. Ruth and I drove some tiny back roads on our trip and I remember that this bridge was AFTER the SAQA conference, but the date on the picture proves me wrong! It had to be before we arrived in Athens, Ohio.

This is a replica bridge - replacing one from mid-19th C (if I remember correctly!). It looks like it is leaning, but that is an illusion caused by the timbers on the sides of the opening. They slant inward from the roof. We wondered why the builders used that construction.

Adjacent to the bridge was this sign, but no indication which way to go. I just checked a map and Hoods Run is in Kentucky on state hwy 7, which is the winding country road we took from Greyson, KY, north into Ohio. Fun!

Ruth Powers at a roadside rest area. We stopped to rest frequently because our bodies would ache unless we moved around a bit. Ruth is a great travel partner. She even drove some, which will shock anyone who knows me well. I want to be the driver and I don't like others to drive my car, but I made an exception for Ruth.

Lots of huge fields, some with the cylindrical hay bales which seem to have completely replaced the old rectangular style. Ruth had just finished a small quilt showing these wheel-like bales - very nice.

I'm always fascinated by the unusual things that are hauled on trucks. At first I thought these were some kind of trailer, but I suspect they are mechanical parts to something large - like compressors or cracker making machines!

This flatbed is hauling a wooden huge spool of red tubing - which seemed to have a diameter in excess of five inches. I supposed there could be a hundred uses for this sort of thing. Occasionally I will see such a truck in a rest stop and ask the driver what he is carrying, sometimes they don't even know. Check out the complete lack of traffic - lovely.

Ruth had her portable GPS on that trip and now I have one in the Lexus - of course, I haven't completely figured it out. I'm not so sure how much I will depend on it. I ran across this article today.

http://www.switched.com/2009/05/19/gps-satellites-could-break-down-by-2010/