The push through Ohio

Yesterday we spent a lot of time on back roads.  The collecting was great but the scenic drive was slow.  Today is the big push.  We want to get West.  We left Pennsylvania this morning driving out US Highway 30 West which runs from Atlantic City to Astoria, Oregon.  In Pennsylvania it's a really nice route through lots of quaint small towns, antique alleys, and nice farmland.

We spun off of 30 to pick up Routes 2 and 7, both running along the Ohio River in West Virginia and Ohio respectively.  The Ohio River route was interesting.  It's actually quite beautiful, very verdant, but is punctuated with coal loading plants, nuclear power plants, gypsum manufacturing and the like.  It gave me an appreciation for the sacrifices that are made so we can have a power grid.

Random images from the W. Va side of the river.

Memorial to 118 mine workers killed in 1924

Coal chute over the highway

It was pretty amazing to see three nuclear power plants one right after the other in such a pretty landscape.  

Chewing tobacco is big around here