We breakfast in Loogootee.
I love writing that name. Very good. We hit the road for a long drive today finishing Indiana and most of Ohio. We missed the Reds game. Boo. Farms farms farms.
A lot of dairy, and many classic barns, white and red in really good shape.
We cross into Ohio and see a large pile of blue dyed road salt.
Never before, but I see the utility of it.
Then we come to the Anderson ferry crossing on the Ohio river. It has run continuously since 1817.
It can carry about 6 cars at once and the crossing takes about 7 minutes. Really neat. We see a car with a fire union sticker on it. We talked to the gentleman inside. He was a firefighter with 33 years of service and he retired 25 years ago. I did 32 and some months. I should be so lucky to make it 25 more years.
We see the great Ohio river and the first hills of Kentucy across the river. Downtown Cincinati is pretty big and the Reds statium is impressive. I see a large mural on the side of a building. I It just floored me. A mural of passenger pidgeons.
They flew byy the billions before European contact. They were too easy to kill. They were used for squab for people food, millions went to hog food, and hogs were driven hundreds of miles to feed directly on the flocks. They were used as hat ornaments. They would blacken the sky for days as they passed by, now they are extinct.
Greg drives most of the morning. More great farms with well maintained buildings. Miles of open fields and lined with hardwoods just leafing out. A nice redbud now and then and those tiny purple flowers. Help me out here identifiying them. The picture is in yesterdy’s post. We stop for lunch and afterwards I pick up the driving but I can only do about an hour and get drowsy so Greg picks it back up.
In central Ohio the beginning of the hills and mountain foothils come into play. Wide open farmland feeds into windy valleys, but with St. Louis at 400 feet and here at about 650, we really have not climbed much at all compared to the west.
The highlight of the day was dinner with fellow Kossack and retired fire chief bctdcfd in Athens was a delight. A lot fire chatting about history, comparing our departments and pensions. Some political talk but he was worried about the blue future of Ohio. The job losses caused the Dems damage, even though as Greg pointed out, which parties policies led to the jobs fleeing the Iron Belt? Hint. It wasn’t us.
But bctdcfd pointed out that the Dems did not protect and care for workers or helped them enough when times got bad. It is still an uphill climb for Ohio. A great guy and solid Dem. Greg and bctdcfd are both Harley guys so they talked about that. His grand father and brother and other family members have worked in Columbus Fire as well. Colombus was the first department to join the after the first 66 charter members formed the IAFF fire union in 1918. Spokane was number 29, Austin is 975. My local department in Dripping Springs Texas organized about 8 years ago and is local 4799. The IAFF is one of the stronget unions in the country and contines to grow. Off to bed and tomorrow West Virginia and some of Virginia. Greg has been collecting beer from every state. I will provide a list soon. If there are any suggestions for WV, Virginia, and Maryland, let us know. He is more of a Porter and Ale guy than Pilsner and IPA. Nighty night.