Familiar Territory

Pitchers look awesome. Enjoy the glass.

Happy pooches make good photos. My long lost friend on a fall afternoon:

I've always wondered if this can be seen from outer space......

















This ride took me west on SR676. It passes by some nice farm land and through pretty wooded areas. Every time I ride past this house I wonder how many bikes have blown this corner and wound up in the gravel...........

Pretty picture's. Bet the leaves are turning colors now eh? Thanks for sharing.

They're just starting to turn. Cold weather is right around the corner.

Beautiful photography!!

Hi Denny!

Miss your photos in the tag thread...

Hi, Chip.

Yeah, it's been a while since I posted a tag.

How's the TDM running?

TDM is running fine, turned over 40,000 miles recently, due for some maintenance items this winter. Bushing, bearings and such...



Look familiar?

Can't say that is does?????

Jericho Rd outside of Marlinton this past summer, just around the block from the Inn.

Thought you might have rolled past there last year...

Missed that one.

Got this one........



Great riding down there.

A few years ago I started a RR, posted a few pictures, made a few comments and then abruptly ended it. During that same time a friend of mine, who I mentioned in that RR, was having some personal difficulties in his life and he abruptly ended it.

I'm going to take this opportunity to finish that ride report since it was contained to the county I live in, which is definitely familiar territory, and dedicate it to his memory.











So here's to you Randy B., we miss you. ...........



.

Three years ago I set out to visit all of the covered bridges that were still standing in Washington county. With the help of my late friend, Randy Ball, I learned that there were 10 left in the county. See the accompanying photograph......note that it states "10 covered bridges".........






Randy worked for a number of years at the Washington County Tax Map Office and he knew more about where anything in the county was located, who owned it and how to get there than anyone else in the county. As a matter of fact the county could probably have done away with the department and just had Randy to address any question one might have concerning such things. So with his help I learned that the map was wrong.

Now how could a map possibly be wrong? That would be confusing to anyone who needed to know important things like how many covered bridges there were in Washington county. If someone might be, let's just say for the hell of it, planning to visit, in one day, all 10 bridges on a dual sport motorcycle to post a little ride report on ADVrider and the map was wrong it might cause undue concern. One would look for days for those 10 bridges that the map says are there, even months and years, because THERE'S ONLY 9 COVERED BRIDGES in Washington County, Ohio.



.

Randy studied the map, naming the bridges as he highlighted them......

Heading northeast out of Marietta on SR26 were Hills, Hune and Rinard.....




Scattered all over the western part of the county were Harra, Shinn, Bell, Mill Branch, Henry, Root and........and???............




............and the tenth.................just couldn't be found......... .........no matter how diligently we looked.






But, as I will show you later, he did point out a tenth bridge that I'm really glad I visited that day.

So with that all said.......let's Just GO!





.

My memory does not serve me well. It gets me in a lot of trouble, especially with my wife. "I told you.....", "Don't you remember............?", "You said you were going to...", and on and on. I have trouble remembering what I did this morning not to mention what I did 3 years ago. But in this case I have a little help.

Smug Mug. I kept all the pictures from that ride in my Smug Mug account just in case.

So..........as I remember............the morning started out a little foggy.










The 2-fiddy was raring to go. The fog wasn't one of those everlasting fogs that takes all morning to lift so the air was clear soon enuf...






I passed this little guy along the way....




......stopped, snapped his picture, helped him across the road and moved on...





He thanked me with a wink.




The first bridge that I visited was the Root bridge built in 1888....




























Interesting history in these old wooden structures....















Before moving on I left my mark...... ...

On the way to bridge #2.




A Farmall Super C for sale. Very nice, I love these old tractors and it's nice to see them in this condition.











I traveled along gravel roads with funny names like....























The second bridge I visited...the Henry....





This bridge, like the one before, is closed to traffic. But the little KLR didn't care..






Each bridge I visited has it's own history and character.


Ghost from the past....






















And once again I signed in.....




....and said goodbye to the Henry Covered Bridge....

Here's a little history on the first two bridges that I rode to on that day.

The Root bridge spans 70' 5" over the Hocking River and it's located a few miles north of Decaturville, Ohio just off SR555 on CR6. The bridge was originally built for $461.50. 461.50.....fifty cents..........I guess back then fifty cents was quite a bit of money to have in your pocket. It is also known as the Qualey Covered Bridge.


The Henry bridge was built in 1894 and spans 45' over West Branch. Located southeast of Bartlett, Ohio on TR 61. It was built after a little girl slipped off of a swinging footbridge on her way to school and drowned in the flood swollen waters of the creek. It's also known as the Goddard Covered Bridge.



And now on to bridge number 3.....















The Shinn bridge was constructed in 1886 and then renovated in 1998. It's a single span of 99' over Wolf Creek located southwest of Wolf Creek, Ohio. It is still in use today.











The bridge was built as a result of a near drowning which happened when the Shinn family was crossing Wolf Creek in a rowboat. As they docked the boat their youngest child, a three year old girl, fell into the fast moving water. Only the quick action of her older brother saved her life. The bridge was originally built at a cost of $762.30.



































It's interesting to know that two of the bridges were built because of tragedies or near tragedies.


Signing out and moving on................

Got that 450 yet?